Wellesley Books Newsletter | May 28th, 2020
Maybe it's just us, but the new spring warmth has a way of making everything feel a bit better. It's hard to believe that this strange period of transition has carried us from winter through to mud season and on to bonafide late-spring. Many folks are anticipating a more low-key summer than usual, and we're here to keep you supplied with all of your backyard-hammock reads. Curbside pickup has been humming along since the 25th, and we'll update you as soon as we're confident that we can take the next step safely.

In the meantime, we're pleased to launch our Father's Day gift bundles! As with our Mother's Day care package, you choose from five hot new titles (with Dad appeal) and we add various goodies from our gift department, including chocolate bars made on the Cape and fun summertime socks. We're now able to offer curbside pickup of these bundles, in addition to local delivery. Click here to find out more.
Upcoming Events
Friday, May 29th at 7:00 PM
Kids, don your jammies and get ready for a bedtime story from Graham Annable! The director of The Boxtrolls and author/illustrator of the Peter & Ernesto graphic novel series joins us to read from his latest book, Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night. Click below to register for this free Zoom event.
Saturday, May 30th at 11:00 AM
Join us for storytime with Vanessa Roeder, Cate Berry and Emma J. Virján! Learn to count with Chicken Break, be true to yourself with The Box Turtle, and discover that What This Story Needs is a Pig in a Wig. Click below to register for this free Zoom event.
Friday, June 5th at 7:00 PM
Jonathan Stutzman joins us for a bedtime story! Tiny T. Rex and the Very Dark Dark, the exciting follow up to Tiny T. Rex and the Impossible Hug, Tiny will conquer his fear of the very dark dark with Pointy by his side, right in his own backyard! Click below to register for this free Zoom event.
Bookseller Recommendations
Colleen L. recommends:
Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson
Two creature comforts are wrapped up in this light romance novel: knitting and books! This quick and easy read is reminiscent of a Hallmark Channel movie. It is a heartwarming story of family and community coming together to save Mama Joy’s Harlem knitting shop and, along with it, a few lost souls. For her whole life, Kerri sought refuge and comfort from Mama Joy and her shop. With Mama Joy’s support and Kerri’s true grit and perseverance, she has been able finish school to make something of her self. All of her plans are stalled when Mama Joy unexpectedly passes away. How will Mama Joy’s four sons handle the shop now that she’s gone? Will they stay and try to make a go of it? Will they sell and cut their losses? Who will Kerri turn to and what is her role in this drama now that the matriarch is gone? Bonus: real men knit in this story!
Lorna recommends:
A Week at the Shore by Barbara Delinsky
A Week at the Shore is the story of three sisters, a demanding, judgmental father, and a beautiful family home set high on a bluff above the Rhode Island coast. Twenty years have passed and the middle sister Mallory is taking her daughter Joy home to visit the house that she grew up in. She is immediately reminded why she fled to New York; there are family secrets, scandals, resentments and small town gossip. 
If you are looking for a summer escape, this is the book for you. I was immediately caught up in the Aldiss family story and dove in eagerly, letting the waves of the story wash up over me.
New In Hardcover
Michael Connelly
J.M. Coetzee
Mikel Jollett
Natalie Jenner
Nancy Thayer
Nora Roberts
Eileen Alexander
Casey Sherman & Dave Wedge
Patrik Svensson
New In Paperback
William Kent Krueger
Nicole Dennis-Benn
Salman Rushdie
Melanie Benjamin
Anthony Horowitz
David Brooks
Brian Jay Jones
Our Old Favorites
Barry recommends:
The Last Boy by Jane Leavy
We may not have baseball right now, but we do have classic baseball books, and Jane Leavy's 2010 biography of Mickey Mantle is one of the very best. Almost from the beginning of Mantle's career, he was enveloped by thick layers of mythology. When he was playing, that mythology was overwhelmingly positive; he was, without a doubt, the best-loved player of his era. After he retired, frequent reports of behavior not befitting an idol added a dark element to the whole Mantle myth. Jane Leavy's signal accomplishment in this biography is rescuing Mantle from the realm of caricature and supplying a perspective that was hardly available for sixty years: Mickey Mantle as a flesh-and-blood human being. A stunning piece of reportage, research, and writing.
Melinda recommends:
Citizens of London by Lynne Olson
This is an absorbing account of Harriman, Murrow and Winnant and that infamous Pamela Digby Churchill. All were in London during the Blitz. If you are blurry on WWII history, read Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile--these two books make a great set.
But that Pamela, she was up to all sorts of things with all sorts of people. I went on to read two biographies of her to find out where this babe came from. Great reading. I know that many book clubs have chosen this title. Deservedly so.
New Books For Kids
Gennifer Choldenko
Melanie Conklin
Saundra Mitchell & Josh Berk
Patricia MacLachlan & Micha Archer
New Books For Young Adults
Lexi Bean
Nick Lake
Tobly McSmith
ed. Saundra Mitchell
Jeannie Mobley
Larry Rosen
Jordyn Taylor
Kelly Yang
Reach Out and Read
Reach Out and Read
“It’s never too early to start children on the path to becoming life-long book lovers!” For more than 30 years, Reach Out and Read has been helping pediatricians across the country spread that message to parents. A national program that runs out of doctors’ offices in communities across the country, Reach Out and Read helps parents become their children’s first and best teacher. After well child visits, families go home with a “prescription” to read aloud every day, and a new, developmentally and culturally appropriate book to enjoy. Reach Out and Read places special focus on supporting programs in underserved communities and currently serves one in four children from low-income families. Please check back for news about Wellesley Books and Reach Out and Read!
In the Gift Department
Games are back in stock! Staff favorite family games include Fluxx, Wavelength and Storymatic.
What We're Reading Now...
Lorna
Lauren
Sally
Colleen L.
Jane
Judy
Bookseller Pet of the Week
This sweet face belongs to Murphy, a Golden Retriever who lives with our gift merchandiser Judy. When he visited us this spring, he seemed to be looking for a book with big, beautiful photographs of squirrels, but we had to disappoint him. Hope you're getting a lot of walks these days, Murphy.
Thank you for supporting your community independent bookstore!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Stimpson
82 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
781-431-1160