Oh go(o)d, it's World Book Day
Our children's manager prepares for a fancy-dressed influx
Upcoming events at Backstory
(all at 71 Balham High Road)
Wednesday 8th March, 7.30pm
The author of Maame, an exciting debut novel that sharply depicts Maddie’s sense of being torn between two worlds as she navigates flat shares, dating apps, microaggressions at work, the shock of grief, and learning how to become the woman she wants to be – one frantic Google search at a time.
Tuesday 21st March, 7pm
With Laline Paull (author of The Bees and Pod) and Tom Mustill (author of How to Speak Whale) in conversation about our ocean
1999: Manchester United, The Treble And All That
Wednesday 29th March, 7.30pm
Award-winning sports writer Matt Dickinson talks about Manchester United’s unprecedented 1999 season with Times deputy sports editor James Restall
Wednesday 5th April, 7.30pm
One of Tom’s favourite authors, who writes so well about modern relationships and the body. Talking about her latest, Milk Teeth.
It’s World Book Day on Thursday! Denise Wallin, our children’s manager, leads a kids’ takeover of this week’s newsletter:
I feel very lucky to look after the children's section of Backstory. Tucked in the far right corner of the shop, through the giant blue and yellow 'O' - where children can lounge with a book, or climb, or play peekaboo with whichever bookseller is at the counter - is a modest-sized, but lovingly chosen, selection of books from tactile board books for babies, short chapter books with bright covers for younger readers to adventures for older readers and YA (young adult).
As Tom mentioned in a previous newsletter he has refined our book selections based on what people have been buying since we opened our shop doors in October and the same goes for our children's section. Our youngest customers are never afraid to let you know what they like, and more importantly what they don't like.
I love listening to the discussions with their parents or grandparents, especially over the last few weeks when Christmas book vouchers have been eagerly, and wisely, spent. It fascinates me that children often go straight for books they already own or have read at school, much to their parents’ consternation. There must be something in the familiarity of a title or a style, but they are often adamant they want to buy another copy.
Children can be brutal critics, with one young girl recently telling me and her mum that Roald Dahl’s books are really boring. They can also be really keen to tell you all about a book they loved and why - which obviously we love hearing about - and we often ask children to write a customer picks card so they can tell other children why they recommend the book.
I really enjoy choosing which books to stock and confess to sneaking in some favourites from my own childhood and reading with my own kids including Puff The Magic Dragon (a classic!), Not Now, Bernard, The Pirates Next Door, The Highland Falcon Thief and Varjak Paw. I have drawn the line at purchasing the whole Mallory Towers selection and The Adventures Of The Little Wooden Horse (although I still own my battered copy from childhood over 40 years ago). We don't tend to stock many of the celebrity children’s authors (there are a couple in there as Julian Clary's The Bolds series is genuinely funny) as we figure they are so available elsewhere. However, we can order in any children’s book so don't be too shy to ask if you are in the shop. We love receiving recommendations too!
World Book Day is around the corner - the time of a year in a parent’s calendar that requires the dressing up box or, more realistically for most of us, a panicked order to the online retailer who shall not be named, as our sewing skills aren't up to the job of creating a costume from scratch.
The streets of school-run Balham are full of bespectacled Harry Potters brandishing wands at commuters, stern Miss Trunchbulls off to give the real life head a run for their money and young boys in football kits who have won the battle at home that they definitely are a character from a book.
The sentiment behind World Book Day is a great one. The charity was set up with the mission of promoting reading for pleasure which they say is the single biggest indicator of a child's future success. One in five children aged 5-8 in the UK does not own a book so World Book Day goes some way to address this by giving a free token for a child to exchange for a small book of their choice.
It is our first World Book Day at Backstory and we have the official range of books for children to choose from. We are delighted that Alderbrook Primary School will be joining us throughout the day to exchange their tokens for a book and we welcome any children to exchange the token they receive through school with us.
Denise
Team pick of the week
Denise recommends: Meet the Weather by Caryl Hart (illustrated by Bethan Woollvin)
Combining wonderful rhymes and gorgeous illustrations, a journey on a hot air balloon introduces budding meteorologists to all the different kinds of weather which make up the world.
Our children’s bestsellers this year
Picture books
The Runaway Pea by Kjartan Poskitt and Alex Willmore
The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle
Barbara Throws A Wobbler by Nadia Shireen
If I Had a Unicorn by Gabby Dawnay
Oi Dog! by Kes Gray
Younger readers
Isadora Moon Under the Sea by Harriet Muncaster
Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell
Bunny vs Monkey: Machine Mayhem by Jamie Smart
The Underpants of Chaos by Sam Copeland and Jenny Pearson
Breakfast Club Adventures: The Beast Beyond the Fence by Marcus Rashford
Older readers
The Detention Detectives by Lis Jardine
And Everything Will be Glad to See You by Ella Risbridger
No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton
The Hatmakers by Tamzin Merchant
Oooh that weather book looks fab! My class are doing “marvellous meteorologists” as their topic next term so I’ll have to buy a copy!
Remember the Red Wall series? That was my favorite book as a kid.