Top Ten Bookbug Story Time Reads of a Decade
Chronicling (and narrowing down) stand-outs from ten years of shared stories with young people is no small task, but the experience of Story Time at Bookbug is always about more than any book alone. It is about the unique love with which a book is read and received and about the genuine community that ensues. It is our visceral and specific memories of community and camaraderie inspired by each of these books that make them our TOP PICKS of the decade upon the milestone of
STORY TIME’S 10th ANNIVERSARY.
1. Blueberries for Sal
A timeless classic for a reason: its graceful pace, familiar relationship, onomotopoeia, and favorite (Michigan) forage could all be reasons this book tops the list, but it’s Ms. Shirley’s impossibly charming (and welcome) snack surprise of just-picked blueberries in tiny, beautiful buckets that makes this book one of very few (if not only book title) that is reliably present at least once a year– during blue-tiful blueberry season at Bookbug.
Kuplink,
Kuplank,
Kuplunk.
2. Nerdy Babies : Dinosaurs
Shirley’s most-viewed and mentioned virtual storytime during a uniquely-remote summer of 2020 was the one she broadcast from Dinosaur National Monument. Her hat and curiosity about dinosaurs was sincere and kindred to the Cover-Baby and amazing facts and excavations within Nerdy Babies: Dinosaurs.
3. Homemade Love
This book is on this list for one simple, profound reason: its presence at a February Story Time in 2016 prompted a pre-schooler to say upon turn of page “She looks like me!” This recognition and moment of self-affirming representation was not lost on Ms. Shirley who saw it as pivotal (in her own life of embracing and celebrating children’s books) and beautifully/perfectly matter-of-fact in the life of this particular child.
4. Kitten’s First Full Moon
Admittedly this entirely wonderful book about Kitten being certain that a white circle in the sky is bowlful of something dear and familiar is on our list for how it has segued perfectly into one of Shirley’s most-famously loved and reliable songs: ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM.
five,
four,
three,
two,
one…
Kitten’s milk bowl is reachable, after all!
5. Potato Pants
Loved [Michigan] author Laurie Keller is a well-known, punny wordsmith and artist who always includes clever discoveries in each illustration. Potato Pants is no exception to this brilliant fun and makes our list [also] because of the dozens of kids and families who (soon after reading it together) absolutely loved helping actual potatoes find their favorite new pair of PANTS–thanks to Ms. Shirley’s steady-stash of fabric scraps and (did you know?) remarkably effictient sewing skill.
6. Julian is a Mermaid
Bookbug’s immediate love for this book, before it was published, helped bring it onto this list, but it is the fact that Julian and Abuela are both simply, naturally, gorgeously, and irresistably full of Love and Pride that we can’t help but to recognize how it offers every child an opportunity to dive into these very things themselves.
7. Very Good Hats
Hat-themed story time has been a hit since Bookbug’s very-earliest days, and this new book from Emma Straub has breathed exhuberantly fresh life into the comfort, necessity, desire, and spirit of donning a covering on one’s head. Hats off (and on) to Very Good Hats for making our list!
8. Penguin Problems
Well before SEL (Social Emotional Learning) became a buzzed acronym in the kids’ book world, great kids books knew that we all have (frustrating, sincere, humorous, kindred) Problems. It’s this true fact alongside the hilarious writing of Penguin Problems that make this longtime favorite book still reached for during Bookbug Story Times. Cold Beaks and (and for) All.
9. Elephant & Piggie
Confusing conundrums, humorous misunderstandings, and disappearance of a third wall (seeing a dear reader) are all best when experienced with a true friend. Nobody knows this better than Elephant and Piggie. They also know that just because new readers prefer brief, sight-word-filled sentences does not mean they do not demand actual JOY–SEE [and replace Dick and Jane] with ELEPHANT & PIGGIE (and, then insert: RUN, PLAY, DRIVE, READ, NAP, PARTY, EAT, RIDE, BE SAD, BE META, and Be just about Everything Important to Young Readers). Also, these two (here below) pictured friends may be simlarly different in many ways to E&P and also have several hiliarious stories (from the past decade) to tell of their own.
10. Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur
Shhh…Crunch is as quiet and well-kept secret of a brilliantly interactive book as the character himself. Kids love being prompted to help bring Crunch out from behind his comfortable hiding spots and to let him know that him being his silly, odd, anxious, hungry self is the very thing they LOVE the most. Plus, Bookbug’s quilted Story Time blanket (made by Shirley’s mother-in-law) is always there to protect and comfort in case hiding spot needed.
Click to reserve any one of these titles from Bookbug Here.
Seven New Books We Love
In passionate voices of discerning booksellers at ‘this is a bookstore‘
Nuclear Family, by Joseph Han
Jacob, a Korean American, leaves his home in Hawaii to teach English in Korea where he finds himself possessed by the ghost of his grandfather. The ghost must return to North Korea to find the family he left upon Korea’s mid-century division and must use his grandson as a vessel across Korea’s (actual and metaphysical) demilitarized zone. Jacob is then caught and taken into custody, and his family (who runs a chain of Korean plate-lunch restaurants in Hawaii) must face the scandal of their son breaching the Korean DMZ.
