ShelfTalker: A Children's Bookseller's Blog

November 13, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

What on earth are you going can you give your reader friends who need something OTHER than books? Etsy to the rescue! Once again I've pulled together an assortment of book-related suggestions for you.

A short Etsy tutorial for those of you not yet familiar with the website: If the item you've clicked on is "SOLD OUT" by the time you get to it, fear not! Click on the "store" link beneath the seller's profile (on the right-hand side of the screen) to get to their main store page. You may find another (newer) listing for that same item elsewhere in their shop, and/or info. on how you can contact the seller to ask about an item's availability.

Don't see anything below...Read More

November 10, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (7)

Let's launch a children's book illustration career right here, today, on this very blog, shall we? The other day, while preparing a post to help you with your holiday shopping, I stumbled across the work of an immensely talented young woman who has a shop on Etsy. Her name? Brigette Barrager.

Because she is reportedly tired of hearing how much her illustrations resemble some of the work by the late great Mary Blair, I will instead point out the fact that Brigette's illustrations feel fresh, hip, and playful. I love her use of color, and ...Read More

October 30, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (3)

What a great (and ambitious) idea! The blogger who writes Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves reads vintage children's books to her son and then reviews them at a rate of one per DAY, and sells some of the featured titles (most of which are currently out of print) in her Etsy store. So, for your daily fix of classic tales and illustration kitsch, check it out.  (Note that all you publishers wondering what backlist books might be worth reissuing might get some VERY good ideas here...)

This ...Read More

October 21, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The sheer ridiculousness of this video made me laugh out loud. Hope it does the same for you! John Howe (or, in his clay form, "Ickle John Howe") is an illustrator best known for his renderings of Tolkien's worlds. He and Alan Lee were the chief conceptual designers for the movies based on The Lord of the Rings, hence the focus here on Balrogs, and all the references to Gandalf. Howe's beautiful forthcoming book Lost Worlds is one of many titles we'll be featuring on our store's annual list ...Read More

October 16, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

It is not often that a book is so completely wonderful that I am compelled -- nay, FORCED -- to continue reading it to the neglect of all items on my to-do list, but today I fell into not one but two such books, and I'm NOT sorry. (Though I may well be by tomorrow when I'm facing no small number of deadlines...) For now, I am indulging in the delight of today's distractions, as Toon Tellegen's The Squirrel's Birthday and Other Parties and ...Read More