John Coy at Micawbers

This Saturday, May 9 at 1:00 pm, John Coy will be visiting Micawber's Books.  John Coy is the author of many books for children.  His newest book is a Middle Grade novel titled TOP OF THE ORDER.  It's a book about baseball and friendship.  John will be reading from TOP OF THE ORDER on Saturday.

John will also read from one of his picture books, TWO OLD POTATOES AND ME.  This book is now out in paperback and is a great one for the season.  A father and daughter plant some old, seemingly useless, potatoes.  But old potatoes with eyes and sprouts turn into new, delicious potatoes.  John does a great job reading this book with kids.

Come by the store if you can this Saturday.  You can meet John Coy, enjoy some treats and take home a surprise spring-time gift.  I won't tell you what the gift is.  You'll have to come and find out.

The Birds and the Bees

I was recently reminded that "love" is in the air each spring.   This led me to think about those sometimes awkward conversations with our children about "the birds and the bees."  To help parents discuss sex and where babies come from, there are a couple books I highly recommend.

It's So Amazing!  A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies and Families by Robie Harris is a great, straight-forward book (with touches of humor) about where babies come from.  The pictures are realistic cartoons.  The discussion is very open, but geared for younger kids.  This book is good for ages 7 and up.

It's Perfectly Normal:  Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robie Harris is a good book for the next stage in the parent-child sex discussions.  The books says it's for ages 10 and up, but I recommend it for ages 12 and up.  Every child is different (as is every family) so you may want to check it out first.  Once again the pictures are realistic cartoon drawings.  The topics are important ones for middle school/junior high age kids.  It deals with topics such as sexual orientation, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual abuse.

If having "the talk" gives you cold sweats of fear, or if your child thinks talking with you about this stuff is "sooo embarrassing!" you might want to try getting the book and casually leaving it somewhere like in the bathroom.  That's what I did with It's So Amazing! and I notice that it's getting read.  This, of course, doesn't take the place of "the talk" but it might help initiate a good discussion or two.

On a related topic, as our children grow up they need good information about personal hygiene and their changing bodies.  I highly recommend that every parent get their girl a copy of The Care and Keeping of You by the American Girl Library.  It's a wonderful book that deals with taking care of a girl's body from brushing her teeth to her first bra and getting her period.  It is excellent information for girls ages 9-12.

That's it for my growing-up round-up.   Hopefully, when your child next asks a tricky question, you can confidently reach for one of these books and say, "Well, I'm glad you asked."

Spring Fever

Spring has sprung and I have a bad case of Spring Fever.  That's my excuse for not blogging for the past two weeks.  So, here is a round-up of the goings-ons as of late.  And there has been a lot of goings-ons.

•  On Saturday, April 11, Micawber's hosted children's author Laura Purdie Salas as our April "Second Saturdays" special guest.  Laura read from her new picture book, STAMPEDE! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School.  A small, but enthusiastic group enjoyed her poems as well as the fun animal activities that followed.  Kids measured how long their "wing span" was in comparison to flamingoes and flying foxes.  Kids also measured how far they could leap.  (In case you were wondering, I can jump as far as a squirrel.)

•  On Thursday, April 16 the four Micawber's booksellers held a Book Chat.  Periodically we invite people to come listen to us talk about our most recent favorite books.  The three books I talked about were The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta and Katie Loves the Kittens, by John Himmelman.  If you haven't read any of these books, RUN to your local bookstore (or library) and give them a look.  The Graveyard Book and Mudville are novels for kids (and adults!) and Katie Loves the Kittens is a very cute and funny picture book about Katie (a dog) and the new kittens in her life.

•  Speaking of dogs, my family now has a second dog.  Apparently I thought we didn't have enough to do!  Lily, a 3 year-old Shih-Tzu, has joined Lucia, our 11 year-old Wheaten Terrier, Cheech, our crazy cat, and Otter, our rabbit as official pets in the Dokas household.  I admit, last week I told Paul (my husband) that we may have crossed the line into ONE PET TOO MANY land. Like I said, I have Spring Fever and that includes little, furry, new babies.  AKA a new dog.

• Last but not least, Laura Pudie Salas and I have been doing book talks together called Animal Antics.  It has been a lot of fun!  It is also a lot of work - we have four Animal Antics this week alone!  One was pretty much a disaster (not because of us) and the others have gone very well. Today we are off to the Saint Anthony Park Library to do story time.  And tomorrow, Saturday April 25 we will be doing Animal Antics at the Como Zoo.  Come by at 12:30 if you want to catch our "show."

That's all for now.  Enjoy the Spring weather.  I know I am!

The Smell of Books

I have a very keen sense of smell.  I always have.  It can be a blessing and a curse, as you can imagine.  But, in relationship to my work, it has been a delight.  From day one, I have loved the smell of Micawber's.  Is it the old floors?  The ancient shelves? Is it all the books?  Most likely it's some wonderful combination of all these things and more.

Every day, especially first thing in the morning, I love to open the front door and breathe in the smell of the place.  I thought I was the only one who had this special olfactory relationship with the store.  But I was wrong.

