The Wooster Review
Autumn 2005
®
The Book Advantage
I READ A WILD THING IN THE CURRENT NONfiction bestseller, Freakonomics: A Rogue
Economist Explores the Hidden Side of
Everything. Authors Levitt and Dubner
discover that children who grow up in
homes in which there are books have a higher likelihood of having productive experiences in school, of doing well on tests, and
of becoming successful and fulfilled adults.
Please note that they make this correlation (with data from the U.S. Dept. of
Education, Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study) with simply having books in the
home. Imagine what happens when the
books are opened for the child and the
family sits down to read together.
Believe it or not, in 2004, the
Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich,
introduced a plan to provide one book per
month to every child born in the state
until they reached kindergarten—about
sixty books per child. The plan, to cost
$26 million per year but projected to
improve Illinois’ literacy standing considerably, was (sadly) rejected.
I wonder how this tracks with David’s
tongue-in-cheek philosophy of being wellread: “Buy Two, Read One.” The way this
seems to work is, if someone asks about a
book, you are more likely to know the title,
more likely to
have read it,
or at least
be in a very
good position
to say, “Well,
I haven’t read
it yet—but
I’ve got it
beside my
Folk stories from the Ukraine
chair.”
In any event, I think of these youngsters and the advantage to them of
having books around. Is there a family
member that can dream up a gift so
splendid as a book per month? Just
imagine the time spent together!
Imagine the advantages!
Holiday Program
December 2nd with Dick Figge
THE WOOSTER BOOK COMPANY INVITES YOU TO
join us for a special holiday program by
local actor and retired College of Wooster
professor Richard Figge, on Friday,
December 2nd, at 7:30 P.M.
The program is part of December’s
FIRST FRIDAY celebration Holidays Around
the World and will feature stories from
the Yiddish and Jewish tradition. One of
the selections will be Hershel and the
Hanukkah Goblins, a popular Hanukkah
story that will be sure to please children
of all ages, whether they’re six or sixty.
There will be an informal reception with
refreshments following the reading and
reservations are not required.
The Perfect Dress Party
GIRLS, DID YOU EVER HAVE A REALLY IMPORTANT
party to attend and not have the perfect
dress to wear? Well this is exactly what
happens to Ellie in the new children’s book
illustrated by Wooster artist Christopher Fowler, entitled Ellie: The Perfect
Dress For Me! Fortunately, Ellie is
immensely
creative,
and after
listening to
ideas from
her friends
and family,
she makes
her perfect
outfit all by
herself.
For our party, all you have to do is put
on your own perfect dress and be ready
for fun at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday,
November 12th. Chris Fowler, the book’s
illustrator, will read the story about Ellie
and her dress and then he’ll show you how
to draw Ellie.
You’ll design a dress for Ellie and we’ll
enter your design in the Design Your Own
Perfect Dress Contest—a national competition. You might be one of the three
lucky winners that will be chosen from the
entries. Winners get a real dress made
from their
own design!
Admission
is free for
this event
but we recommend that
you make a
reservation
for each budding designer
by calling
A special guest attends
330-262a special party
1688.
T H E W O O S T E R B O O K C O M PA N Y
Window Wonderland
Friday, November 18th
BE SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR
downtown Wooster’s Window Wonderland.
As the official kick-off for the holiday
season, it’s a special night to spend with
family and friends. We’ll see you there!
Trip to Chicago
CAROL RECENTLY RETURNED FROM HER ANNUAL
trip to the Great Lakes regional bookseller’s trade show and is still talking
about the excitement of having met
Studs Terkel, Robert Sabuda, and Scott
Turow, all in the space of three days.
Terkel’s new book, And They All Sang;
Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey,
is about musicians he has interviewed
during his long career, and Turow’s new
book, Ordinary Heroes, is set during
World War II. Sabuda has produced two
brand new marvels of pop-up paper
design this fall: Winter’s Tales and
Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs.
Fortunately, we have them all in stock!
She also managed to get her hands
on a number of author signed books,
which this year includes a valuable
signed copy of Robert Sabuda’s
Winter’s Tales and a signed copy of
Elizabeth Kostova’s Historian. All the
autographed books will be rewards in our
December drawing again this year. For
every fifty dollars a customer spends
at The Wooster Book Company between
November 25th and December 24th, we
will put their name in the drawing, and
from December 1st to December 24th,
we’ll draw a name each day to pick out
their choice of signed books.
We’re the
Meeting Place
Wrap yourself up
in a good book
IF YOUR GROUP OR
book club is looking for a meeting
place, we can help.
We are a regular
meeting place for
many book discussion groups
and we present
programs for several area clubs.
We can offer a variety of existent programs or we’ll work with you to create a
program for your group. Call Carol at
330-262-1688 for more information, or
to set a date for your event.
