Friday--New Displays for Pirates, Dogs, African American History, Letters, and Valentine Moves Front and Center.

Several weeks ago, Pam mentioned that we should do a pirate table for the new exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, "Real Pirates," which runs through May 27. At first I was sort of bummed because as you know, Stacie built a pirate ship, but we had to dismantle it at Christmas because it used the dowel rods from our freedstanding gift wrap holders. But then I came around to it, especially because I spotted the pirate rubber ducks in the Schylling catalog.

I stopped by the museum after a meeting with our friends at the Milwaukee Public Library (and the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library--how's that for a tongue twister) and asked if we could get some 8x11 signs. The fellow at the desk (Nick) said, "Oh, for Boswell?" and I said "Yes!" Well the Museum thought it was a good idea, and brought them over several days later and the best news of all is that our conversation reminded Nick that Dave Eggers was appearing last Sunday and he got to meet him and get his book signed. Isn't that a happy ending?

So it's February and we had space for an African American history table. Amie noted that kids' books in particular do get published into this slot, and it's also the time when the Coretta Scott King awards are announced.

We also had a dog table not that long ago, but with our event for Ted Kerasote on Tuesday, February 12 at the Wisconsin Humane Society (reserve your space here), it seemed appropriate to put another together. I didn't want to just pull books from the dog section (it was my original concept that display tables should pull out books that you wouldn't normally find together) so we went with "fiction for caniphiles." It includes our favorite dog book, Peter Heller's The Dog Stars, plus Jon Katz's Dancing Dogs, his recent collection of stories, and Suspect, by Robert Crais, his first dog-themed mystery, and the usual suspects (Stein, Cameron et al).

Stacie put this table together on the fly, and it originally had no sign, but I liked calling it "nonfiction epistolary novels." It's appropriately staged around the corner from our notecards.

And finally I should note that it was time for Valentine's Day to move front and center. We've got under a week left to spread a little love. We've still got a good assortment of cards. I wasn't lying when I said that I increased my buy this season.