The shelves did not arrive this week as promised and I'm doing my best not to spin out of control. We should be open by next weekend at the latest and you better believe that when the shelves do arrive (Thursday, PLEASE Thursday) that I will ask everyone I know to help put books on the shelves so we can open the next day. Get ready, volunteers.
In any case, I realize Christmas is right around the corner so if you would like to inquire about a specific title (I'm sure we have it) or if you want to special order something (even an adult book it would take just 2-3 business days) I can take care of it and have them wrapped for you and all you'll have to do is squeeze your way into the store filled with boxes. That is of course, if you do not want to wait until we are "really" open.
Send book inquiries to: Danielle@elephantstrunkbooks.com and I will get right back to you.
It's true, we are almost ready for business. Almost. The books have been pouring in...
Little Brown books for young readers
Our local publishing house, Charlesbridge, was our first shipment of books!
With the holidays upon us, Gloria designed a new window display that had been getting much attention and Ernest looks as handsome as ever. It's almost as if we have a "real" store.
But of course, we are still waiting for the shelves. With all this inventory we couldn't pass up doing the holiday festival on Friday night. It was a lot of work but we checked in inventory, we got the cash register ready, stacked boxes, rented tables and made displays to be open for a "sneak peek" at the Elephant's Trunk from 5-8. And we are glad we did!
This was the picture book table topped with our favorite picks and new releases. We had a raffle to win this handsome penguin.
It was so nice to have a crowd of people browsing the selection and showing their support and encouragement. We feel so lucky to be in a community filled with people who are committed to supporting their local indies and enthusiastic about reading!
This week the shelves are arriving so stay tuned for info about our opening day!
It's been awhile since my last post and I can explain. Stress, worry, panic attacks, excitement, thrills and fun, it's all almost too much for me to handle and prevents me from writing coherent blog posts. For example, on Friday I drove to the store and the UPS delivery man was waiting the door with 42 boxes. Yes, 42 boxes.
Exhibit A:
What is in those boxes you ask? Only the most wonderful toys, activities and plush from the fabulous Melissa and Doug.
There's dinosaur plush ...
And huge lions...
But don't worry you'll get to see the other gems in those boxes soon!
Soon the streets of Lexington will look like this!!
Ah, all the more beautiful with our charming projecting sign. I'm so happy to announce that it was approved and that we can move ahead and hang a real sign in a few weeks. Thanks to the Lexington Historic Districts Commission for allowing us to be the first blade sign on the street, we won't let you down! And thanks to Rich at Chatham Sign Shop for dealing with my panicked phone calls up until the last minute.
In other breaking news, we finally have a phone number and internet. Imagine!? We are really getting modern over here...You can call us at (781) 538-6131 but don't run to your phones just yet, we are still awaiting our sleek yet functional phone system.
Tomorrow I meet with the Lexington Historic District Commission for approval of our signage. I'm nervous. I went to the meeting last month so I know what I'm in for and they only recently allowed hanging signs (which is what we would love to have) so it might take some convincing. Lexington center is so beautiful and historic so it makes sense that we have to go through this process. Imagine if Mass Ave was a mess of all different signs hanging haphazardly along the street?! The center certainly would lose it's charm which is why we are trying to maintain the historic feeling while also adding a little fun.
Here's what Gloria came up with for the hanging sign:
I obviously loved it and sent it directly to the sign company and they came back with this:
I think it's perfect! We can only hope that the committee thinks so too. Wish me luck! I'll have a full report Friday.
I was so excited to find a Random House box on my doorstep Saturday morning.
That's me being VERY excited
When I really dug through it I found ARC's (advanced copies of books), a Leo Lionni mobile, bookmarks and of course and most important...The catalogs!!
Goodies!
Random House has so many great and popular titles, it will be hard to choose how many copies of each book we need and what titles to select.
Time to get ordering, this could take a long time! Any favorite Random House titles out there? What titles do you want to see on the shelves in December?
I can't even begin to describe the excitement, fun and insanity of yesterday's Trick-or-Treat in the center!! People tried to warn me that it would be overwhelming, that I should go out and buy 1000 pieces of candy but did I listen? Yes. No. Well, sort of. I bought what I thought was a lot of candy and printed 500 fliers but...An hour into the event we ran out of candy. Luckily, we had a curbside drop off of 2 giant Costco bags of treats and we were ready to go again.
The team consisted of Little Red Riding Hood (me), Hermione (Sarah) and two beautiful Witch Women (Gloria and Shirley).
There were amazing costumes out and about and some of my favorites included a little train conductor, 2 crayons, a set of golf clubs (amazing!) and I always love the snuggly little lions, bears and monkeys and of course storybook characters.
Here are some action shots from the big event!
The crowd got crazy...Maybe it had something to do with 3 people handing out candy at 1 stop?
This little cowgirl was so sweet, I even got a "Thank you!"
Sarah and the cutest little witch I've ever seen!!
Ernest watches the fun from inside his window.
