What is selling well in the young adult & middle grade market?
At
BookHampton we are committed to bringing great kids to good books. Our
summer favorites include: Young Adult: The Curious Incident of the Dog in The
Night by Mark Haddon; I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
For slightly
older Young Adult: Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead and The Confessions of Max
Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. We always recommend Eudora Welty's Curtain
of Green, Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, James Thurber's My Life and Hard
Times, The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas and Lost Horizon by James
Hilton.
For Middle Readers: Our favorites include Natalie Babbit's
brilliant, The Search for Delicious. Richard Peck's Here Lies the
Librarian; De Napoli The King of Mulberry Street ; Twenty-one
Balloons by duBois; Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit, & Redwall by
Brian Jacques.
(Younger still? Ramona by Beverly Cleary and Especially Ribsy and Henry Huggins by BC; younger still? Nate The Great; and younger still: Corduroy by Don Freeman and Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.)
What do you do to get the young readers into the store? and what do you do to get them to buy once they are in the store?
Young
readers come into our stores for two reasons. Either they love to read,
or a parent is making them read. Either way the reason kids come back to
our stores is because we speak to the children directly. They are the
customer, and they are accorded the same courtesy as all our 'adult'
customers: We ask 'what have you read recently that you liked" and
"what have you read recently that you hated" (you need to know both!)
When speaking to a young reader (anyone under 16) we show them our
suggestion, then ask if it 'looks good, or are there too many words going
on." We NEVER ask 'what reading level' - that is someone's idea of
reading-as-humiliation. Grown-ups read what they want, without comment,
and kids are looking for guidance not criticism. When we sell a
"Clique"-or-similar book I augment the sale by making a face (kidding
disdain) and then offering something great to go with it - We always
ask our young readers to come back and tell us what they think. Or
email us. We listen. If they hate the book, they can come back and
exchange it.
What challenges are you facing within the industry, and how do you deal with them?
There are many challenges. Last year the economy tipped over. Money is tight. Beyond that though, the bigger issue is that reading has become overrun by trashy books - and people get tired of trash and then they get tired of reading. Think of an endless diet of mediocre meals - you lose your interest in eating. Think of the excitement of a great meal - it's the same with books. When you taste a real book the taste stays with you forever.
What makes you continue to wake up in the morning and come to your job with a smile on your face?
I'm committed to books, they are the manifestation of freedom in this country. Books enable the peaceful exchange of ideas. The smile on my face? I have great children and a great partner and a great team of booksellers- and we are all readers.
To contact Charline Spektor, you can visit www.bookhampton.com
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