Diversion: David Budbill, Katherine Paterson, and Young Adult Collection

Every now and then, we realize how far we've strayed from our mission of gathering the best (and mostly signed) mysteries to present here. Today was one of those days, as I prowled through the section of "children's books we couldn't resist," and recalled when the authors signed each one.

One of my favorites as a Vermont classic is David Budbill's picturebook Christmas Tree Farm. With its Donald Carrick illustrations, it captures a slice of Vermont that's rarely pictured. This week the tributes to Budbill's life continue to pile up in various publications; it's good to recall his versatility as we look at this book again. (Yes, it's available -- click here.)

While I was looking at David's book, I also noticed that we still have eleven (yes, eleven!) books signed by the amazing Katherine Paterson. Although we no longer have her most noted title, Bridge to Terabithia, we have quite a few others -- the list is here. I hope some of them will move to "good homes" as holiday gifts. In fact, if you decide to order one or more, mention this blog post and we'll take the shipping cost down to a penny, just for the fun of seeing these travel outward. Ten of them are here; the eleventh, edited by Amy Ehrlich and also signed by Ehrlich and by Reeve Lindbergh, is here.

And of course, I ended up going through our entire "young adult" collection while I was sitting on the floor by the shelves. Most are mysteries -- a few are just darned good writing, like The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson that I sort of wish my grandson were old enough to read, because it captured me so intensely. (It isn't signed -- but it's here.) Or the signed copy of softcover copy of Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks that I was thrilled to find in a bookshop a couple of days after I'd missed seeing her in person there. But there are also good dark mysteries and suspense by Joelle Charbonneau and many others (even a delightful book by Robert B. Parker). As you can tell, we range quite a distance when we're seeking an author's signature! And although we remind each other that our mission is mysteries, a well-written story always gets our attention.

Well, that's enough "chitchat" -- I'm going to go read another exciting book.