Next year maybe Ernest will come out and show off his costume?! Although he is very shy.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by, we loved meeting you! Have a safe and fun Halloween!
I'm so happy to let you know that tomorrow The Elephant's Trunk is participating in the Halloween Trick or Treat in Lexington Center! We will be dressed up and handing out candy and flyers and we are hoping to win for best window display but the competition is fierce!
Ughh again with the glare! If you can see, we've dressed our Elephant, Ernest up as a pirate and added cobwebs spiders and bats with red eyes!
For more information about the fun filled afternoon click here
We will post pictures after the event, hope to see you there!
Halloween always brings me back to the glory days of childhood. I can remember the bitter Halloween nights when my mother forced a jacket around my costume, bending my fairy wings and covering up my glittertastic outfit. There were rainy Halloween nights, when I had no choice but to wear a big yellow raincoat and sit in the backseat while my mother drove from house to house, “And remember to say trick or treat!” Then there were perfect Halloween nights when in the crisp autumn night we scurried from house to house and passed witches, superheroes and mermaids. Sigh, how I miss those days.
Halloween also meant spooky stories and books about pumpkins. Today there are even more books on the market for Halloween and sometimes it’s hard to decipher which ones are great and which ones are just messes of black, orange and random witches. So here are some of my favorite throwbacks as well as some recent releases:
One title often overlooked is Chris Van Allsburg’s The Widow's Broom. I remember the wonder and excitement I felt when as a child I read the very first lines, “Witches' brooms don’t last forever.” They don’t!? No. “They grow old, and even the best of them, one day, lose the power of flight.” The story then shows what happens one autumn night when a witch and her broom fall from the sky and are discovered by the widow, Minna Shaw. The witch disappears and the widow is left with a broom that has very special powers, powers that perhaps Minna’s neighbors don’t really respect or appreciate. A thought-provoking and moody read, you simply must put this on your Halloween reading list.
Another Chris Van Allsburg favorite of mine has nothing to do with Halloween but is instead more about autumn and the changing seasons. The Stranger begins when Farmer Bailey hits a man with his truck. This “stranger” can’t remember much of anything, including who he is and so he stays with the Bailey family and helps with the harvest. While the trees all around the farm turn golden and red with the fall, the Bailey farm seems trapped in perpetual summer. Finally the stranger figures out who he is and what he has done. Don’t worry; I won’t tell you what happens, you’ll have to read it for yourself.
If you haven’t read Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, you must. It’s creepy and yet funny, harsh and yet touching. It begins with a grisly scene as “the man Jack” murders a family while they sleep sparing only a toddler who escapes and heads to the local cemetery. This toddler is Nobody Owens (Bod) and spends his childhood growing up in the cemetery with ghosts who keep him safe. The story chronicles Bod’s adventures and the constant threat of “the man Jack” finding him. The opening scene may be a bit scary but the rest is certainly kid friendly and Halloween perfection.
If you’re looking for something funnier and less scary than look no further than The School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari. If you loved The Mysterious Benedict Society (and who didn’t?!) then you’ll enjoy this book about an elite school for curing children of their worst fears. The four children sent there, all 12 years of age, are afraid of bugs, water, death and confined spaces and they soon learn that the school is not what it appears but how will they escape? Funny, quirky, and gloomy, it’s a sure hit with the middle school set.
Other books I like:
Scary Stories to tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz still gives me a major case of the heebie-jeebies. Only read it if you want a fright otherwise skip it. Yikes!
Only a Witch can Fly by Alison McGhee is a perfect picture book for reading together. Lyrical and engaging the illustrations are gorgeous and not a bit scary.
Ghosts in the House by Kazuno Kohara is visually stunning and a fun tale about a witch who moves into a house filled with ghosts. After a few attempts to get rid of them, the little witch knows just what to do with the ghosts.
I could go and on but that seems like enough for now. What are you favorite Halloween stories?!
It's true! It's true! The Elephant's Trunk has found a home right in the center of Lexington, MA. Can you believe it? No, neither can I.
The Elephant's Trunk is a full service independent children's bookshop serving children, teens, and the young at heart. Years in the making, the dream was born while in the children's literature program at Simmons College. My friend and classmate, Sarah, encouraged me to work at a wonderful independent bookstore where she was employed and thus began the grand dream. We visited shops, we schemed, and planned and avoided grad school papers. I went on to be a children's book buyer and Sarah went on to manage a store but there was something missing. I loved my job but I had a dream that really wouldn't quit. There were ups ("It's really going to happen this time!") and downs ("It didn't happen this time...") But through it all, we always believed that someday perhaps it would happen. And guess what? Someday is today!
Sure, I may not have a working store phone number right now, I might be missing some ceiling panels and dying for the carpet to come in but rest assured my friends, by December the store will be shiny and new and bursting with books.
If you can see past the glare, here is the very first window display just in time for the Halloween festivities!
The beautiful window is all Gloria's creative magic. Gloria also happens to be my mother and faithful toiler of the many Elephant's Trunk logos and future website design.
Stay tuned for more updates as we creep closer and closer to opening day!
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