But these are just touchpoints of the narrative; it is the intergenerational trauma of ongoing Korean diaspora, the devastation of US military occupation in both Korea and Hawaii, and the often hilarious voices of family members, that are the peculiar beating heart of this book. Peculiarity is this book’s strength and compassion. It is a queer, stoner, Korean ghost story with arteries of US military occupation and its poisonous impacts, but it is also a story of loving each other through real and perceived walls, wars, and deaths. I learned so much about Korea in reading this book and about the history of that region and our (US) involvement, but what will continue to haunt, is how the division of that country decimated families who grieve their dispossession and detachment for generations. – Anne
Thistlefoot, by GennaRose Netercott
I am joining a loving chorus of bookstore enthusiasm for this Baba Yaga story about Baba’s two youngest desendents, living in America, who inherit her house on chicken legs. They are being pursued by a mysterious, supernatual being that wants to kill Thistlefoot (the name of the house itself).
We get the perspectives of both siblings — a bother who is notoriously flakey and insecure with a rough past and a flare for illusion, and a sister who is a bit of a stick in the mud, very determined, and has a haunting ability that she struggles to suppress. We also get snippets from the perspective of the house, shedding light on some fun fictional stories, and also some truly tragic backstory.
This book is hightly reminiscent of the ways authors such as Neil Gaiman pull from fables and mythology and mimic vibrant oral storytelling with the written word. What a joy of a read. – Gideon
The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O’Farrell
This eerie historical novel opens with a teenage bride, Lucrezia de Mecidici, realizing her husband is plotting to kill her. From this propulsive start, O’Farrell imagines a rich story filled with palace intrigue, quest for power, and lust during the Italian Renaissance.
As a big fan of Florentine history in the time of the Medici’s, I LOVED this book. O’Farrell paints a vivid picture of life as a woman in the peasant and ruling class. I couldn’t put it down. – Mary
The Last White Man, by Mohsin Hamid
“The way people act around you…it changes WHO you are.” Hamid’s surreal offering in this beautiful novel invites us into the lives of: Anders, a white man who suddenly wakes up with dark brown skin, and Oona, his friend and ex-partner who is white and struggling with the loss of her twin brother. Kafkaesque metamorphosis centers this story, and Hamid’s words are pressing, lyrical, hopeful, and swift. This is a unique and compelling investigation of identity, race, change, and how humans travel through the world. It was a deeply moving and important read. – Karly
Babel: An Arcane History, by R.F. Kuang
R.F. Kuang is an author I trust to delve into the grit, the horrors, the details of history (particularly Chinese history) with a magical lilt. Having loved Kuang’s Poppy War trilogy; a spiraling tragedy that pulls inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese war and is heavy on war, politics, strategy, and the cost of it all–I was eager to read this latest; Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of Oxford Translator’s Revolution. Yes, take in the whole title, Kuang is a PHD student in East Asian Languages and Literature at Yale and it shows through her work (there are footnotes in Babel!).
Babel is a dark academia exploration of colonialism (British Imperialism, colonial resistance), racism, identity translation and language (as a tool /weapon), student revolutions, friendship and so much more.
The protagonist is Robin Swift (chosen name) an orphan from Canton, brought to London by Professor Lovell from Oxford, with the intent to train at the translation institute at Oxford. Robin is sheltered at Oxford with a strong cohort, nestled into a seeming fairytale utopia. But of course, this vision does not hold. Robin must confront the division between the bubble of Oxford and the world/culture he came from and untimately chose a side. Following Robin and his cohort through their time at school and beyond will enthrall and devastate you. – Calla
Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
I know I don’t have to convince the many avid fans of Tamsyn Muir and this extraordinary series, but I’d love to offer some fast facts about Nona:
— this book, like its predecesors, is tonally unique and more like a warm hug with is lovable characters and narrator, who may be just as confused as the reader.
— despite its gentle tone, it is just as devastating, answering many burning questions and replacing them with more.
— It has the bestest good dog named Noodle, who has 6 legs.
— it was meant to be the first act of the final book, Alecto the Ninth, but Nona grew into her own installment.
— Alecto will be the final book due out fall of next year. – Gideon
A Map For the Missing, by Belinda Huijang Tang
This is a stunning debut novel set in 1990’s China. A young college professor returns to his childhood home from the U.S. following a call from his mother that his elderly father is missing. Flashbacks to the culrual revolution create a beautiful story that reckons with the costs of pursuing one’s dreams and the lives left behind. A spectacular, devastating read! – Mary
Our Booksellers Recommend (September 2021)
Reading is our joy and our purpose. Here are the books that have lifted and inspired us in recent weeks.
Click on active links to reserve copy(ies) in-store now.