Teachers Love
Our Gift Certificates
THE HOLIDAYS ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER
and a gift certificate is a great way for
you or your
child to recognize a special
teacher. What
better way
can there be
to thank the
folks who have
instilled the
love of reading
in so many
young people?
Celebrating the Moon Festival
March
Sea Change • Robert Parker
Dark Assassin • Anne Perry
Tenth Circle • Jodi Picoult
Motor Mouth • Janet Evanovich
Gone • Jonathan Kellerman
New Arrivals Just for Kids
Series of Unfortunate
Events 12: The
Penultimate Peril •
Lemony Snicket
Junie B. First Grader:
Jingle Bells, Batman
Smells • Barbara Park
Emma Kate • Patricia
Polacco
New Releases
October
Lincoln Lawyer •
Michael Connelly
Knife of Dreams •
Robert Jordan
At First Light •
Nicholas Sparks
Predator • Patricia
Cornwell
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes •
Bill Waterson
November
Bloody Bones • Laurell
K. Hamilton
Dark Watch • Clive
Cussler
Mary, Mary • James
Patterson
Light From Heaven •
Jan Karon
December
S is for Silence • Sue Grafton
January
Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell • Lilian
Jackson Braun
Memory in Death • J.D. Robb
Our Holiday Catalog
Is Coming Soon
WATCH FOR OUR NEW HOLIDAY CATALOG, WHICH
we’ll be mailing out later in November.
Whether you’re looking for the latest
bestseller or something unique and different, it’s a great way to take care of
everyone on your gift list.
Over the years, we’ve seen savvy
shoppers cut hours off their shopping
by marking their catalog at home and
then bringing it in to look over their
choices. All of our catalog titles are displayed in one special section of the
store. We can also ship your gift directly to the lucky recipient. Call our tollfree number 800-WUBOOK-1.
George Olson fans—we have shared literally hundreds of thousands of his Canada
Lily as our bookmark and logo—will be
happy to know that we still have a limited
supply of signed
copies of The
Elemental
Prairie: Sixty
Tall Grass
Plants •
$34.95
T H E W O O S T E R B O O K C O M PA N Y
Booker’s Corner
BY NOW ALMOST EVERYONE HAS SEEN THE
bestselling book, Bad Cat, where many of
my feline colleagues have
been captured in
compromising
situations. I
think you all
ought to know,
however, that
there’s a new
book just like it for dogs and its called
Bad Dog.
Right there on Page 32 is a picture of
that rottweiler that just loves to try to
make my hair stand
on end every time he
walks by when I’m just
sitting by the front
door, minding my own
business.
I was pleased to see
that my good friend
Brooker was NOT represented. Brooker is one of the more distinguished canines I have met and is
always polite when he visits the bookstore. I wonder if perhaps a third volume
with photos of pet owners in compromising positions will be next in order? It
seems only fair!
And just a small aside here: I do want
to mention to those young ladies doing
the dress designing—which was mentioned previously—you might try running
your design ideas past a cat. After all,
you do want to create the PURR-fect
dress! (Cat pun!!) Ha Ha!
Booker and Bitsey wanted me to remind
everyone that we’ll be taking donations
again this year to benefit the Humane
Society. Our tree will be trimmed with
cat and dog ornaments and everyone
donating $5.00 or more will get their
choice of an ornament.
Our Way of Saying Thanks!
NOVEMBER IS THE MONTH WE TRADITIONALLY
turn our thoughts to giving thanks and
all of us at The Wooster Book Company
want to say “Thank you” to all of our loyal
customers who continue to support us.
In these times of yo-yoing gas prices and
economic uncertainty, we’re proud that
you value what we do and choose to show
it by your continued patronage.
Get Caught Reading
Chase Away the Winter Blues
DO THE WINTER BLUES GET YOU DOWN? COME
January, do you just want to curl up in
an afghan with a cat and a good book
and stay there until March? Here’s an
idea to add a little fun to your winter—
enter our Get Caught Reading contest!
Be creative! Find new and fascinating
places to
read and
show us your
stuff. You can
win autographed
books, gift
certificates,
or a handknitted
afghan to
Books and reading connect
you to the world—
curl up with
in this case, Jamaica
next January.
Please submit photos with your name,
address, and telephone number written
on the back. Photos become property of
The Wooster Book Company. Contest
ends March 31st.
