Kim and I are fond of pretty much every independent bookstore (unless the people who work there are mean to us, in which case you simply won’t ever see a review on this blog) but every once in a while a bookstore comes along that has a special slant that’s particularly meaningful to one or both of us.   For example, there’s the bookstore that serves wine–talk about being tailormade for Kim . . .  (hee, hee).

And if you wanted a bookstore to mean something special to me, you’d make it geared for families dealing with special needs. You’d ensure that their children always felt welcome there by providing your staff with sensitivity training and that the parents would be able to find both the books they want to read for enjoyment and the ones they need to read for information about their children’s disabilities.  My dream store would also make a point of hiring and training adults with special needs.   It would also be warm, cozy, and inviting.  

It would, in short, be exactly like Words Bookstore in Maplewood, New Jersey.  Except maybe it would be in Southern California so I could actually go and see it with my own eyes.

Oh, well, you can’t have everything, and the very good news is that Words Bookstore is flourishing in Maplewood and that the community there has a resource unlike any other.  Jonah Zimiles, who, with his wife Ellen, owns the store, is pretty new to the bookstore business, having been a lawyer, a business school student, and a stay-at-home dad to his son with autism over the last couple of decades.  But once he and Ellen decided to buy a bookstore, they knew exactly the direction they wanted to take it in.

I’ll let the Zimiles describe their goal for the store in their own words (taken from the store’s website):  “Words’ mission is to serve Maplewood and surrounding communities by offering a warm, intellectual atmosphere where men, women and children of all races, religions, ages, sexual orientation, political beliefs and abilities will be welcomed and feel comfortable. In particular, we are dedicated to the families in Maplewood that have a member with a developmental disability, and strive to help Maplewood become a model community of inclusion through our treatment of disabled customers and employees, especially those with autism. ”

Not only does the store go out of its way to make families struggling with a disability comfortable and welcome, but the Zimiles also offers vocational training and employment for local residents who are developmentally disabled.   This is a store with a heart as big as its extra-wide aisles.

Because they stock their special needs section with the best resources they can find, and to wrap up the end of National Autism Awareness Month with one last tribute, and since the Zimiles and I both have kids on the spectrum, I asked them to send us a list of autism books they keep on the shelves in their store.  And here it is.

(This is very much their list, by the way.  Mine would be different.   For one thing, Lynn’s and my books would of course be on it because shameless self-promotion is my middle name.  For another, I’d skip anything that suggests there’s a tie between vaccinations and autism because there’s no scientific evidence supporting that theory and we’ve wasted too much time and attention on it already.)

Here is the Zimiles’ list of popular and/or recommended books about autism:

Methods for Remediating Autism:

Behavioral Intervention For Young Children With Autism
By: Catherine Maurice, Gina Green, and Stephen C. Luce
Long-viewed as the main source of information about Applied Behavior Analysis or “ABA,” the primary evidence-based method used to assist individuals with autism.

The Child With Special Needs
By: Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Wieder
The primary book about floortime, a developmental model that is the second most popular treatment method used to remediate autism.

The RDI Book
By: Steven E. Gutstein
Hot off the presses, Dr. Gutstein’s techniques combine the rigor of ABA with the developmental approach of floortime

The Miller Method
By: Arnold Miller with Kristina Chretien
Another method used to combat autism, the Dr. Miller takes advantage of increased focus when people are at elevated heights to improve body awareness and learning.

Evidence of Harm
By: David Kirby
Explores the theory that mercury in vaccines may cause autism.
Intervention Strategies:

Thinking Goes to School
By: Hans G. Furth and Harry Wachs
Combines a fascinating exogesis on the learning process and practical exercises to improve visual/spatial thinking

The Out-of-Sync Child
By: Carol Stock Kranowitz
Explains sensory processing disorders and suggests activities to ameliorate these problems

My Social Stories Book
By: Carol Gray and Abbie Leigh White
Uses the technique of “social stories” to enable children to prepare and practice for situations that could be anxiety-prodcuing or otherwise difficultfor them to handle.

You’re Going to Love this Kid
By: Paula Kluth
An excellent guide as to how to include children with autism in a mainstream classroom.