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Three friends in their late-twenties, their recent, layered histories and anxieties in-tune to contemporary human life on earth, including: the injustice of our world’s economic model, the destruction of our climate and natural resources, the ease with which one feels disconnected and hopeless, make a stunning discovery– by way of their rich conversations, personal failings, and yes, grippingly graceful and explicit, physical intimacies–of the precise location of actual beauty in this world, that is: within, between and around us, in our honest, vulnerable relationships to one another and to the horrible, beautiful world itself. I cherished so much about this book. – Joanna
TBH I have no reason to read horror a novel. I have never even seen a slasher movie. But Wow. Jones is spectacular at what he does in this book, reversing the troupe of women in the ‘slasher’ narrative by creating a truly badass and compelling female protagonist. This book is insanely scary, a step more violent than Stephen King, and I am highly recommending it as this year’s Halloween go-to book for adults. – Cheryl
Humans are the scariest creatures of all, and Mary Roach is amazing. FUZZ is a detailed account of life in the animal wild and how humans impact and engage with it. Roach travels the world to bring insight to the compatibility and the culpability we share with the other species on our planet, and I now have a new understanding of my role as a member of the animal kingdom thanks to this amazing book. – Cheryl
What if the concept of having everything that the culture you inhabit tells you is desirable: a comfortable apartment in your country’s urban center, a kind (if inattentive) life partner, two miraculously curious and loving children, & access to all items and services that indicate a desired class status–shifts suddenly (though not entirely unexpectedly, much like any actual earthquake on the island of Japan) upon your falling into a new intriguing, authentic, and uplifting relationship? Emily Itami investigates this particular Fault Line with extraordinary grace, intelligence and humility. I loved everything atmospheric and thematic about this book, but it was the keen voice of its narrator that sits with me still. – Joanna
The merging of the world’s largest social media, search engine, and e-commerce tech companies would be an impossible premise to stomach if not for this book’s hilariously crafted scenes and service as profound parable, not to mention its author’s choice in active remedy to our impending digital overload and economic dysfunction by insisting this particular book be encountered only at physical, independent bookstores. I recommend it in all/any of its various, brilliant, beautiful book jacket designs that can (likewise) only be chosen from at your local indie. –Joanna
Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch
As per usual, Rivka Galchen does not disappoint: Witty, sly, simultaneously satirical and sincere.
Katharina is a proud, smart, decent woman living in 17th century Germany during a plague. Widowed, she raised three children, one of whom happens to be Johannes Kepler, Imperial Mathematician and early charter of the stars and planets. She’s a good-natured busybody who offers tinctures and poultices for whatever may ail her neighbors, and she adores Chamomile, her cow. And she’s been accused of being a witch.
Based on actual letters and court documents, Galchen’s telling of Katharina’s tale is one of corruption, mob mentality, fearmongering, and governmental incompetence. On the nose, yes, but even so, Katharina is a crackerjack and a charming companion. Highly recommend. – Anne
After being placed in a special-needs class because of her gradual grasp of a second language, 7 year-old Qian teaches herself English by way of numerous ubiquitous American children’s books: Clifford, Shel Silverstien, The Babysitter’s Club among many. Teaching herself English is the precursor to her time in America, full of sacrifice and struggle, and Qian remembers much in detail: the shouting at the dinner table, the uniformed officers at the fancy building, the first gift she was given in the Beautiful Country, the sweatshops, her mothers illness and lack of healthcare, the hot feeling in her stomach each time a friend pulled out money to buy something she couldn’t afford, practicing the phrase over and over again “I was born in this country”. She recounts the hunger she felt in America and the fear to attach herself to anyone or anything. Her account is both honest and harshly critical of the literal Chinese Translation of America as Beautiful Country—Syd
One of my favorite books of the year. The writing made me feel like I was floating serenely through the story, but the emotional ride is nonetheless layered, intense and breathtakingly beautiful. Crying in the H Mart is an ode to human connections–fractured and whole, and to the memory that pieces us each together. A simple and profound life meditation that I simply loved. – Cheryl
After the passing of his grandmother, Michael is ripped from his home in Trinidad and sent to live with his very religious aunt in Canada, surrounded by mostly white families. He longs for the vibrant culture and community of Trinidad as he takes us through each era of his life. The presence of his biological parents is at first distant, then a direct burden. Finally, upon closing the door on them for good, they become a part of how Antonio takes an honest account of his life and his actions.
Throughout the memoir, we come to know several versions of Antonio, each one representing a different musical persona, each one leading him down a path of self-discovery. I loved getting to meet each different version of Antonio, and I greatly related to the idea that each different nickname we have is carried by a different persona that exists within us. The nostalgia that Antonio has for his home in Trinidad leaks through every part of the book, entirely encompassing us in the emotions and tragedies that Antonio takes with him from one place to the next. – Syd
A delicious, pulpy, Hitchcockian slow burn of a novel that had me feeling as if I had entered a neurotic fun house. The portrait of a wealthy socialite with the wheels falling off… though Feito doesn’t play her cards all at once. She methodically picks and pulls at each tiny seam until what is left reflected in the mirror makes you gasp in shocked delight!
