The next stop on Kevin’s Bookshop Tour was The Bookshop on the Green at Bournville.
At first he wasn’t sure how he was going to find it, but as he drew
closer one of his favourite smells began to fill the air. It was the
smell of chocolate, and where there was chocolate, thought Kevin, there
would probably be chocolate biscuits.
He
followed the smell all the way to the Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory.
Nearby, clustered around its triangular village green, was Bournville,
and there under a wavy roof was the Bookshop on the Green.
But to Kevin’s disgust, it was full of unicorns!
Kevin
hated unicorns, they were so full of themselves, always posing under
waterfalls with their rainbow manes and glittery hooves. They would
probably have eaten all the biscuits too, he thought, as two friendly
squirrels guided him down to land on the bookshop roof. That would be
just the sort of thing unicorns would do - they had No Consideration For
Others.
Luckily, his friend Daisy was
waiting for him, and she did have Consideration For Others. She had so
much of it that she had saved Kevin some biscuits, which she brought out
on a plate to welcome him. That was the sort of welcome Kevin liked
best, and while he was eating it Daisy said,
“Don’t
worry about all the unicorns everywhere, it’s always like this here.
When you’ve finished all those biscuits you can come inside and I’ll
introduce you to bookseller Sarah Mullen, she’s ace. Oh, you HAVE finished all those biscuits - that was quick!”
They
went inside the shop. A jellyfish who was sitting in her bowl on the
bench outside nudged the grumpy unicorn who was sitting next to her.
“Hey,
Grumpycorn, it looks as if that roly poly flying pony is doing a tour
of bookshops. Maybe you could do that too! It’s a very good look for a
horse-based mythical animal.”
“It sounds AWFUL,” said the unicorn. “And DON’T CALL ME GRUMPYCORN!”
Kevin: What is the best thing about being a bookseller?
Sarah:
Recommending books to customers and seeing their faces light up when
you match them with the perfect volume. And discussing favourite books
which leads to discovering new authors I may never have otherwise read.
Kevin: What’s one way you’ve tackled a problem that your bookshop has faced during the pandemic?
Sarah:
All team members had children to home-educate so when lockdown
happened, we couldn't facilitate a click and collect service. But we
stayed in touch with our customers via social media and newsletters,
shared recommendations, promoted our online platforms and made brilliant
seasonal window displays - so our customers were there and eager to
return when we finally reopened in April.
Kevin: What are three books you absolutely love hand-selling to customers?
Sarah: Two Brothers and a Chocolate Factory
by Juliet Clare Bell and beautifully illustrated by Jess Mikhail - I
commissioned this preschooler book about the Cadbury Brothers 6 years
ago and it fills me with pride every time a copy's sold. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. American Dirt
by Jeanne Cummins (brilliant for hooking in new adult readers as it
grabs your attention from the start). But it's a very difficult choice
as there are so many books l love hand-selling!
Kevin: Who is your favourite children’s book illustrator? (Other than Reeve & McIntyre…)
Sarah: We do love Nick Sharratt - he's the Patron of the children's book festival we run, Bournville BookFest
- and his instantly-recognisable illustrations really do encourage
children to pick up books and try new stories. Sarah McIntyre’s cover
for the "Pugs of the Frozen North" has a similarly magnetic effect!
Kevin: Oo, can I be part of Bournville Bookfest? That sounds fun!
Sarah: You can, indeed! In fact, we already have a booking for Saturday, 11 September listed on the website.
Kevin:
Fabulous! I'm sure there will be lots of chocolate biscuits... and
hopefully not too many unicorns. Another question, do you have a shop
pet?
Sarah: What a great idea! We need one :)
Kevin: What is your favourite biscuit?
Sarah: Custard cream.
Kevin: Mine too! (Dives headlong into the Bookshop on the Green’s biscuit cupboard.)
Kevin (muffled): Nom nom nom. What is the best way for people to buy books from you if they can’t visit the shop in person?
Sarah: Our orderline is: hello@bookshop.org.uk. And if you scroll down to the bottom of our event page, you can buy all four of the books about you!
Kevin: Wait, what... are there books about me?
Visit Bookshop on the Green's website at the Bournville Hub and you can follow them on Instagram - thebookshoponthegreen , Twitter - @BookshopotGreen - and on Facebook. And follow Kevin's ongoing tour at #
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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