I am so excited about this. Truly, if you come in here and talk to me about this, you may never get to leave again because I will talk your ear off! The Smart Chicks Kick It Tour is stopping here!!! Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Jessica Verday will all be stopping here on September 16th!!! Because of the size of this event, we will actually be hosting this event in Gluckstadt at Plantation Commons. We also have some rules to go along with the event. Both the directions and the rules can be found linked below.

Now, on to the fun part. Each of these amazing women writers has a new book out this summer and they are touring the United States and Canada. Below are all the covers of the new books and by clicking on them, you can get to know the authors and their series. The doors will open at 5:00 p.m. for book sales and at 6:00 p.m. the authors arrive for discussion and Q&A. I cannot wait to meet all of these great writers and I hope to see you there!

Are you coming? Comment and let us know!

Want more info? Here’s a great article on the whole tour!

Rules for the Lemuria’s Smart Chicks Stop

Directions To Jackson Smart Chicks Location, Plantation Commons

These three books are about Christian the lion (a true story), they may seem to be the same, yet they are different.

Christian, the Hugging Lion by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, Illustrations by Amy June Bates

Children’s Picture Book, Ages 3-6

The true story and the gentle lifelike illustrations make this picture book suitable for the younger child.

Christian the Lion (told from the lion’s point of view) Written by the owners Anthony (Ace) Bourke and John Rendall

Children’s Picture Book, ages 3-8, a true story with photographs

This is the story of their friend Christian, the lion. These two gentlemen purchased Christian, a three month old lion, from Harrods, a department store in London. Christian lived with Ace and John in their London apartment until he outgrew the small space, boarded a plane with his loving caretakers and flew to Africa. This period of time was a serious adjustment for Ace, John and Christian. This is a beautiful story of love, adjustment and beginning of a new life in Kenya. A year after saying goodbye, Ace and John returned to Kenya for joyous reunion with their friend, Christian.

Christian the Lion: Based on the Amazing and Heartwarming True Story by Anthony Burke and John Rendall

Middle reader, ages 8-10, a chapter book, a true story with photographs

The story behind the Youtube sensation.

We at Lemuria love Wimpy Kids who write diaries. A lot of us were wimpy kids (and still are!), so we are thrilled to be a stop on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Ice Cream Bus Tour. Sunday, August 22nd from 1:00 to 3:30, a huge purple bus will be parked in our Dot Com parking lot handing out FREE purple popsicles in honor of the new Wimpy Kid book, The Ugly Truth, which comes out November 9th!

Broad Street Bakery will be doing a promotion with this event as well! Buy a Wimpy Kid book from us (books 1-4 or the do-it-yourself diary) and get a free kids lunch with the purchase of an adult meal. You can’t go wrong by coming out on the 22nd. So head on over after church and have a great time with us!

Also, check out this great article about this entire tour!

If you read Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George and enjoyed it, you are ready for Princess of Glass. Princess Poppy now the oldest unmarried sister of the eleven sisters has agreed to take part in a royal exchange program in hopes of creating strong political alliances for her homeland and possibly finding a handsome prince. Of course, she does find a charming prince, but another beautiful young woman lays claim to the same prince. A fun read with an interesting turn of events. (Teen readers 12 and up)

This summer we have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A beautiful new edition of the book has been released, along with the book Scout, Atticus, and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy about the novel’s history and the effect it has had on journalists, writers, historians, and artists.

In my own personal realm of children’s books, To Kill a Mockingbird is the quintessential summer reading book. Almost every child who graduates from high school in Mississippi has read this book. In Kathryn Erskine’s new book Mockingbird, the influence of this story comes not from the novel, but from the movie made in 1962 starring Gregory Peck.

At first glance, this novel looks too heavy for its audience, late-elementary and early middle-school children. However, this book was one of the most poignant middle grade novels I have read in a while and I think that people of every age could benefit from a reading of Mockingbird.

Caitlin is a ten year old girl who has Asperger’s.  Her brother was recently killed in a senseless school shooting. He was her protector, her friend, and she played Scout to his Jem. Even without her telling the audience of her pain, you know she is grieving in her own way, but the way she experiences emotion is entirely different than you or me or the people that surround her. The reader follows Caitlin as she struggles to understand not only the emotions and feelings of the people around her, but also her own unavoidable feelings.

Erskine shows in this book how a person with Asperger’s syndrome doesn’t see some things that we think of as obvious, such as voice inflection, sarcasm, literal and figurative meanings of words, and connecting with people. As Caitlin deals with her brother’s death, she often doesn’t even understand why she is sad or exactly why she is reacting the way she is. But, through her understanding of this great loss and community tragedy, she sees that even in death, her brother is helping her through this and that she can do more for the world than she ever imagined possible.

I was genuinely touched by this book. Kathryn Erskine will be here Monday, August 16th at 5:00, and I cannot wait to discuss her novel with her.