Kevin had arrived at journey’s end! He had flown hundreds of miles, and eaten thousands of biscuits. Now Max Minerva’s Marvellous Books in Bristol
was to be the final stop on his great bookshop tour. His best friend
Daisy joined him for the last leg of the journey, and when they swooped
down outside Max Minerva’s there was his other best friend Max waiting
in the doorway.
“Well done, Kevin!” shouted Max, as Kevin touched down. “You’ve visited fourteen whole bookshops! What have you learned?”
Kevin looked a bit blank. “Biscuits?” he said.
“Never mind,” laughed Max. “Come inside, and meet Jess, she’s one of the booksellers here.”
So
Kevin followed him in. He had no idea why he had been asking
booksellers all over the country the same list of questions, but it
usually seemed to end up with biscuits, so he thought he would give it
one more go. When Max introduced him to bookseller Jessica Paul, he clered his throat and put on his best interviewing voice.
Kevin: What is the best thing about being a bookseller?
Jess: Matching a book with a person and hearing all about how much they love their new find!
Kevin: What’s one way you’ve tackled a problem that your bookshop has faced during the pandemic?
Jess:
We realised how many people were searching for us online, so we
converted our website into a fully functioning e-commerce platform and
offered click and collect to save on those postage ££!
Kevin: What are three books you absolutely love hand-selling to customers?
Jess: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - never fails. Mortal Engines for those tricky 'tween boys. And To Kill a Mockingbird graphic novel, adapted from Harper Lee's text and ilustrated by Fred Fordham - for the literature buff that has everything.
Kevin: Who is your favourite children’s book illustrator? (Other than Sarah McIntyre, of course!)
Jess: Paula Bowles! She's Bristolian and such a supporter of indies. plus her work is so lovely.
Kevin: Do you have a bookshop pet?
Jess: Custard Creams
Kevin: What is your favourite biscuit?
Jess: His name is Buster and he's a 14 year old cavalier cross spaniel
Kevin: ….
Jess: ….
Kevin: ….
Jess: ….
Kevin: Do you think it’s possible you answered those questions the wrong way round?
Jess: Yes.
Kevin: Phew! Can I have a custard cream please?
Jess: Of course! Here, take 1,000 as they’re so small.
Kevin: This is my kind of bookshop.
(1,000 custard creams later)
Kevin: Buuuurp! What is the best way for people to buy books from you if they can’t visit the shop in person?
Jess: Online at maxminervas.co.uk!
You can follow Max Minerva's on Instagram - maxminervasbooks - and Twitter - @maxminervas.
Thanks
so much to everyone who followed Kevin on all fourteen stops of his big
Bookshop Tour! You can see all the shops he's visited on the hashtag #
This September Scholastic will be publishing my new novel set in the world of Mortal Engines . Here’s the cover, created (like all the others in the series) by Ian McQue . The rule I set for myself when I was writing this one was that it shouldn’t feature any of the people or places from previous Mortal Engines books. So Thunder Cit y takes place just over a century before the original book, when the town-eat-town world of Traction Cities is slightly less ruthless than it will become later, and none of the characters from the original quartet has even been born yet. (I suppose Mr Shrike must be bimbling about somewhere, but he’s still just yer basic implacable killing machine at this point so there’s not much point in paying him a visit). So hopefully this new take will be accessible to people who’ve never read Mortal Engines , and hopefully people who have read it will enjoy an adventure set in the same world. My pen and ink drawing of the Traction City of Thorbury, after...
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