No More Meltdowns
By: Jed Baker
Dr. Baker provides tools to cope with out-of-control behavior.

Autism and Its Medical Management
By: Michael G. Chez
A leading doctor in the field explains medical aspects of autism and what medications are available to treat its symptoms.

Teaching Conversation to Children With Autism
By: Lynn E. McClannahan and Patricia J. Krantz
Authored by the two former heads of one of the nation’s finest schools for children with autism, this is a hand-on guide as to how to use ABA to educate students with autism.

The Social Skills Picture Book
By: Jed Baker
Provides insight into how to teach social skills to children with autism through the use of photographs and explanations of the “right” and “wrong” way to approach situations.

Inspirational Stories

Son Rise
By: Barry Neil Kaufman
Yet another method, this is Son-Rise, developed by parents who appear to have successfully remediated their son’s autism.

Let Me Hear Your Voice
By: Catherine Maurice
Probably the classic autism book, this is a mother’s story of how Dr. Bridget Taylor and ABA enabled her child to make substantial progress.

Mother Warriors
By: Jenny McCarthy
Celebrity mother of a child with autism shares “recovery” stories from across the nation

The Horse Boy
By: Rupert Isaacson
A father’s world-wide journey to find magic healing of his son’s autism

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
Fictional account of a “detective” who is a teenager with autism.

Children’s Books About Autism

Ian’s Walk
By: Laurie Lears
An older sister learns to understand and appreciate her brother with autism.

Leo the Late Bloomer
By: Robert Krauss
A mother’s faith in the abilities of a child who develops more slowly than his typical peers.

Back to me, Claire.

Whether you have a family member with special needs or just love books, Words looks like a wonderful place to relax, browse, and buy.  I admire their commitment to helping others and wish I could visit it in person.  Maybe someday I’ll find myself in Maplewood, NJ with an hour to waste.  Until then, I hope some of you visit it for me.  And say hi to the Zimiles family.

Words Books
179 Maplewood Avenue
Maplewood, New Jersey 07040
Tel: 973 763 9500

Lisa Mitchell is the biggest fan of the LA Times Festival of Books in the city.  Starting in February, she reminds everyone when the tickets are available even though she usually attends panels via the standby line.  Last Monday, she copied me on an e-mail that described her weekend, so I asked her to write about the Festival.  Thank you Lisa for sharing your weekend with us!

Kim asked me to write a blog on what is one of my favorite weekends of the year, the LA Times Festival of Books. What better job to give to someone who loves books and talks too much? If you’re reading this, then you are most likely already a book lover. But the festival is so much more and there are many different ways to enjoy it. You could take your pre-school and school aged children and wander around at an outdoor faire. Does it count as a celebrity sighting to see Brooke Shields across the plaza reading to an audience full of young children? I definitely count last year when we saw Julie Andrews, overflowing with grace and charm, answer a question from the audience by saying ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ backwards to prove that she still could.

 While many families were content to stay outdoors, the real heart of the festival is attending the author panels indoors. Discussions ranged from the future of publishing and electronic books, to writing as activism, to explorations of the different genres of writing.  And always, the recurring questions from both young and mature readers about why certain characters had to die at the end of their favorite book.

Sometimes, the panels themselves can be quite a strange mix of authors loosely grouped around a theme. I attended a panel on fiction occurring during the Victorian era. The panelists’ books included a time-travel novel, a Dracula tale, and a compilation of crime stories. Out of the disparity of literary topics, they found similar ideas and agreed that while time travel exists due to books, none actually want to. The audience concurred.

My favorite quote of the weekend came from Kate DiCamillo. One young reader asked Miss DiCamillo if it bothered her that the movie version of The Tale of Despereaux was different from the book version. She explained that it didn’t because both the book and the movie had the same underlying truth and emotion. Specifically, she said “the moment you put the beautiful vision that’s in your head on paper you are compromising. You have to let it go into the world.”

Unfortunately there were no panels to be had this year on Comics, Anime or Manga. Fans of all ages no doubt felt the black hole in the book festival universe left by that omission.  Also, I wish there were a couple of panels geared towards kids and teens. While Kate DiCamillo was truly amazing, the kids in attendance were bored until the Q&A when there were able to speak directly to the author about their interests. The Festival needs more opportunities for young readers, those past the age of enjoying the stage performances, to encourage them and deepen their love for reading and writing.

