Boswell events for this week - Jim Terry, Sarah Williamson, Rufi Thorpe, Barbara Joosse, Kevin Henkes, plus a book talk

Here are this week's Boswell virtual events.

Monday, November 30, 7 pm
Jim Terry, author of Come Home, Indio: A Memoir
in conversation with Daniel Goldin

Boswell Book Company and Lion’s Tooth present an evening with graphic memoirist Terry for a conversation about his honest, charming book which chronicles his attempts to fit in with the Ho-Chunk community of his Native American family in Wisconsin and his schoolmates in the Chicago suburbs. Register for this Zoom event here.

Jim Terry, born in California and raised in the Chicago suburbs, is a prolific comic book artist who has worked on such comics as The Crow: Skinning the Wolves, Sundowners, and Vampirella. He travels the ComicCon circuit and has also created custome comics on his own. His mother was a Native American from the Ho-Chunk nation of Wisconsin, and his father was an Irish American jazz musician from Chicago. 

In Come Home, Indio, we are invited to walk through his life as he struggles to find security and comfort in an often hostile environment. Terry tries in vain to fit in and eventually turns to alcohol to provide an escape from increasing loneliness and alienation. Terry also shares with the reader in exquisite detail the process by which he finds hope and gets sober, as well as the powerful experience of finding something to believe in and to belong to at the Dakota Access Pipeline resistance at Standing Rock.

I'm excited to talk to Terry about his new book. We'll have a wide-ranging conversation on finding identity and your place in the world, with a lot of stops along the way - horror movies, Star Wars, Will Eisner, and books that shaped him, including Flowers for Algernon and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Tuesday, December 1, 5:30 pm
Sarah Williamson, author of Elevator Bird
with Daniel Goldin and Katie Kiekhaefer

Boswell Book Company and Whitefish Bay Public Library present an event with Milwaukee native Sarah Williams, author of several other books for kids and frequent contributor to The New York Times, who will chat about her quirky picture book about kindness, friendship, and a team coming together to make one bird's dream come true. This evening event is kid-friendly, the book is fun for all ages, and so this event will be perfect for families. Register for this Zoom event here.

Williamson is the author and illustrator of numerous picture books and her work has also appeared in The New York Times. In her latest, it takes a strong team to keep the Hotel running smoothly, and Elevator Bird is at the center of it all. Elevator Bird makes everyone’s day brighter. So when he confesses to his friend Mousie that he’s always longed for a room with a view, Mousie springs into action. All his friends at the Hotel hatch a marvelous plan to make sure Elevator Bird has the nest he deserves in this charming tale of friends working together to make a dream come true.

From School Library Journal’s starred review: “There are giggle-inducing asides, details to pore over, and clues to each worker’s personality in vivid details. Just as every job matters at the hotel, every animal has a part to play in this sweet story about showing up for a friend. A beyond charming story about kindness and friendship, sure to bring a smile to the face of every reader.”

We've been working with Sarah Williamson for a long time, trying to come up with a public event or school visit or both. Our new virtual schedule helped this come together. Williamson will also be visiting Cumberland Elementary School in Whiteifsh Bay, which Williamson attended!

Wednesday, December 2, 7 pm 

Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen 

in conversation with Chris Lee

We're so excited to bring you an evening with Rufi Thorpe, also author of The Girls of Corona del Mar (long-listed for the Dylan Thomas and Flaherty-Dunnan Prizes) and Dear Fang, with Love. Thorpe will be in conversation with Chris Lee, who recently named The Knockout Queen his #1 book of 2020. KOQ has many fans, including Jane Hamilton, who originally put the book on our radar. Register here for this event.

With storytelling as intoxicating as it is intelligent, Thorpe has created a tragic, unflinching portrait of identity, a fascinating examination of our struggles to exist in our bodies, and an excruciatingly beautiful story of two humans aching for connection. 

Bunny Lampert is the princess of North Shore⁠ - beautiful, tall, blond, with a rich real-estate-developer father and a swimming pool in her backyard. Michael⁠⁠ - with a ponytail down his back and a septum piercing⁠ - lives with his aunt in the cramped stucco cottage next door. When Bunny catches Michael smoking in her yard, he discovers that her life is not as perfect as it seems. And so a unique friendship is born.

Thursday, December 3, 10 am
Barbara Joosse, author of Everybody’s Tree
a school-style presentation plus conversation with Jenny Chou

Boswell hosts a morning event with beloved Wisconsin author of books for children. This kid-friendly event will feature Joosse in a virtual setting much like one of our popular author school visits, but it’s open to the public – so while it’s perfect for schools and educators, it’s also a dream event for parents and home-schoolers, too. Joosse will chat with Boswellian Jenny Chou. Register here for this event.

In Everybody’s Tree, Joosse offers up the story of a spruce tree, from the time it is planted in a tree farm to the holiday season when it becomes the centerpiece of a city's holiday celebration. Over the course of eighty years, a spruce tree grows along with the little boy who first selected it at a tree farm. As the tree grows from sapling to magnificent evergreen, the child becomes a father and grandfather. Now at the end of its life, the glorious tree is chosen to be the centerpiece of a city's holiday celebration. The tree journeys from rural countryside to big city center, where everyone, young and old, comes together to celebrate a tree for all.

Barbara Joosse's books for children include the Lulu and Rocky in Milwaukee and also such other cities as Detroit, Nashville, and Indianapolis. Joosse's written more books than I can list here, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Mama Do You Love Me.

Friday, December 4, 3 pm
Kevin Henkes, author of Sun Flower Lion
in conversation with Jane Hamilton

Boswell Book Company and InkLink Books of East Troy presents a special event with Kevin Henkes in conversation with Wisconsin author Jane Hamilton. Click right here to register for this event, broadcast via Zoom. Please note that both Boswell and InkLink will have a limited number of signed copies of Sun Flower Lion and the also just-released Lilly and Friends. Register for this event here.

Madison’s Kevin Henkes is author and illustrator of more than fifty critically acclaimed and award-winning books and the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award. He has received multiple Caldecott and Geisel Honors as well as two Newbery Honors for novels. Most recently, he is the author of In the Middle of Fall, A Parade of Elephants, and Sweeping Up the Heart. Jane Hamilton is author of the novels such as The Excellent Lombards, and A Map of the World. I have read all seven of them.

Here's a little more about Sun Flower Lion. On a warm morning, a little lion sleeps under a sun that shines so brightly, it looks like a flower. He dreams the flower is as big as the sun. He dreams the flower is a cookie. He lets his imagination soar. With three visual motifs, three colors, and fewer than 200 words, renowned Caldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times bestseller Kevin Henkes cracks open the wide world and the youngest child’s endless imagination. This irresistible picture book is a must-have for every reader and every family. And don't forget about Lilly and Friends, all your favorites in one bound hardcover!

Saturday, December 5, 11 am
Daniel Goldin’s Holiday Book Talk for the Friends of the Shorewood Public Library

Join the Friends of Shorewood Public Library and Boswell Book Company's proprietor Daniel Goldin for a presentation on the best books to look for during the holiday season. Known for giving interesting and varied suggestions, perfect for discerning readers, Daniel will present book suggestions that make perfect gifts for adults, kids, and even yourself. This talk will be presented via Zoom. Click here to join - no registration for this one.

More on the Boswell upcoming page.