Banned Books Virtual Read-Out!

Join Claire, Sandy, and hundreds of other readers across the country in a Banned Books Week Virtual Read Out. This year, Banned Books Week is September 24 - October 1, but you can celebrate early by recording yourself reading an excerpt from your favorite banned book and adding it to the Banned Books Week YouTube channel. If you need help with your video, feel free to stop by the store! We will have a camera available next week and the week after for recording banned book readings.

Here are our videos to give you a little motivation, because if we can do it, so can you!

Claire, reading from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMyPl8k7sYI

Sandy, reading from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRSgKMVqKKM

The American Library Association list of Frequently Challenged Books.

Canceled: Wallace Stegner Weekend

Despite the amazing agenda lined up for the 2nd Annual Wallace Stegner Weekend at the Highland Lodge, the event has been canceled due to small registration numbers. We are hopeful that the event will happen again, so if you had planned to go make sure to sign up early next year-- and tell all of the Stegner enthusiasts in your life!

A peek into 2012

As much as we're enjoying the here and now, our minds are often on the coming months as we read advance copies of books to be published and peruse catalogs for Fall 2011 and Winter/Spring 2012.

We'd like to share a bit of our excitement for one event taking place next year--the release of our dear friend Howard Frank Mosher's new book, The Great Northern Express, on March 6, 2012! Howard has been talking about this book for a couple of years, a memoir of his travels around the country while on book tour. He stopped by Galaxy this week for an informal photo shoot and was joined by a special friend. On his way to Hardwick, he spied a small turtle in the road and decided to bring him along. (Those of you who have read Walking to Gatlinburg will understand the significance of this particular critter.) Howard is very hopeful that his picture, along with the turtle, on the steps of The Galaxy Bookshop, will grace the jacket of The Great Northern Express.

In keeping with tradition, The Galaxy Bookshop will host the premier event for The Great Northern Express--Howard's first stop on his book tour about a book tour--on March 6, 2012, at 7 p.m. Mark your calendars!

Picks from the Pros

The fine members of the New England Children's Booksellers Association (NECBA) read and review advance book galleys at a furious pace each season in an attempt to cover as many new children's books as possible. The reviews are shared with others via listserv so that we don't all have to read every book, as much as we might want to. These reviews are then gathered, analyzed, catagorized, and finalized into the Spring (or Fall) Review Project by one of the intrepid booksellers of NECBA--this year, the amazing Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins book store in Falmouth, Mass.

For the Top 10 (or A Baker's Dozen), you can view the snazzy poster, or get the full list, with reviews, here. I'm excited to say that I have two reviews included in this list, including Katherine Hannigan's True...(sort of), which is one of the Top 10 (a.k.a. Top 13) picks of the Spring List! While I'm at it, I will throw my wholehearted support behind these other Top Picks, which I read and loved: The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (the Penderwick family is always a delight to spend time with, and I'm so happy that there are two more books to come), Okay for Now (Gary Schmidt is an amazing writer and he perfectly captured the humor and tragedy of Doug Swieteck's eighth grade year), Blink and Caution (a fast-paced novel about two teens forced to trust one another when they separately stumble into a very dangerous situation), and Delirium (falling in the dystopian fiction genre, envisioning a world in which falling in love has been outlawed).

Of course, in the immortal words of Levar Burton, "You don't have to take my word for it."

Read it Again, Please!

This week, the A.V. Club asks what books you love to re-read--over and over and over. Mine would be Jane Eyre, which has been a favorite since I first read it at age 13 (a mass market paperback that my mom picked up for me at The Galaxy Bookshop--I still have and read that same copy.) What's your choice, whether it's to take something new away from the text or for pure comfort?

May Wrap-up

It's as hard to believe that it's June as it is that the thermometer is suddenly breaking 80 degrees, but that's what the calendar is telling us, so it must be true!