Back outside, we found a giant wall that asked the question ‘What are you reading?’ People of all ages wrote their favorites.  I noticed a large Harry Potter title fairly high up on the wall with Qur’an right beside. That summed it up for me, the diversity of who we are, how wide and vast our reading preferences are, and yet we can still come together to celebrate books on a beautiful day in Southern California.

If you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, like me, you love the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King.  In the first book, The Bee Keeper’s Apprentice, Mary befriends Sherlock and pulls him out of retirement.  Their adventure includes all the traits we love about Sherlock, his gift for observation, his patience (or maybe ability to lie-in-wait), the cleverness to get out of a jam with intelligence rather than an AK-47, plus Laurie gives us the added enjoyment of Mary, a character I fell in love with by page 50.   Because I read The Bee Keeper’s Apprentice three years ago, I was able to run out and buy the rest of the series and bury myself in each one.  

These books have something for everyone.  Regular readers of the blog know that Claire loves to talk about our reading material differences, but she read The Mary Russell series almost as fast as I did (we have to cut her some slack, she has four kids).  My husband loved these books.  We conjured up an arrangement that read the new Mary Russell first because I read faster, then he can read in peace without me asking “are you done yet?”  Insert your own tone into that question, it’s probably more polite than mine.  Claire and I even chose The Beekeeper’s Apprentice for our joint family book club and our teenage boys loved it.

So what could be better than a new Mary Russell book?  The Language of Bees, the latest Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes hits the bookstores today.  But, that’s not all, Laurie is supporting independent bookstores and Heifer, my two favorite things, with two giveaways!

Support an Independent Bookstore

One reader will win ”A Venomous Death” a 14×20″ broadside of one of her short stories with a woodcut illustration and letterpress printed by Lavendier Press, signed by Ms. King and the artist.  Just buy The Language of Bees at an independent bookstore and send in your receipt by May 20th.  In our home, there would be a “discussion” about where “A Venomous Death” would be hung:  my office, my husband’s office or my son’s room. 

Bees are Buzzing for Heifer International

But there’s more!  Readers of this blog know that I am passionate about Heifer International and so is Laurie.  (Side bar:  there is still time to enter our giveaway of Beatrice’s Goat, or comment and we’ll make a donation, or follow me on twitter and find the picture of me in a Heifer chicken hat.)  Here’s her terrific incentive:

Give two beehives ($60) or more through Laurie King’s Heifer team page by May 20 and receive:

• Heifer project honey
• A Sherlock Holmes guide to bees
• A chance to name a character in Laurie’s next book
• The knowledge that you’re fighting world poverty

Support your local bookstore, support Heifer and have a wonderful few hours reading The Language of Bees.

So when one of those friends suggested I meet her at Busboys and Poets on the corner of 14th and V (as in Victor she wrote in the text message) I thought I was going to a bar. I mentioned to someone at the conference I was attending where I was going after the final session and he told me to be sure to buy a book.

Apparently I was going to a bar and restaurant, with a bookstore. A bookstore that sells books to benefit a non-profit dedicated to “transforming school into centers of justice where children learn to read, write and change the world.”

Ummmm…. All that and a glass of wine too?

So I found Busboys and Poets, named in honor of Langston Hughes who worked as a busboy before finding success as a poet in a vibrant downtown block in Washington DC. There were young and old, black and white, coming together. The space is big and airy. Chalk boards are all over – on the floor announcing a soup and on the wall detailing upcoming up coming poetry nights. People share couches and large tables in the bar area. I overheard folks who clearly didn’t know each other make suggestions for meals or beverages. It was a place that brought the neighborhood together.

In spite of all the sound there were still people lounging and reading in the bookstore. It did seem quieter there. I’m not sure how they pulled that off design wise but the bar did not distract from the book. While a seemingly small space it was packed with progressive politics books, children’s books and multicultural items. The shelves go up and up. A bit too high for me to read all the titles but the effect was thrilling. Surrounded by books that want to change the world.