Bookselling
In the Computer Age
THERE IS AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE GOING ON
between the internet and the book publishing industry. The folks at Google
(their capitalization just hit $100 billion) would like to digitize and make
available the contents of many public
and academic libraries. Book publishers
and authors are claiming this is an
infringement of copyright. We will have
to wait and see how this turns out, but
it should foreshadow yet more changes
in the book world. Of course the legal
wrangle is not about the media in which
books are produced but over who is creating them and how they are disseminated. And I think how well libraries and
bookstores now get along …
Speaking of the internet, what an
incredible change it has brought to
bookselling. Consider this: in 1995, The
Wooster Book Company and Amazon.com had about the same annual
sales. In 2004, their North American
sales exceeded ours by a factor of
roughly 2500 times. But, I’ll bet, we
contributed 2500 times more to the
local economy than they did (plus we
rarely charge shipping). During that
same span of time, the number of independent bookstore members of the
American Booksellers Association
declined 62 percent.
I love statistics. Try these out: the
total number of books published in the
English language last year was about
375,000. The areas of the greatest
growth are adult fiction (up 43%), children’s books, religion, and travel. The area
with the steepest decline (cue laughtrack) is computer books (down 14%).
And, finally, here’s a statistic that is
almost certain to raise your eyebrows.
According to a Jenkins Study done in
Michigan, 81% of Americans want to
write a book [Pacific News Service].
Perhaps this explains why there are so
many new books being published.
e-mail of the month
Hello there,
Though I now live in San Francisco,
I grew up near Wooster and I just love your
bookstore! Now that I’m getting married,
I was wondering if we can register for books
at your store. Please let me know.
Thanks much,
—Kyra
Dear Kyra,
YES, we do bridal registries regularly
and congratulations from all of us!
®
Fact & Fiction is published quarterly by The Wooster
Book Company, 205 West Liberty Street, Wooster,
Ohio 44691-4831, (330-262-1688). Our purpose is
to keep you up-to-date about events, ideas and activities—related to books, reading, literacy and more—
in our community and at our store. Would a friend of
yours appreciate receiving this newsletter? Free oneyear subscriptions are available upon request. Just
call or stop in. The Wooster Review is a trademark of
The Wooster Book Company and carries The Library of
Congress periodical identification ISSN 1077-8829.
© 2005 The Wooster Book Company
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The Wooster Book Company
where minds and imaginations meet
205 West Liberty Street
Downtown Wooster
Wooster OH • 44691-4831
330-262-1688
800-WUBOOK-1
www.woosterbook.com
Wooster OH 44691
Permit No. 195
Return Service
Requested
holiday sunday hours: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. • dec 4, 11, & 18
Schedule of Events:
The Perfect Dress Party
Saturday, November 12th 11:00 A.M.
Girls, put on your perfect party dress and learn
how to draw and be a fashion designer, just
like Ellie. Booksigning to follow event. Please
call for reservations. Ages 5–8.
Curious George Puppet Show
Saturday, January 7th at 11:00 A.M.
Our lovable monkey friend always gets into
some sort of mischief. Join us for George’s
latest adventure. Please call for reservations.
Ages 2–5.
Brazilian Carnaval Celebration
Saturday, February 25th 11:00 A.M.
This is Brazil’s biggest festival and we’ll have
a mini version complete with conga
drums, costumes, music, and a parade.
Please call to reserve a place. Ages 5–10.
Window Wonderland
Friday, November 18th 7:00 P.M.
Bring the family downtown and check out our
AMAZING window displays!
Chinese New Year Celebration
Saturday, January 28th 11:00 A.M.
Learn about this colorful holiday and celebrate
the Year of the Dog with games, crafts and
activities. Please call to reserve a space for
your child. Ages 5–10.
Charlotte’s Web Puppet Show
Saturday, March 11th 11:00 A.M.
What can a pig and a spider have in common? A great friendship! Join us for a
shortened version of this classic story.
Please call for reservations. Ages 2–5.
Bear Snores On Puppet Show
Saturday, February 11th 11:00 A.M.
Bear has snuggled down into his den for a long
winter’s nap when he gets rudely awakened.
Please call to make a reservation for your
child.
Ages 2–5.
Greenery Day/Earth Day Celebration
Saturday, March 25th 11:00 A.M.
Much like America’s Earth Day, Japan has
Greenery Day. We’ll celebrate our natural
resources in games, crafts, and stories.
Please call for reservations. Ages 5–10.
Gingerbread Man Puppet Show
Saturday, November
19th 11:00 A.M.
We’ll tell you the
well-known story
and you’ll decorate your own
gingerbread man
to take home.
Please call to
reserve a spot.
Ages 2–6.
Holiday Reading with Richard Figge
Friday, December 2nd 7:30 P.M.
Yiddish folk stories for children of all ages.
Reservations not required.
Frog and Toad Puppet Show
Saturday, April 8th 11:00 A.M.
Life is always more fun when you have a
friend to share things with. Frog and
Toad will make you smile with their
antics. Call to reserve a spot. Ages 2–6.
Please call 330-262-1688 or 800-WUBOOK-1 (800-982-6651) for reservations for events and to request books.