Beneath her mint-green gloves, Mrs. March has the familiar, visceral underpinnings of all classic thrillers, but Feito’s delightfully biting prose breathes sylish, provocative life–and sometimes even humor– into a story of psychological unraveling.
For fans of Shirley Jackson, Patricia Highsmith, Hitchcock, Ira Levin, and all that weird jazz 🙂 – Karly
This book has me waiting with impatient excitement for its Book #2. I’m really picky about urban fantasies, especially centering werewolves, and this one was so beautifully complex, queer and intriguing, I couldn’t put it down. There is intricate social commentary on race and police brutality, a plethora of deep queer characters and relationships, and a handful of plot lines that don’t seem related until they begin to converge at the end, in an epic world-expansion moment. I can’t wait to see where this goes next. – Gideon
Five Beautiful New Picture Books (Sept 2021)
Is there anything more essential than a perfect picture book?
Here are five that have made us pause in recognition of their absolute necessity.
Click on active links to reserve your copy(ies) in-store now.
What a lovely book about a guide dog and his very important job. This is such a great read-aloud and a wonderful teaching tool. I absolutely LOVE Vincent. – Juliette
A gorgeous and deeply emotional contemplation on time and all the different things it can be. Each page of this book is chock full of beauty and nostalgia, and I am certain that this story will grow to mean something more with each read. Perfect for grown-ups and children and everyone in-between (and in) us all. – Amy O.
Take a trip to the zoo with the pale and fashion-forward Dracula family as they visit old friends and make new ones! A mischevious penguin and littlest vampire swap places for the day. Will the Draculas discover the switch? This book is great, great quirky fun. – Steph
Caterpillar wants to throw a party, but all his friends are busy. His brilliant solution makes for a hilarious story. It’s absurd – in the best way! A celebration of the imagination, with lots to see on each fabulously illustrated page. Sometimes in life we have to make our own fun. Although, in this case, Noemi Vola has made the fun for us. – Beverly
For any child or caretaker who understands the bond between a young person and their steadiest bedtime (or all-time) companion, this book’s celebration of the simple bearness of Bear and fact that Bear can be both All The Things and the only one thing that matters: “full of love“–is a beautiful, rythmic, bold affirmation for bedtime or–as a perfect gift alongside a cuddly stuffed bear–anytime – Joanna
Staff Picks – May 2021
May the books keep us poised for another transformational summer in 2021. Stop in (or click links) to choose a brand-new one (or two, or three, or four…) Here are a few that our staff recommends.
The Little Things
by Christian Trimmer, Illustrated by Kaylani Juanita
An adorable story about paying it forward. One little act of kindness can build and build and actually change a community for the better! Fantastic art with wonderful representation and a really important message shared in a kind and very sweet way.
—Amy O.
Cyclopedia Exotica
by Aminder Dhaliwal
This volume of cartoons is a rad work of social satire in which the world is composed of two types of folks: Cyclopes and Two-Eyes. Dhaliwal’s great wit helps the bitter pill of how badly people treat each other go down with a snort. Puns abound! My affection for the cyclopes was immediate. They navigate all aspects of life while enduring marginalization, sometimes gracefully, sometimes angrily, sometimes comically. The reader sees not only these public and personal interactions, but also how they continue to resonate in the inner lives of the cyclopes. It is kooky and rings true, delightful and deep at once.
––Beverly
Black Water Sister
by Zen Cho
This is a coming of age urban fantasy. What do you do when you’ve just graduated, moved to Malaysia with your parents and started hearing the voice of your dead grandmother? A lot. Jess, a closeted queer, doesn’t know what to do and suddenly finds herself in a world of gods, ghosts, gangsters, and family secrets. She mixes the spirit world with everyday Malaysia, tackling family ties, coming out, and growing into your own person.
—Calla
The Rock from the Sky
by Jon Klassen
Jon Klassen knows how to make the simplest dialogue absolutely laugh-out-loud funny. Each of the characters are drawn so simply, yet so expressively. I maybe find this book a little too relatable…
— Juliette
13 Things Strong Kids Do
by Amy Morin
Oh goodness! What an important book for kids (and adults)! Offering real-life scenarios in subjects like setting boundaries and owning our mistakes, this is a fun and interactive way to tackle big and tough moments. Empowering!
—Karly
The Anthropocene Reviewed
by John Green
For avid fans of John Green, this is him at his most solemn and introspective. Yet this book radiates an awe and faith that had me tearing up — in appreciation — throughout. As Green notes various elements of human life, from our temporal range as a species, to the artwork of the Lascaux Caves, he connects to small moments of his own life, the lives of those long passed and expresses a profound faith in us all. This book was the steadiest and most intense form of catharsis I’ve felt in a while, and after this year, I definitely needed it.
