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The other day at work, a little boy asked me, “Do you have any books with Grinches in them?”
I stopped a moment to think. “Well, we have How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. Is that the book you mean?”
He shook his head. “No. I have that one. What else?”
Well, now. This was a stumper. “I think that’s the only book with the Grinch in it, but we have some other books by Dr. Seuss…”
“No thanks,” he said briskly, cutting me off. “I only like books with Grinches in them.”
Today a little boy marched up to the counter and informed me he was going to buy “the squishy train book.” His dad looked up and asked what book he was talking about and so the boy points out the plush train toy on the shelf.
“Get dat,” he states proudly. “Squishy train book.”
“That’s not a book, that’s a stuffie*,” his dad tells him. “No stuffies. I said you could get a book.”
I couldn’t help smiling to myself. Nice try, cutie. I’ll let you get the squishy train book if I can have the ice cream sundae book. Deal?
*Stuffie is a very common word I hear all the time in the store meaning stuffed animal. And stickies are stickers. Oh parents and their hip lingo…however will I keep up?
Photo by Paul Shoul
Fans of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other beautiful and brightly illustrated picture books by Eric Carle are welcomed to come and meet the man himself at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA this Sunday. To celebrate Eric Carle’s 80th birthday and The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s 40th anniversary, not only will Eric Carle be signing books (1 from home, 2 purchased from the Museum Shop per person) for the public, but Crayola will be introducing a brand-new crayon color – The Very Hungry Caterpillar Green – at the Museum that day as well. There will be food, cake, goodie bags, and giant caterpillars all in addition to the many other features the Museum has to offer (which includes a spectacular Tomie dePaola show AND original art from Winnie-the-Pooh). There’s no reason NOT to go!
Details:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Members enter 11:00 am (This is going to be a very popular event – I highly suggest you buy a membership here to ensure you get a place in line).
General Public enters 12:00 pm
Everything free with Museum admission!
For more info: check out The Carle’s website here.
Most days the questions I get from kids are along the lines of:
“How much is this?” (To which the standard response in my store is “eleventy-billion dollars” or something along those lines.)
“Do I have enough?”
“What’s tax?”
Shelftalker posted a great entry not too long ago with a fellow bookseller’s take on the relationship of kids and money. This new experience of money and paying constantly brings up questions for our youngest customers, who are the most scrupulous when it comes to parting with their hard-earned coins and crumpled bills. It often takes multiple trips to the register to ask how much this book will cost and what if I add this pencil, can I still get the book?
And every so often there are the special questions. The questions I love:
“Do you have any Wanda Gag books?” (Five-year-olds who can ask for Wanda Gag books by name are a truly special breed.)
“Do you have any books with dinosaurs in them?” (Do I EVER! )
“Do you have any tattoos?” (I especially love this question because I always misinterpret them, thinking they are asking if I have tattoos on my skin, when really they just want to know if we sell temporary tattoos. I fall for it every time!)
Today my favorite question was…
“What do these buttons do?” while longingly fingering the debit pin pad buttons by the cash register (and showing unusual and admirable restraint from pushing them, I might add). I attempted to think of the easiest way to explain the purpose and function of debit cards and pin number but found I wasn’t quite clear on myself.
“Magic,” I said, all-knowingly. I used my deep magician voice for extra-good measure.
His eyes grew wide and he softly stroked the buttons with increasing admiration.
“Oh,” he said with and understanding nod. “I thought so.”
Well, now the BBC News has compiled handy answers to many of those tricky child questions. Best part? Now I know how much the sky weighs. In elephants. *
Cute quote of the day: A little girl told me today that she was going to have a million babies and they will all live in a hotel together on a farm with kittens and puppies. Sounds like a plan.
*570,000,000,000,000