Here's a look back on the month that was May:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Our esteemed Senator Bernie Sanders made a "surprise" visit. (We learned about it only a few days in advance.)"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="346" caption="Jem entertained his own visitor. They were overheard discussing the timelessness of a black and white ensemble."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Ivy made her debut as the youngest member of our merry band of booksellers."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="403" caption="She is already a staunch advocate for early childhood education."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="She also obliges us by posing as a turtle for our amusement."][/caption]

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="196" caption="We've begun stocking up for summer, with fun toys and games, in addition to lots of good reading material."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="329" caption="And we're getting ready to kick our events season into high gear with the world premiere of MAKING SUPPER SAFE on June 7. (Author Ben Hewitt is pictured here at another world premiere--only last year, for THE TOWN THAT FOOD SAVED.)"][/caption]

How Many Cups of Tea, Exactly?

I read Three Cups of Tea along with countless others- it was even required reading for troops deploying to Afghanistan at one time. I was as captivated and inspired as most; I greatly admired Greg Mortenson for doing the scary, difficult work that I would never undertake myself. In short, he was the change that I wanted to see in the world.

Then came the allegations. A special investigation into Mortenson and his nonprofit, Central Asia Institute (CAI) by 60 Minutes "revealed" that parts of the book may be "fabricated" and author Jon Krakauer, once on the board of CAI says that Mortenson uses his charity like his own "personal ATM," citing his lack of documentation, receipts, and the one tax statement that the CAI has made public, which shows that they spent a great deal on helping Mortenson promote his books than on building actual schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortenson went from "hero" to "fraud" in the blink of an eye.

I couldn't bring myself to jump on the proverbial bandwagon and add Greg Mortenson to the "bad author" list alongside the likes of  James Frey. Condensing, expanding, perhaps even a little exaggeration, hey, chalk it up to creative license. One of Mortenson's alleged lies is that he wrote that he visited a village in Pakistan called Korphe (the town which purportedly inspired him to start his nonprofit) in 1993 after getting lost while attempting to climb the world's second highest peak, K2. It turns out that he probably visited the village in 1994 after another attempt at climbing the mountain.

There are more examples like the one above, but I find I am neither shocked nor offended by them.  And here is why: people generally won't donate to a cause unless they are asked, whether this is via ads on television, people on street corners, emails, catalogs, etc. Charities exist because we cannot be counted on to take care of each other without some prodding and pushing. After directing our attention to a cause they then employ tactics to make average citizens look into their hearts (and then their wallets) using combinations of bribery ("free gift with every donation!") and guilt-inducing bullying ("if you don't donate you are effectively killing the children on this screen") to fund the work they do. These tactics, while not the most efficient or tasteful, work on some level.

If Mortenson had written a book that simply bemoaned the plight of girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it never would have become the phenomenon that it is today. Mortenson was wise to weave those elements in with his own Indiana Jones-like tale because as a nation we prefer our heartbreak cut with a dose of heroism.  If Mortenson lied about the need that existed ("oh wait, there are plenty of schools for girls throughout Afghanistan!") I would have felt angry and cheated indeed. He didn't lie about the need. The need is there.

I don't want to be an apologist for those who commit crimes or defraud investors, but I am not ready to hang Greg Mortensen or his organization out to dry. It sounds like Mortenson's nonprofit suffers from moderate mismanagement (which, from my experience, is the nature of the beast when it comes to nonprofits) and would benefit greatly from some restructuring and additional oversight. Mortenson could definitely profit from taking a business class or two. But with so many criminals on Wall Street walking away scot-free (many with millions of dollars in bonuses) after swindling the American public out of their life savings, telling me that Greg Mortenson is the villain to watch out for just falls flat.

Read Three Cups of Tea. Take it not as gospel but as more of a suggestion. It is a compelling read, regardless. And most importantly, don't let programs like 60 Minutes divert your attention away from the real  frauds in this country. He may not be perfect, but there is no doubt in my mind that Greg Mortenson is at least attempting to do good work, if not completely succeeding.