Comments on: When Pigs Fly: The Improbable Dream of Bookselling in a Digital Age

By: Nadja Jackson

Nadja Jackson — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:23:29 +0000

Thank you for beautifully articulating what we all love about creating, working for, and supporting a small independent bookstore! Linden Tree Books in Los Altos, Callfornia has also been around over 25 years, has moved a few times, and has seen trends come and go, but nothing replaces the pure joy we experience when we put the right book into the hands of a child. May we all continue to be thriving many years from now.

By: Alexis O'Neill

Alexis O'Neill — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:30:25 +0000

Yes! Jody’s Adventures for Kids was a significant force in our community, Susie. Although the store closed soon after her retirement, Jody is still connecting kids and books and passionately championing indie bookstores.

By: Alexis O'Neill

Alexis O'Neill — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:26:18 +0000

Here’s to the Flying Pig and other indies for making possible the impossible, each and every day.

By: Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Kristin Elizabeth Clark — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 21:09:29 +0000

A beautiful article – thank you so much for writing it AND for establishing and maintaining such an important and magical place. I especially loved this line: “A good “indie” measures profit not only in book sales but in what it adds to the community.”

Truer words, truer words…

By: Dashka Slater

Dashka Slater — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:38:42 +0000

In my online children’s book writing classes I always take a moment to encourage my students — many of whom live outside of major cities — to purchase books from independents or online at Indybound. I tell them that independent booksellers have the potential to be the greatest ally an emerging author could ever wish for — but that those advocates and allies can’t survive unless book lovers support them. Now I have an article to give them that sums up the reasons to support independents far more gracefully than I ever could. Thank you!

By: Uma Krishnaswami

Uma Krishnaswami — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:11:07 +0000

Elizabeth, thank you for telling your story of risk-taking and dreaming and love. But thank you as well for speaking to the unprecedented challenges that face indie booksellers–the same challenges that writers and illustrators must also contend with. Your point about Kindles is especially sobering. Thank you in all for speaking as honestly and bravely as you always do.

By: Susie Wilde

Susie Wilde — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:09:36 +0000

I still have a collection of children’s books that have special inside covers—my children pictured with authors who then signed their books. My daughter at 2 weeks old being held by Charlotte Zolotow, James Marshall with his arm around my four-year-old son after he’d just recovered from a full on temper tantrum where he threw himself on the floor screaming “I hate books!” because he wanted a puppet. All of us dressed in red on the Valentine’s Day we met Aliki. I would have had none of these books (or memories) with out the wonderful Jody Fickes Shapiro who welcomed thousands into Adventures for Kids in Ventura!

By: Elizabeth Dulemba

Elizabeth Dulemba — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:19:22 +0000

Wonderful article – wonderful story! I’m so glad you both decided to accomplish the impossible! e

By: Jessica Leader

Jessica Leader — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:41:51 +0000

How often do tears come to my eyes when reading an article about opening a business? Thanks for doing what you always do, whether here or on ShelfTalker: show me the life behind the thing I love so much.

Thank you for that Phantom Tollbooth quotation, too! I think even the first three lines–about how what you can do is often just a matter of what you will do–will stay with me.

By: Robin Pulver

Robin Pulver — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:17:07 +0000

Elizabeth, I loved this! So much heart, so much information. I’m proud to know you and wish I could get to your store more often!