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4.5 stars King is stuck inside the P.O.U.N.D. after his human’s Uncle Marty grabbed King from the neighbors where he was staying.  Kayla and her dad, King’s family, originally left him at a kennel when they went on a trip.  King does not know where Kayla and her dad went or how long they will [...]

Albert Whitman & Company has been located in the Chicago area for most of its 90-plus years in business. As such, we’ve been blessed – both professionally and personally – with a wonderful assortment of independent bookseller for decades. Happily, this remains true today. In a semi-regular blog series, we will visit “Chicagoland Indies” for your information and enjoyment.

I walked into Anderson’s Bookshop on a sunny, summer Friday afternoon – and the children’s section was hopping! Kids and parents were perusing the shelves, playing together, reading, and having fun.

After checking out the Boxcar shelf (my first stop in every store), I met up with Jan Dundon, Anderson’s Children’s Coordinator.

Jan has been with Anderson’s for many years and has produced some of the best children’s book events in the country. Among her big projects is their Mock Newbery program – schools from all over the area participate. We exchanged thoughts on this year’s crop of contenders – which I can’t share with you, but the list is looking pretty good.

Which brings me to my favorite part of talking to booksellers – the recommendations. The staff read as much as they possibly can before the books hit the shelves, so they can do more than just hand you the latest bestseller (although they’ll do that too). Jan made a point of telling me that ALL of the staff members really just work there to feed their book habits.

That’s when I asked her the tough question: What are you favorite Albert Whitman books to handsell? Jan immediately answered, “MISS FOX! I love her.” She also mentioned The Buddy Files and Zapato Power, our two new early chapter book series.

I rarely (well, really, almost ne

Years ago, I remember reading a post on children’s writers’ online message board (yes, we editors lurk) about how slow things are at publishing houses during the summer months. “All the editors are at their vacation houses in the Hamptons!” a writer complained.

HA. Here in Chicago, there are no jaunts to the Hamptons for us, only trips to the Lake Michigan beaches.  But sometimes we manage to escape to other fabulous Midwest destinations, such as Mankato, Minnesota. I’m a big fan of the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, so when the first-ever LauraPalooza academic conference and fan fair was announced at Minnesota State University, I knew I had to go.

A LauraPalooza Lecture

The conference was everything I’d hoped it would be and then some, with more than two dozen  presentations and a field trip to one of the Little House homesites in Walnut Grove, MN. I met scholars, book authors, independent researchers, teachers, illustrators, librarians, and even a meterologist who gave a great talk on the weather conditions behind The Long Winter. (And yes, I met some people who were wearing sunbonnets, too.)

Betsy's House

As a bonus, the conference offered a free visit to another beloved children’s book destination—the childhood neighborhood of Maud Hart Lovelace, AKA the setting of the Betsy-Tacy books. Of course I couldn’t miss the opportunity to be led around by a Maud Hart Lovelace impersonator (dressed in excellent 1940s garb!) and see where Betsy, Tacy and Tib lived. All this children’s literary tourism is making me resolve to get out to Putnam, Connecticut to see Gertrude Chandler Warner’s home town and the Boxcar Children Museum. (Josalyn is planning a trip there; she’ll report back!)

Dori Hillestad Butler

On my way back from Minnesota I stopped in Iowa City, Iowa, not far from where Dori Hillestad Butler, author of The Buddy Files series, lives.

(Quick quiz: what are TWO things all the authors mentioned in this blog entry have in common?*)

I answered the query letter for Dori’s first book with us nearly a decade ago, and since then we’ve worked on several novels, including The Truth Abou