—KT
Fortune Favors the Dead
by Stephen Spotswood
Equal parts pulpy and intelligent, like a Flavia de Luce novel in film noir garb. The crime-solving duo is a teen who ran away with the circus and talks like Philip Marlowe and a knife-throwing private detective with MS. Someone’s been MURDERED!!! With a crystal ball! At a Halloween Party! Whodunnit?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
—Phil
Stamped (For Kids)
Adapted by Sonja Cherry-Paul
You loved Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning and Jason Reynolds’ YA adaptation Stamped: Race, Racism, and You; now get ready to share this powerful work with a new world of young readers. Like Kendi’s original work, Stamped (For Kids) makes a distinction between segregationists (“people who hate you for not being like them”), assimilationists (“people who like you only if you act like them”), and antiracists (“They love you because you are you”). Dr. Cherry-Paul expertly breaks down the history of race and racism in language that is accessible, informative, and engaging for older-elementary and middle-school readers.
—Sally
Facing the Mountain
by Daniel James Brown
Vividly told, meticulously researched story of Japanese American young men during WWII. Through the words and actions of specific people he got to know, Brown tells the stories of Pearl Harbor, incarceration, army induction, war, concentration camps, atomic bomb, and reintegrating into society. History comes alive!
—Shirley
Women Street Photographers
Edited by Gulnara Samoilova
Starkly beautiful, intimate, and extraordinarily ordinary — immerse yourself in the world of women street photographers, collected in this volume by Gulnara Samoilova. An essential, remarkable addition to any coffee table, personal library, or (high school or college) classroom.
—Steph
Kim’s Corner
Store Manager Kim reads so much, they couldn’t choose just one favorite for this month!
Too Bright To See
by Kyle Lukoff
Sometimes we need a little help to realize who we really are. This book is perfect for anyone who loves a good, only-kind-of-spooky-but-not-at-all-terrifying ghost story, and is an amazing own-voices self-discovery narrative about a young trans boy approaching middle school and understanding grief.
I could not put this one down!
—Kim
How to Resist Amazon and Why
by Danny Caine
This book dives deep into the many ways amazon negatively affects the world’s data privacy, work culture, and economy. While this book is written by an indie bookseller, it goes far beyond calling out unfair bookselling competition in defense of local economies. The invasive breaches of privacy, data harvesting, work safety deterioration, union retaliation, and misleading publicity are all important reasons to resist reliance on a global, power-hungry behemoth.
—Kim
I AM NOT A WOLF
by Dan Sheehan
A hilarious choose-your-own-adventure for grownups based on the twitter account @SickofWolves. You are definitely not a WOLF. You are a very normal HUMAN. See how far you can get without revealing your true identity (or ugly crying with laughter!)
—Kim
The Secret to Superhuman Strength
by Alison Bechdel
From the brilliant mind of Alison Bechdel (author of Fun Home and Essential Dykes to Watch For) comes the newest meditation on aging and wellness. A graphic memoir told through a series of athletic endeavors seeking out the secret to superhuman strength, we process what it means to experience the ongoing seasons of life.
—Kim
Sorrowland
by Rivers Solomon
This is my favorite book of 2021. Solomon weaves together themes of race, gender, queerness, conspiracy, and survival, to create a truly intense and beautiful book. The pacing is gripping and makes it difficult to put down, but once you do, the deeply complex characters and powerful use of tone stick with you forever.
—Kim
And, because there is – somehow – never enough time to review every new book we love — here’s a few more to consider on your next trip to this is a bookstore!
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
May marks Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and it seems almost unfair to try to fit so many unique cultures, stories, and voices into just one month. Such is the way with any of the many “celebratory months,” I suppose, so it falls on all of us to bring a thoughtful consciousness to whose stories are only celebrated at specific times of year (and whose seem to be omnipresent), and strive to honor as diverse an array of voices as possible, at all times.
This month carrys a particular weight in 2021, a year that has seen the spectre of white supremacy turn increasingly – and violently – on Asian Americans. And so we take a moment, brief though it may be, to uplift a few of our favorite recent books that feature Asian American authors and characters.
For Kids
Watercress by Andrea Wang
A beautiful new picture book about a young girl who feels embarrassed by her family, until she learns a bit more about their history, based on the author’s own childhood.
But as a kid, Wang remembers feeling disconnected from her history — “unmoored.” Her greatest hope for Watercress is that it inspires families to have these difficult conversations.
“I think it’s really important for families to share what they can,” she says. “So that kids know that history and can feel a sense of pride in their culture. No matter where they’re from.”
Samantha Balaban, NPR
Bindu’s Bindis by Supriya Kelkar
Thao by Thao Lam
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho
Middle Grades / Young Adult
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
I was stopped by the cover and title of this book. San Francisco , Chinatown and North Beach. This is a story broke my heart and re-stitched together and made it whole in an entirely new way. YA first love has never been portrayed finer for me than in these pages. SF in 1954 is not the city I love, McCarthy and fear of different looms as the Hu family pushes against the white norms of the time. The reader will find the parallels within our country today. Beautiful, smart girls fall in love against the back drop of distrust, family, honor and science. It is the story of truth and identity. Simply wonderous.