I couldn’t resist, because I had to support schools that encourage children to change the world, so I bought my children Grace for President written by Kelly Dipucchio and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. Since returning home my children and I have read it over and over. I love that this terrific book, which stealthily explains the electoral college system so simply that even I now understand it, came from a bookstore with a soul.

And a bar.

Busboys and Poets

2021 14th St

NW DC, 20009

T:  202.387.7638

Kim v.   I’ll contact you directly via email, Kim, to get your snail mail address.  

The winning pick was randomly generated using random.org and anyone who tweeted or mentioned it on facebook got both comments counted.

Many of your comments really touched me.  So many of you wanted to know more about autism because of relatives, friends, students . . .   And of course a lot of you are dealing with it in your own family. 

If there’s any reason you can’t get your hands on a copy of this book–e.g. you’re in a different country, your library doesn’t carry it and you can’t afford it, whatever–please email me directly and let me know.  This is the kind of information I feel everyone who needs it should have access to and I’ll do what I can to make sure that happens.  No child should be missing out on the interventions that can make his life easier or happier.  So please do let me know if you can’t get a copy on your own and I’ll do what I can to help out.

Thanks for your comments and good luck to everyone on your journey.

Oh, and starting Monday, please check out my related blogs on momlogic.com where I’ll be discussing some of the strategies in the book. 

Cheers.

LA Times Festival of Books logo

This is the literary weekend in Los Angeles.  Rumor has it that the LA Times Festival of Books is the largest literary festival in the nation.  There are hundreds of hours of panels (tickets are free but must be obtained beforehand), festival stages with readings, a large children’s section, and hundreds of booths with bookstores, publishers, authors, and literary organizations.  Check out the website for a listing of the panels, readings and author signings. 

On Saturday I’m attending a morning panel of Security and American Ideals, then working at the Heifer International booth from noon to 3PM, then dashing to a publishing panel in the afternoon.  Please stop by and see me at the Heifer booth (#846).  Page McBrier will be signing copies of Beatrice’s Goat on Saturday (you can still enter to win a copy for free). 

If you’re at the Festival on Sunday, I’ll be back in the Heifer booth from noon to 3PM.  I’m also stopping by the Book Soup booth on Sunday afternoon between 2:30 and 3:30, Nancy Mehagian will be signing copies of Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey, a memoir with recipes, and giving away homemade stuffed grape leaves.

But the Festival isn’t the only literary event this weekend.  Literary Affairs is hosting a fundraiser for the NEA at the William Turner Gallery featuring Muriel Barbury, author of my favorite book in years, The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  A private book discussion starts at 6:30 and then a cocktail party with Ms. Barbury and a variety of authors begins at 7:30PM.  Check the website for very reasonable tickets.

But Saturday night will still be  young at the conclusion of cocktail party and Granta Magazine’s launch party at Equator Books will just be getting started.  Equator Books is a combination bookstore, used record store and art gallery in Venice that is struggling.  The community is rallying around the store (we’ll be posting about it soon).  One example, admission to this event is the purchase of a book, as if that is ever in doubt when I walk into a store. 

This is a weekend worth waiting for all year.  If you have any other literary suggestions for the next two days, please share them in a comment.

Once again our friend Laura Sanderson Healy is contributing a review and we’re so grateful to her.  If you haven’t yet read her earlier review, click here.  The rest is her writing.

Calling all Bodhisattvas: enlightenment by the multiple armload awaitsyou at The Bodhi Tree in Los Angeles, a spiritual bookstore beyond compare (though Zen practitioners might tut-tut that comparisons are odious). Since 1970 the Bodhi Tree has been the MRI-strength magnet on Melrose Avenue for seekers of all sorts, whether one is hunting down books on Eastern gurus like H.P. Blavatsky or G.I. Gurdjieff or Western psychics like Edgar Cayce. Books about God or gods/goddesses (and their nemeses), manuals on physical health and wellness, cures and treatments, and self-help titles for those who find themselves on mental or chemical obstacle courses, all find space, as do all the religions, good and — verdict’s out. The store presents all the
theories without passing judgment, according to its literature.

