Boswell's week in preview: Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, Leif Enger, Andy Rash, Donald Baumgartner and Kurt Chandler - please note that William Powers is canceled and Jodi Picoult is sold out.

Boswell's week in preview: Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, Leif Enger, Andy Rash, Donald Baumgartner and Kurt Chandler - please note that William Powers is canceled and Jodi Picoult is sold out.

Monday, October 15, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson, author and illustrator of Carmela Full of Wishes

Boswell is pleased to present Matt de La Peña and Christian Robinson, author and illustrator of the Newbery Medal and Caldecott Honor winning Last Stop on Market Street, for their newest collaboration, a moving ode to family, dreamers, and finding hope in unexpected places. Note: registration is closed for this event but don't worry, we have room for all walk ups! We'd love to see you.

Boswell is partnering with Next Door: Stronger Families Through Education for this event and will be accepting donations of books for children. Together, we hope to put Carmela and other books in the hands of as many young readers as possible. Donate a copy of Carmela and we’ll put your wish on display in our kids window.

We have completed advance registration for this event. We're quite sure we'll have room enough for all (there's both a Brewers and a Packers game tonight) so if you would like to see an award winning children's book duo, please come and bring friends, kids, educators, and so forth!

When Carmela wakes up on her birthday, her wish has already come true. She’s finally old enough to join her big brother as he does the family errands. Together, they travel through their neighborhood, past the crowded bus stop, the fenced-off repair shop, and the panadería, until they arrive at the Laundromat, where Carmela finds a lone dandelion growing in the pavement. But before she can blow its white fluff away, her brother tells her she has to make a wish - if only she can think of just the right wish to make.

Matt de la Peña is the author of five picture books and six critically acclaimed young adult novels. Christian Robinson's picture books include the Gaston and Friends series, Leo: A Ghost Story, and Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker. 

Tuesday, October 16, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Cancelled - William Powers, author of Dispatches from the Sweet Life: One Family, Five Acres, and a Community's Quest to Reinvent the World. Just wanted to remind you that this event is not happening.

Wednesday, October 17, 7:00 PM, at Oriental Theatre, 2230 N Farwell Ave:
Leif Enger, author of Virgil Wander

Boswell is excited to work with Milwaukee Film to bring you an evening with Leif Enger, author of the million-copy selling book Peace Like a River. This event is free but registration is required at engermke.bpt.me. Capacity is limited. Doors open 6:30 pm.

Virgil Wander is the first novel in ten years from Enger, an enchanting and timeless all-American story that follows the inhabitants of a small Midwestern town in their quest to revive its flagging heart. Midwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is cruising along at medium altitude when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives, but his language and memory are altered, and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him.

With intelligent humor and captivating whimsy, Enger conjures a remarkable portrait of a region and its residents, who, for reasons of choice or circumstance, never made it out of their defunct industrial district. Carried aloft by quotidian pleasures including movies, fishing, necking in parked cars, playing baseball, and falling in love, Virgil Wander is a swift, full journey into the heart and heartache of an often overlooked American Upper Midwest by a formidably gifted (Chicago Tribune) master storyteller. We're expecting Virgil Wander to be one of the most beloved novels of fall. We've already had several great advance reads, and all of us are unanimous that this book is simply magical.

Leif Enger was raised in Osakis, Minnesota, and worked as a reporter and producer for Minnesota Public Radio before writing his bestselling debut novel Peace Like a River, which won the Independent Publisher Book Award and was one of the Los Angeles Times and Time Magazine Best Books of the Year. His second novel, So Brave, Young, and Handsome, was also a national bestseller and a Midwest Booksellers' Choice Award Honor Book for Fiction.

Downer Avenue's Haunted Halloween, 12 - 4 PM, featuring
Saturday, October 20, 2:00 PM, at Boswell:
Andy Rash, author of Unstinky

Boswell takes part in Historic Downer Avenue’s Haunted Halloween with a special picture book presentation from Boswellian favorite Andy Rash. Not only will Rash tell the story of Bud, the pleasant-smelling stink bug and (maybe!) even lead us in song, but we’re hosting an Unstinky scavenger hunt along the avenue. Registration requested (but not required) for this free event at unstinkymke.bpt.me.

This year is the 3rd annual Haunted Halloween on Downer Avenue. From 12-4 pm, local businesses host trick-or-treating and compete for votes in the pumpkin carving contest, as well as Halloween-themed chalk artistry on the sidewalk and St. Mark's Church pumpkin sale.

Andy Rash brings the laughs in this story of a stinkbug who can't stink. Bud is happy, except when it comes to stinking contests. He always loses to champions like P. U. Bottoms, Lord Stinkington, and The Fumigator. When they make smells like outhouse and armpit, poor Bud ends up smelling like flowers and fresh-baked bread. With an ending as fresh as a daisy, and funnier than any smell, Rash puts a hilarious spin on a tale of following your nose to happiness.

Milwaukee-based Andy Rash is the author and illustrator of several picture books, including The Robots Are Coming, Are You a Horse?, and Archie the Daredevil Penguin.

Sunday, October 21, 3:00 pm, at Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts:
SOLD OUT - Jodi Picoult, author of A Spark of Light, in conversation with Chloe Benjamin, presented by Oconomowoc’s Books and Company and Boswell. Here's a reminder that this program is sold out. Alas, there is no waiting list or walk-up tickets. Signed copies of A Spark of Light may be available at Boswell after the event.

Monday, October 22, 7:00 PM, at Boswell:
Donald Baumgartner and Kurt Chandler, in conversation for With the Wind at His Back: The Charmed and Charitable Life of Donald Baumgartner

Milwaukeean Donald Baumgartner is known as a man who takes a big bite out of life. He’ll chat with his biographer, Kurt Chandler, about his new biography and his life and times.

Baumgartner crossed the Atlantic in a 58-foot yacht through two gale-force storms. He’s set foot on all seven continents and accepted an award from President Ronald Reagan in the White House Rose Garden. He built his family business into a global leader and then made headlines in 2016 when he handed over the ownership of his Milwaukee manufacturing company to his employees.

As depicted by author Kurt Chandler, Donald Baumgartner has led a charmed life of adventure, success, and generosity, and he continues to give back to his community as one of his hometown's most charitable patrons of the arts. Impassioned, lionhearted, he works hard and lives large, endowed with an optimistic nature, sense of humor, and a measure of good luck.

Donald Baumgartner founded Paper Machinery Corporation in 1951 and now oversees this thriving, international company. He is highly active in Milwaukee-area civic and community organizations and was instrumental in bringing the Santiago Calatrava wing to life at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Kurt Chandler served as Milwaukee Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief from August 2013 - November 2015. Chandler has been published in a number of metro newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Salon.