Ballyhoo News

Ballyhoo News - April 2021

4/22/2021

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For the love of books and community in the heart of Michigan

We look forward to seeing you!!!

Independent Bookstore Day - Sat. April 24!

Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) is traditionally a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April (some of you may recall that our store opening was held on the rescheduled-due-to-the-pandemic 2020 IBD date - August 29). In non-pandemic times, this event would be an opportunity to host authors, book launches, and all manner of fun and unique activities, but as we’re still in the midst of a pandemic (with a surge right here in central Michigan), things will have to be a little different this year. As it continues to be unsafe to hold large indoor events/group gatherings, we will sadly have to forego all that wonderfulness this time round, but our storefront will be open* from 10am-8pm on Saturday, April 24 for your browsing pleasure. We have some lovely limited edition IBD gift items available and swag freebies to share with you so please plan to stop by to help us celebrate!

*Be advised, dear readers, that in addition to requiring the proper wearing of facemasks, social distancing, and hand "goop" application at the entry, we continue to maintain an in-store customer maximum limit of ten (10) persons...so it’s possible you may have to wait a few minutes to gain access to the store if it’s busy on Saturday - we do have comfy benches out front :)

We look forward to seeing you! And please know that we appreciate your support Every. Single. Day!

April is Poetry Month!

"Poetry is the paper-and-pen version
of paying wondrous attention."
- excerpt from How Poetry Can Change Your Life by Andrea Gibson & Megan Falley

Ballyhoo Book Discussion Event

With the promise of warmer weather on the way, we are pleased to announce our very own first-ever book discussion opportunity hosted here (outdoors) at Ballyhoo Books on Tuesday, May 18 at 6:00 pm!

Our first book selection for discussion was inspired by the overwhelming response to the U.S. youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman's recitation of her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Biden's inaugural. As serendipity would have it, we had just recently fallen in love with a little book titled How Poetry Can Change Your Heart by spoken-word poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley and decided in the afterglow of the inaugural poetry love-fest that this was the book we wanted as our first offering...and being able to announce it during National Poetry Month is just icing on the proverbial cake.

Read more and register for this event here!
Woo-hoo! So excited for our first book discussion event!

Enjoy a "Virtual Visit" to Ballyhoo!

So glad to have finally managed to get the wonderful store photos taken last fall by Sarah Scott of Sarah Lee Photography up on our website. If you haven't yet had a chance to visit us in person, please enjoy a virtual tour!

Earth Day Special Feature

"Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year." ~ NPR

We're pleased to offer World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments as our special feature book offering for Earth Day 2021. Written by award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil and illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, this stunning book of essays is breathtaking in its celebration of the world's diversity and unrestrained joy-filled wonder at it all.

World of Wonders, kind of like Aimee, is flabbergasted, gobsmacked, and astonished with glee by all kinds of creatures and phenomena, all kinds of kin, from flamingos to catalpas, from monsoons to corpse flowers, from dancing frogs to axolotls. ~ Ross Gay, Poets & Writers

"The more writers we read, the better our understanding of our own minds stands to be."
~ School of Life

So...which is better?

Folks often ask us which is better for our bottom line - shopping at our storefront or through our website at our online affiliate, Bookshop.org. To be honest, we want our customers to choose whichever purchasing option works best for them. While we receive a smaller percentage of commission per book at our online shop, Bookshop makes up the difference for us in myriad other ways - including annual share payments from the revenue pool they set aside to be distributed bi-annually to participating independent booksellers – like us! So please know that we are over the moon grateful no matter where you make your purchases from us, whether in-store or online. Grateful. Always.