Just this week, two people commented on the smell of Micawber's.  A customer entered the store, breathed deep and sighed, "I love to come here.  It smells so good."  And later, my daughter told me she loves how Micawber's smells.  I was amazed.  Perhaps my sniffer isn't so unique after all.  Or perhaps it's the power of all those books.

Have you ever opened up a brand new book, buried your nose in the crease and breathed deep? I bet you have.  It's a great smell.  Now imagine a whole bunch of those new books in a store that knows about books, that's old with books.  That's what makes the smell of Micawber's so appealing.  No Kindle 2 will ever smell as good.

So next time you're in the neighborhood, stop by for a smell.  You'll be glad you did.

Fan Mail

Yippee Skippee!  I got my first ever Fan Mail this week!  Granted, it was clearly an "assignment" given by a teacher.  But, none-the-less, it was still Fan Mail.

Last Sunday I did an author event at The Red Balloon bookstore in St. Paul.  It was a lot of fun. While I was there, I was given a packet of letters from the students of St. Paul Open School.  I used to work at St. Paul Open School many years ago as an English and drama teacher.  The elementary students at Open School recently read my book, MURIEL'S RED SWEATER, and then wrote to me about the book.

Here are a few of my favorite letters:

"Dear Dara,

Thank you for letting us read the book you wrote.  My favorite part was everything.  Love, R."  

(This letter included a big picture of a duck wearing a red sweater.)

"Dear Dara Dokas,

Thank you for the book.  It was funny when she was unraveled.  I can't believe I'm writing to a writer and really going to send it.  Sincerely, your friend, K."

"Dear Dara Dokas,

We read your book.  We was so happy because we like your book.  Best Friend Forever, S."

"Dear Dara,

I love your book and the pictures are so funny.  When I look at the pictures they make me laugh.  Thank you.  P."

"Dear Dara Dokas,

I really like your book: MURIEL'S RED SWEATER! By C."

(The picture at the bottom shows a big, happy sun and two people.  Over one person it says "me" and over the other it says "you.")

I could go on and on.  The letters were so sweet.  I'm writing a note back to the students at Open School to tell them how much I enjoyed their letters.  And I hope in school, they can write and illustrate books of their own!

It's at times like these when I feel so lucky to be a children's writer.  It can't get much better than that.

Mud & Baseball

I just finished, MUDVILLE, a debut young adult novel by local author Kurtis Scaletta.  And it was great!  I have to admit, it took me a little while to pick up the book because I thought - It's about baseball and I don't really care all that much about baseball.  And you know what?  It is about baseball, but it's more importantly about character.

The main character, Roy, and his father live in Moundville, where it has been raining constantly for the last 22 years, ever since Moundville played baseball against rival town Sinister Bend. Now, Roy comes home from baseball camp (in a sunny town) to find a boy about his age sitting on his couch.  It's Sturgis, a lanky boy with scars and a prosthetic ear.  And he's staying!

Will it ever stop raining?  Will they ever play ball again in Moundville?  What happened to the people of Sinister Bend? And who the heck is Sturgis?  I won't say anymore, except read the book to find out what happens.  You won't be disappointed.

And if you'd like to meet the author, Kurtis will be at Micawber's this Saturday, March 14 at 1:00 pm.  Come by to hear him read from MUDVILLE, meet "Chuck" the baseball-loving puppet, and eat some baseball-related treats.  Can you ask for anything more?

P.S.  Kurtis loves cats.  In this photo, one of his many cats is chewing on his manuscript!

Radiator Blues

March is a goofy month for weather in Minnesota.  Some days feel so warm and sunny that I'm convinced Spring is just around the corner.  Then we get nailed with a huge snow storm.  I have to remind myself that March is still WINTER!  In fact, statistically, March is the snowiest month in Minnesota.  I'm seriously hoping that will not be the case this year.

Today, though,  is beautiful - warm(ish) and sunny.  With lots of windows in the store, it's nice to look out and see the sun.  It's also nice to see people walking by without falling down (which has happened several times this Winter!)  But with the changing weather, comes an internal store conundrum.  The radiators.

I can't say for sure, but I'm convinced that the building owners (who will remain nameless) decided to turn down the heat to save money.  This works fine on those nice March days I was talking about.  But on the cold, snowy days - not so much!

So now I have the Radiator Blues.  Some days at work it's so cold, I have to put my coat back on.  We call the "powers that be" and sometimes the radiators begin to creak back to life.  But other days, they just stand there like frozen behemoths, good for nothing except collecting dust.

The other day a book rep came to sell us books.  He is a good friend and knows our store well. He arrived that chilly day with several layers and never took off his coat.  He said, "I changed into warmer clothes when I remembered I was going to Micawber's today."  Nice.

Even the customers notice from time to time.  Luckily, not very often.  So, what can a cold bookseller do?  Do what my mother always told me.  Dress in layers.  And I mean layers.  At least 3 or 4 to be safe.

So, if you're in the neighborhood, come on in.  We have comfy chairs and lots of great books. Just remember to wear your jacket.

Here are some late-winter children's book recommendations:

Snow! by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Lauren Stringer

Snow Day by Komako Sakai

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Hooray for Snow! by Kazuo Iwamura

And for those of you (like me) who can't wait for Spring:

Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms by Julia Rawlinson and Tiphanie Beeke

Take care and cozy up with a good book!