Let’s do a shout out for the independent bookstore! RJ Julia’s in Madison CT is an amazing store. Their booksellers know books and are passionate about them! But they are also trying every way they can to leverage technology.

Kaley is in charge of Children’s Books and she’s a big fan of Prisoners in the Palace (thank you Kaley!) She arranged for me to come speak last weekend. We had about 15 people and a great discussion. Some folks came all the way from Waterbury and Manchester to hear me (still in awe of that).

So visit your local indie. Don’t buy the book from Amazon — they don’t need the business. But its a sad world when all we have left is the big chains. And if the chains leave… then there’s nothing. There’s an example close to home. Fairfield is the next town over from mine. There’s a wonderful children’s book store owned by Jimmy Giff and his mom Patricia Reilly Giff and a Borders. Well now the Borders is gone. To paraphrase my husband’s favorite band, the kids are alright, but what about the grownups? The nearest bookstore is…. a Barnes and Noble.