Though it caters to the mind/body/spirit crowd, carefree shoppers also
drift in to browse the esoteric goodies: bumper stickers, puppets,
children’s books and magazines (I always buy Highlights for Kids here
for my young nephew), cards, calendars, windchimes and gongs, candles,
music CDs and and buckets of malas (meditation’s answer to rosary
beads). Siddhartha Gautuma became the Buddha while sitting beneath a
bodhi tree on a Ganges tributary, and the store has its very own “Tree
of Enlightenment” (ficus religiosa) growing right behind the store in a
courtyard, having been nursed from a young potted plant in the store’s
stained -glass decorated front window decades ago.

“The Bodhi Tree is a metaphysical smorgasbord,” its cashier laughed to
a customer when I visited recently, “but be careful or you might get
indigestion.” You needn’t be a bearded mystic to love the place; even
before I made Los Angeles my home I made regular pilgrimages to the
Bodhi Tree over the years to soak up the atmosphere (though its incense
is as pervasive as that of Christian “High Churches”). Posers might
announce they go to the Bodhi Tree for karma roadchecks, but I’m simply
there for book and gift browsing and to enjoy some Harriet-the-Spyesque
eavesdropping, consuming endless free cups of Celestial Seasonings’
“Tension Tamer” herbal tea. On a street better known for label-reading
fashion hunters, the funky old Bodhi Tree sits as a complex comprised
of three buildings: the New Book branch, a Used Bookstore (behind the
main building, it is entered off Westbourne and boasts a resident cat),
and The Annex where events are held. While there are book signings by
notable authors, the most popular “readings” are those of the intuitive
variety: the Bodhi Tree Annex offers Psychic Readers every afternoon
and evening of the week, whether you prefer Tarot, Animal Divination,
Palmistry, Reiki or Astrology.

Though my own spirit is happiest out in nature, I reach a
particular Nirvana when I find a legal parking space near the Bodhi Tree because WeHo can be tricky for non-resident drivers. There are coin or key
meters on Melrose, there are a couple of spots behind the main store on
the property, but you may also valet park your car at the station
between the Annex and the Urth Café: the Bodhi Tree will credit the $5
valet charge towards any purchase over $15.

I enjoy my visit most when I have no demands on my time as I make my
way up the five steps up the stairs of the Melrose entrance. Once
inside, there are dozens of tuned Woodstock Chimes hanging in front of
the big round front window (with enormous fitted stained-glass art); as
one moves through the different rooms, skylights shed light and
colorful prayer flags and flying diva models decorate the ceiling.

Negotiating the hundreds of subjects from books on Christianity to the
Occult Sciences, one roams through a library-like maze of polished
wooden bookcases (some glass-fronted and locked). One author’s works
have to be housed in the office at the back up on a high rack due to
high theft occurrences (Hemingway’s MOVEABLE FEAST references this
fellow’s notoriety).

The Eastern side of the New Book Branch is dedicated to the teachers
and philosophers of the East, while the Western half of the store has
space for the writings of the Western Hemisphere’s wise men and women.
Paraphernalia such as bells and singing bowls hints at wicca and Native
American traditions, tools for yoginis are plentiful, and there are
glass cases of stones and and crystals for those who want to work on
their mojo (herbs are for sale in the Used Book wing).

One book I purchased at the Bodhi Tree is a perennial favorite: A Book
of Days for the Literary Year; there is a literature section for
non-fiction and fiction (Tom Wolfe but no Thomas Wolfe) and visionary
fiction (William Blake). The Spiritual Tourist by Mick Brown gave me
endless mirth as I read about various disciplines friends had described
to me; the accompanying CD of the same name features ethereal music
from spiritual traditions around the world and the Used Bookstore had a
copy of it my last visit. There are all sorts of books about weird
phenomena, though it all fits here and doesn’t seem like a Ripley’s
rip-off. And I’m a sucker for the Unexplained.

Bodhi Tree Bookstore
8585 Melrose Avenue,
West Hollywood CA 90069-5199
(800) 825-9798; within Los Angeles County call (310) 659-1733
Email: info@bodhitree.com

Laura Sanderson Healy is an L.A.-based writer; during her days as a
correspondent in PEOPLE WEEKLY’s London Bureau, she reported on strange phenomena such as the moving statue near Ballinspittle, Ireland, and the mysterious crop circles in Wiltshire, England. She believes in
ghosts and once took her father dowsing at the Rollright Stones near
Oxford.