—Cheryl
Amina’s Song by Hena Khan
Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi
Non-Fiction
Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner
Likely best known to the public as the singer and guitarist Japanese Breakfast, Zauner spends Crying in H Mart detailing the disorientation that her grief gave rise to, weaving food into her process of mourning… Food is more than an anchor for Zauner as she navigates loss. She also uses it to construct her identity as a biracial woman, one she experienced in fractured terms being raised by a white American father and Korean mother in the States. Grief seems to split this internal crisis open…
Mayuk Sen, The Atlantic
Food can teleport us to a lost moment from the past, a version of the world where we can find those we’ve lost.
Every Day Is a Gift by Tammy Duckworth
Heart of Fire by Mazie K. Hirono
From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry by Paula Yoo
Fiction
Gold Diggers
by Sanjena Sathian
This book is an absolute delight! It’s got a bit of everything — teenage insecurity, a wedding expo jewelry heist, and a twist of alchemy. Gold Diggers follows Neil Narayan, a second-generation Indian-American, as he comes of age in Atlanta and later as he pursues (well, grudgingly inches toward) a history PhD in the Bay Area. Sathian explores themes of ambition, family loyalty, guilt, and identity, in this debut novel that is funny and smart, with tinges of sorrow and mysticism.
—Sally
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto
Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng
This post just barely scratches the surface of brand-new books we love by AAPI authors! Browse more selections on our featured tables: at Bookbug and this is a bookstore
Also, for a collection of audiobooks featuring Asian American and Pacific Islander authors, visit: https://libro.fm/aapi
Why Independent Bookstores?
As we celebrate Independent Bookstore Day this weekend – on Saturday, April 24 – we decided to take a moment to reflect on some of the things that make independent bookstores such special places. What makes independent bookstores, and in particular the little corner of the world we call home at Bookbug & this is a bookstore, such comfortable places to shop, empowering places to work, and integral parts of a community? Here are a few of our favorite things.
Our shelves are filled by people with brains and hearts, not by computer algorithms.
At big chain bookstores – so we’ve heard – purchasing decisions come from way up high. Someone in an office looks at projections of what will sell and orders huge quantities of books by authors with famous names. At an indie bookstore, every book you see on our shelves and tables was chosen by one of our team members. We get to think not only about what the publishers believe will be popular, but also what we each, individually, feel excited about and want to hand-sell. We get to decide what to curate, carry, and uplift. We get to create displays that feature voices and stories that might otherwise go unheard or unseen. This makes for a more interesting, diverse collection, and also booksellers who feel empowered to put our hearts onto the shelves and into your hands.
“Why do I love working here? I’m surrounded by books!”
— Steph
It’s good to be where everyone knows your name.
Because of our Gratitude Rewards Program, we start each transaction by asking for shoppers’ names. After not too long, many booksellers start to remember regulars’ names and automatically pull up their accounts right away without asking. The same goes for frequent patrons of the Cafe. We love being able to greet someone with “Welcome back! Can I get your regular started for you?” It feels good to be known, and it feels good to give the gift of being known.
Sometimes customers are surprised, and they’re often quite tickled, to be known by their local bookstore. As we like to say, there are probably worse places to be a “regular”!
Book people are special people.
People shop at independent bookstores because they care about books, because they want to raise kids and grandkids who care about books, because they want to be part of a wold where books and ideas matter. Indie bookstore shoppers know that books might cost more here than at those online giants, and they’re willing to make that investment not only in the pages they take home, but in the store itself, and its people. Book people are excited about new releases and equally thrilled to discover an old favorite among the stacks. Book people are our people, forever.
“I love people, I love kids, I love books, I love community. To work at the intersection of things I love is a true joy.
— Shirley
We’re part of the community. We are community.
Being an independent bookstore means that we are part of this place, and no other. It means that we celebrate authors and unique products that are specifically from HERE. It means that we get to count our neighbors, our dentists, our kids’ teachers, and our friends among our shoppers. It means that we understand, in a way that a larger entities cannot, the unique gifts and challenges of our city. When Kalamazoo celebrates, we celebrate. When Kalamazoo mourns, we mourn. When Kalamazoo strives for a vision, a promise of a better future, we add our voice to the striving.
“The sense of ownership in the community. Comfort, feelings of home, curated inventory, personal connection in all aspects of the job… Lovely piles of books…”
— Cheryl
We get to bring our wholes selves to work, every day.
Bookstore employees are weird and wonderful people. Among our team of booksellers and baristas, you’ll find grandparents and recent college grads, a mural artist and a published children’s book illustrator, full-time teachers and three people with PhDs, popular local musicians, and an immensely broad wealth of knowledge and unique expertise. Not only does this diversity mean that we are better able, as a team, to help shoppers find their new favorite book or the perfect coffee, but it also makes this a pretty rad place to work.
