Tag Archive for The Open Door Bookstore

LOCALS: Come See Me This Saturday, 10/21, at the Open Door Bookstore!

I’ll be signing a range of books, I imagine, but mostly we’ll be celebrating 50 years of the fabulous Open Door bookstore. What an accomplishment, what a service to our community. 

For this visit, we’ll be focusing on some of my spookier titles — Exit 13 and the “Scary Tales” series — but there’s also just a big, wonderful, glorious store to visit and support. Put your money where your values are. 

Please stop by and say hello.

A Few Dates on the Calendar

There’s this in Chappaqua, NY . . .

Okay, I know, it looks a little weird — but roll with it, people. 180 children’s book authors & illustrators, but it’s the readers who make it all possible. They are the ones who excite me. 

I’m doing another Festival in Maplewood, NJ, on the following day — Sunday the 31st — but can’t locate any promotional materials. Concerning!

And there’s this . . . 

It’s amusing, this flyers that schools and event organizers whip up. I mean, the photo of me that they select. This one must be 10 years old. I imagine a graphic artist googling images for “James Preller” and looking through them, shaking a head, thinking, “No, no, ack, not this! No, no . . . hmmm, I guess maybe we could go with this one.”

Anyway, swing by. It’s Halloween season. Maybe something scary will inspire some page-turning. The Open Door is an amazing store and 50 years is an incredible accomplishment. Talk about a survivor. 

McElligott & Preller Join Forces for a Super “Team Up” at The Open Door Bookstore: 12/2 @ 1:00 – 2:30

It’s two for the price of none! Matt McElligott and I are teaming up for a unique book signing at Schenectady’s Open Door Bookstore on 12/2 at 1:00 – 2:30. Come say hello and take care of that holiday shopping with signed books!

Matt is the big brain behind the ground-breaking “Mad Scientist Academy” series, which brings scientific fact to young readers in a fresh, graphic, fun-filled format. The latest title is The Space Disaster.

msa2-jacket-green-mockup     Dinosaur-cover

“McElligott has concocted a winning formula for learning as entertainment.”Kirkus Reviews.

I’ll be there to celebrate the publication of my own space-themed Jigsaw Jones book, The Case from Outer Space, along with the return-to-print of eight “classroom classics.” In addition, I’ll be signing my hot-off-the-presses release, Better Off Undead, for slightly older readers (grades 4-8).

Outer Space_FC     {FE179E59-DB84-4875-A683-EAA5722C0587}Img400

“The latest early chapter book in Preller’s long-running Jigsaw Jones Mystery series has plenty of appeal for young independent readers.”Booklist.

“This uproarious middle grade call to action [Better Of Undead] has considerable kid appeal and a timely message. A strong addition to school and public library collections.” — School Library Journal.

 

 

 

Book Signing: September 27

Book signings can be uniquely depressing events, the classic party where nobody comes. You go to a store, someone hands you a Sharpie, you sit at a desk behind a short stack of books . . . and nobody shows. Most every author could tell you that story, between muffled sobs and shots of bourbon. (Muffled shots and sobs of bourbon?) Even worse, there are the ordinary patrons of the store who did not come for the “special author appearance” but, instead, arrive solely to purchase a new cookbook for Cousin Muffy. They wander near the author’s table, curiously sniff, give a tight-lipped (suspicious) nod, then perambulate over to Paperback Bestsellers.

Or you have this conversation, while they gingerly pick up your book as if it were an explosive device:

Patron: “Did you write this?”

Author: “Yes, it’s a children’s book.”

Patron: “I don’t have any children myself.”

Author: “I see.”

Patron: “They should all be cooked in boiling lard!”

Author: “Okaaaaaay.”

Which is why I’ve pretty much sworn off the humiliation of book store signings.

However!

I’ll be at the Open Door Book Store in Schedectady, New York, on September 27th, from 1:00 – 2:30.

Stop in for a chat.

JP