I have, however, discovered that it takes an author about five minutes to get the words “Pulitzer-Prize winning” up on his or her Wikipedia entry.   What I haven’t learned is how to line up book covers all nice and pretty in an entry.  But there’ s something kind of jazzy about how I’ve done it, no?

Sigh.  Anyway, here’s the list:

Fiction – Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Random House).  Linked tales about a junior high school teacher and her family. 

Drama – Ruined by Lynn Nottage.    This isn’t Nottage’s first award, by any means: she’s won a Guggenheim and a MacArthur genius grant.

History – The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company).  This one also won a National Book Award: see what Kim had to say about it back then.

Biography – American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (Random House).   A biography from the editor of Newsweek.

Poetry – The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin (Copper Canyon Press).  Mewin also won the Pulitzer back in 1971. 

Nonfiction – Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday).  Blackmon exposes an ignominious period in our country’s history.  I mean, yet ANOTHER ignominious period.

Music – Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes).   Since Reich’s known as a “minimalist” composer, I think I should keep any comment brief.

For more information on these prizes and how the prize works, go to the Pulitzer Prize website.

And for an entertaining blog on the subject of Pulitzer and his prizes, read this.  The sketch of the author may bear a passing resemblance to me, but it’s not me or my twin, and that’s all I’m saying.

I love how this poem expresses a mother’s love and gives an example of the beauty of our planet.  On this Earth Day, enjoy!  While you’re at it, adopt a new habit that cares for our environment.

Bats 

Randall Jarrell

A bat is born
Naked and blind and pale.
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
and catches him.  He clings to her long fur
By his thumbs and toes and teeth.
And then the mother dances through the night
Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting-
Her baby hangs on underneath.
All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies.
Her high sharp cries
Like shining needlepoints of sound
Go out into the night, and echoing back,
Tell her what they have touched.
She hears how far it is, how big it is,
Which way it’s going:
She lives by hearing.
The mother eats the moths and gnats she catches
In full flight; in full flight
The mother drinks the water of the pond
She skims across.  Her baby hangs on tight.
Her baby drinks the milk she makes him
In moonlight or starlight, in mid-air.
Their single shadow, printed on the moon
Or fluttering across the stars,
Whirls on all night; at daybreak
The tired mother flaps home to her rafter.
The other all are there.
They hang themselves up by their toes,
They wrap themselves in their brown wings.
Bunched upside-down, they sleep in air.
Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces
Are dull and slow and mild.
All the bright day, as the mother sleeps,
She folds her wings about her sleeping child.

Beatrice’s Goat, 

For Beatrice, the story continued.  She loved learning, excelled in school, and caught the attention of Heifer supporters who paid for her way through prep school and college.  Last June she graduated from Connecticut College.  She plans to return to Africa to help other impoverished communities.  All because of a goat.

Page McBrier tells this modern day fairytale-come-true in a beautiful children’s book.  I.  Love.  This.  Book.  I marvel at the beauty of the story itself and how it empowers readers to contribute a little to make a big difference.  Ms. McBrier will be at the LA Times Festival of Books in the Heifer booth on Saturday from 11AM to 3PM autographing Beatrice’s Goat.  I’m buying three autographed books to giveaway.  I’ll be at the booth on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 3PM, so if you’re attending the Festival, please stop by and visit.

Here’s how you can win:

1.  Comment on this post.

2.  In honor of Heifer’s Pass-on-the-Gift Month, we’re donating $1 for each commenter on any Heifer post during the month of April on Bookstore People (the original donation post, this post or one coming up next week with more exciting Heifer news), Traveling Mamas and Type-A Mom.  We’re giving away up to $1,500.  Comment on the Heifer post at Traveling Mamas and Type-A Mom so we donate another $1, leave another comment here letting us know, and you have another entry.

3.  Share this giveaway on one or more social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, My Space, etc) and let us know for another entry.

I’ll be holding the drawing on April 30th.  This book is precious to me, you will love it, so try to win it.