Knowing that your coworker may not share your same specific nerdiness, but they definitely have their own — that’s pretty great.
Knowing that your manager, Kim or Kasey, is going to get to know the specific parts of your job that bring you the most joy and make sure you get to do those things as much as possible — that’s pretty great.
Knowing that your experiences, your boundaries, your pronouns, and your whole self will not only be accepted but whole-heartedly embraced — that’s really great.
Indie Bookstores – Now and Always
The last year has been hard for everyone, and small local businesses like bookstores have certainly seen our share of challenges. We have also been overwhelmed by the generosity, care, patience, enthusiasm, and genuine support of our community. We are here because you are here. And on Independent Bookstore Day, as on all days, we are grateful.
Staff Picks – April 2021
April has showered us with a plethora of great new books! Here are several of our booksellers’ recent favorites.
Best Friend in the Whole World
by Sandra Salsbury
I was a quiet child who was prone to having more imaginary friends than real ones. This beautiful book deeply spoke to that child and told her that it was okay – wonderful even! – to have both. With impeccable, delicate illustrations that melt my heart, this is a tender story about friendship and doing the right thing, even if it’s hard sometimes. I connected immediately with the protagonist Roland and fell absolutely in love with his friend Milton. I know everyone else will, too.
— Amy
Broken (in the best possible way)
by Jenny Lawson
If you’ve ever lost the shoe on your foot, struggled with depression, or said the weirdest possible thing to a stranger, this is a book for you. Jenny Lawson knows how to make us laugh and cry, despite our insecurities, despite the insurance companies. Above all, Jenny Lawson knows how to make us feel more human than ever.
—Syd
by Tanya Boteju
Daya relies on her tough exterior to push down the trauma of losing both her parents in a tragic car accident, throwing herself (literally) into skateboarding and using the bruises and sore muscles to distract from difficult feelings. As her emotional pain becomes harder to control, she hopes to up her bruise game in roller derby. What she finds instead is undersanding, friendship, support, and a new definition of strength.
— Kim
by Morgan Jenkins
Centered around the Melancons women and their crumbling brownstone in Harlem during the late 1990’s. Everyone knows (and whispers about) the women for their secret caul, a thin layer of extra skin that protects its bearer. Some believe. Some do not. It’s not a public discussion. That is, until Laila Reserve, who is desperate for a baby, loses yet another pregnancy, very publicly, after attempting to buy a piece of caul from the Melancons. The neighborhood witnesses her breakdown. Can you sell anything that is yours? To anyone? (At any price?) Can you refuse? We are taken through the next 20 years of this Harlem neighborhood as their families grieve loss and question tradsition. They stand together in Black motherhood, push forward in ambition, face gentrification, and feel the painful tearing apart of family that is the unique destruction from generations of secrecy. This is a gorgeous novel of feminist folk magic.
— Amy
Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story
Remaking a Life from Scratch
by Erin French
Founder of the unique and wildly successful Lost Kitchen restauerant, Erin French provides a brutally honest narrative of the determination, against all odds, to build a distinctive restaurant in rural Maine. This is a page-turning memoir that reads like a novel. An amazing story!
— Mary
I’m Waiting for You
and other stories
by Kim Bo-Young
Melancholy leads to hope. Isolation leads to connection. Rebellion leads to understanding. In this collection of science fiction novellas, South Korea’s Kim Bo-Young uses the eternal expanse of the universe to ask and contemplate the most intimate of human questions. A compelling and delightful read.
—Rod
by Willy Vlautin
Second chances are hard to come by. Lynette has worked her ass off to save enough money to buy her family’s home. When the bottom falls out of her plan, we watch her increasing desperation to find another way. Haunted by past events that keep crawling into the light, Lynette’s determination is something to behold. Gritty, realistic fiction for fans of Ottessa Mosfegh and Raymond Carver (also Breaking Bad).
— Beverly
by Julia Fine
A white-knuckle commentary on the taboos of new motherhood, but in turn also a ghost story of sorts with fear and desire always bubbling just beneath the surface. I truly cared and worried for these characters until the end and beyond. Fine’s powerful and acerbic voice shines a light that is oftentimes blinding.
This book was actually pretty difficult for me in the beginning as a mother, so there may be some trigger warnings there (post partum, mental health etc). But after the first 2 chapters it really took off for me. Shirley Jackson-y at times but very much its own thing. Definitely kept my heart in my throat and a blistering page-turner.
— Karly
by Paula McClain
This will get your heart racing! Missing persons detective Anna Hart is on the run from her own life. While grieving in Mendocino, she gets involved in a missing person case which might or might not be related to an unsolves crime from when Anna was a teen. Can she solve the crime? This psychological thriller explores the effects of trauma on individuals and communities.
—Shirley
And finally, a small collection with a musical theme…
Booksellers Christine and Sally were chatting recently and realized they were both reading (and loving!) books that had been dubbed as “this year’s Daisy Jones and the Six.” Readers have loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “Daisy Jones” since it debuted in 2019, and it seems that publishing reps are eager to help Daisy’s fans find their next favorite book.
Enter Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton. Mary Jane, like Daisy Jones, is coming of age in the 1960s/70s, in a world of “drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Opal & Nev, like Daisy Jones, is told as an oral history, crafted from snippets of interviews and “editors notes” from the novel’s characters. Two books as different from each other as they are from “Daisy Jones,” yet all united by a spirit of self-discovery and young women’s empowerment through music.
by Jessica Anya Blau
I went into Mary Jane cautiously; Daisy Jones and the Six had been such a fun summer read that I doubted this could hold up. I was wrong. Daisy was fun, Mary Jane is going to stay with me for a lot longer.
Set in the mid 70s, 14-year-old Mary Jane becomes the summer nanny for Dr. and Mrs. Cone who live down the street. At first, she is aghast at how they live — messy, unconcerned with appearances, and never cooking meals. But as the summer goes on, she falls in love with the whip-smart 5-year-old, becomes friends with Dr. Cone’s rock star patients, and starts to envision a life different from the one she’s seen her parents live. The book is full of life, fun, love, and music. I can’t wait for it to release in May so I can start gleely shoving it into people’s hands!
— Christine
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
by Dawnie Walton
When Opal, a young Black woman from Detroit, starts performing with Neville Charles, a British musician still waiting to hit it big, both of their lives are changed forever. Four decades later, after Nev has gone on to a successful solo career and Opal has faded into obscurity and cult popularity, journalist Sunny Shelton seeks out the duo to tell the story of their unlikely partnership and the 1971 rock festival performance that left their drummer (and Sunny’s father) dead. Opal, Nev, and Sunny are joined by an exquisite cast of supporting characters (I swear Virgil LaFleur will be portrayed by Titus Burgess in the inevitable future film adaptation), and the full-cast audiobook is a particular treat.
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is a novel intimiately grounded in real music history. Recommended pairing: Hanif Abdurraquib’s A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance — an intimate, personal reflection on Blackness, art, and survival.
— Sally
We love picture books!
Read more about these and other new titles on our front table
https://www.bookbugkalamazoo.com/newest-picture-books-bookbug
Meet a Bookseller: Shirley
Hello, friends!
Hello, friends!
Hello, friends!
It’s time to read a book.
If you happened to stop by Bookbug on a Thursday morning in the last 8 years or so, there’s a good chance you’ve witnessed the magic that is Storytime with Miss Shirley.
Every Thursday at 10am, from March 2013 until March 2020, Shirley Freeman, better known to many as Miss Shirley, has hosted a special storytime gathering for local kids and caregivers. In the last year, of course, Storytime has had to move online, but Miss Shirley has faithfully kept up with her devoted followers on our this is a youtube channel.
Each week, Miss Shirley chooses a theme – inspired by an important holiday, the changing seasons, or just something nice like “hugs” or “birds” – and reads books that talk about that theme. One of her favorite themes, which she revisits each summer, is “blueberries,” featuring Blueberries for Sal and a special snack for each child.
There are songs, like “Hello, Friends” and “Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, We’re Going to the Moon!” and usually a craft or activity. She has even welcomed special guests, like the Very Hungry Caterpillar!
In “normal” times, the Storytime crowd has tended to be made up of some of the very youngest kiddos — pre-preschoolers, often with a Grammie or Papa in tow. During summers and school breaks, older siblings love to come back and see Miss Shirley again. And you’d better bet she remembers all of their names.
Shirley started working at Bookbug in September of 2012. After her own three children had grown up and “flown the nest,” she was thrilled to see a job post looking for someone to join the team for a couple of evenings each week. She jumped at the opportunity to work at one of her favorite local stores and be around books and kids – two of her favorite things!
Miss Shirley is an avid reader of books for grown-ups too, reading broadly among new fiction releases, as well as memoirs and books on social justice issues. Some of her recent favorites include:
Caste (adult non-fiction)
The Bad Muslim Discount (adult fiction)
Love is the Way (adult non-fiction)
How to Mars (adult fiction, due out in May)
Morningside Heights (adult fiction, due out in June)
Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame (middle-grade)
Just Like That (middle-grade)
In addition to reading, Shirley loves being outdoors – hiking, biking, swimming, and cross-country skiing. She and her husband, Jim, even made the trek to-and-from South Haven on the KalHaven Trail last fall!
Shirley and Jim also love traveling – from hiking in the Adirondaks to biking in Portugal, and a memorable family trip to Australia. One small up-side to the last year, Shirley said, was that she can record Storytime from anywhere, including while visiting two of her favorite kids (her granddaughters!) last summer.
We are so glad that Miss Shirley is part of our Bookbug family! We are grateful for all the wamrth, kindness, and joy she has shared with the families of Kalamazoo over the years. Here’s to many more Thursday Storytimes (in person again as soon as it is safe and wise to do so) in the years to come!
this is a bookblog 