The magic of Coreander’s Children’s Bookshoppe

October 14, 2025 — Coreander’s Children’s Bookshoppe is a magical destination for children’s books in Grosse Pointe Park. I love that the entire shop is brimming with children’s books. The second floor is where the older children’s books are shelved. It’s a dazzling store with so much to take in, I’d like to spend several hours there, just looking and reading. There’s so much more than books, too, like gifts and an ice cream shop/cafe. Another semi-hidden treasure is their outdoor garden area, home to many small bookish animal sculptures nestled among the flora.

I felt extremely honored to once again be invited to hold an author event, a reading and signing, at their shoppe. They do social media posts about their events the weeks prior to the event. They ask that children who will be attending reserve free tickets so they can estimate the crowd and have the room and chairs set up. Several days before my Saturday, October 4 author visit, the Eventbrite listing said “going fast,” and I was happy and excited. The manager, Jen, said that nine of the 15 children’s seats were reserved. The reading I performed in 2024 with my first picture book, How Happy Is a Lark? was a “sold out” show, to my surprise and delight. 

Last week, most of the people who had reserved tickets didn’t show up. We used to discuss this dilemma at work because when an event is free, people perhaps aren’t as invested in whether or not they attend. Will paying a small amount increase the number who attend? By the same token, having a fee might turn some people away.

My husband’s Aunt Jackie, and cousins Cathy and JoAnn were there! This is the third book event of mine they’ve attended. They’re thoughtful and kind and I appreciate them so much. We had a mother and young son (maybe two years old), and a little guy with his grandmother and mother, similar in age to the other little fellow. I’m so happy they were there. I think the children were a bit too young for the story, which I’ve estimated for ages 4 - 8. They listened a little bit, but were antsy, which is understandable.

I gave a short introduction and read Part 1 of the book, which leaves the audience on a cliffhanger. We had plenty of time, I was scheduled for an hour, so I asked if there were any questions. JoAnn kindly got the ball rolling with some good questions, that she may have known the answers to, such as my inspiration for writing the book. Another asked me if it was hard to self publish? I answered a definite “yes and no” (ha) and elaborated on that. One of the little boys asked me, through his mother, what was my favorite book when I was little? I like that question. I talked about Frederick by Leo Lionni, which regular readers of my blog know. Coreander’s has the book (or did, last year) and a stuffy of Frederick, the mouse. I refrained from a purchase last year, with some difficulty. I’d never seen one!

There was room for the book table within Coreander’s theater, due to less chairs being needed than last year. I signed several copies of Into the Thicket, and even a How Happy Is a Lark? The grandma bought the books for her grandchildren, which was sweet. Another mother, daughter and her daughters, aged about 2 and 5, ventured into the theater next. Since there was still so much time left, I offered to read the book again, to them. The little curly-haired girl was sitting comfortably in what had been my chair, so I carried another chair over next to her. The rest of the family circled around. These two girls were such good listeners. The littlest one sat with two fingers in her mouth, and an occasional sweet smile, while her older sister paid rapt attention as she absorbed the story. 

Again, I read Part 1. The parents wanted to know, probably also on behalf of the children, if the rabbit was going to be alright. So, I spilled it.

They were the best purchasers — I’m happy that I winged it and read a second time. As I’ve said previously, it’s not just about the sales, but it’s really great to know our book is getting read out in the world.

There’s so much to discover at Coreander’s — everywhere you look. The walls are beautifully painted with book themed scenes and characters, Jen said by a local artist. We weren’t able to linger on Saturday because of another commitment.

The Moonbeam Awards were announced last week and I was looking forward to those with anticipation. Alas, we didn’t win or place in anything. BUT, it’s an international competition that receives over a thousand entries. The competition was steep. I was initially disappointed, of course, but I was “over it” in about 10 minutes! There are several other awards we’ve entered that will be announced in 2026. I’m hoping to have something more to write about!

A program I’ve been involved in online, called Goodnightreads, emailed me that Into the Thicket has been nominated for their All Star Award (for books that get a 5 star review and the reviewer then nominates them) for a third time. It was good to learn that the nominations carry over from month to month. Each month, the book with the most nominations, wins. Goodnightreads has been a real gem of a find and if anyone has a children’s book that they’d like more reviews for, I highly recommend it. In fact, they give us a link that gives others half off their first month of membership. There’s a free option as well. If you’re a children’s book author interested in a great way for your book to acquire some nice, unbiased reviews, you can try them here. It’s much better than bothering family and friends to review your book.

I was honored to be reviewed by the Midwest Book Review and to be selected as a Reviewer’s Choice for the October issue, where our book’s review appears on the digital newsletter’s homepage. At the outset, they let you know they aren’t able to review all books sent to them. I was really happy when the editor-in-chief received our book in the mail on a Monday and he emailed me that the books had arrived safely.

“I started to glance through it with the notion of scheduling it for review under our RFR* option,” he wrote. “I got instantly hooked. I read it on the spot and this morning I went ahead and crafted a review so it would meet the deadline (tomorrow) for being included in the October issue of our monthly book review publication “Children’s Bookwatch.” It’s distributed to libraries, schools, parents, and so I’m hoping we gain some traction with this. *The RFR is a reader fee review wherein the author pays $50 to guarantee their book is reviewed, but of course, there’s no guarantee the review will be a good one.

An excerpt from Midwest Book Review: “Original, unique, deftly crafted, informative, engaging, bearing an important and inspiring message about kindness, rescue, engagement, and liberation with respect to animals in stress, “Into the Thicket” is an entertaining and inherently fascinating read from start to finish … especially and unreservedly recommended for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library collections for children ages 4-8.” — James Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review

I sure am getting many very nicely written emails offering to market the book! We’re not going to pay for marketing at this time. I’m doing quite a bit, but I’m sure that some additional specialized professional efforts could help. We’ll see how it goes. I’m trying to decide how and if to reply to these emails. I could just have a polite no thank you email to copy and paste that says we’re not looking for marketing. I think many people would say just to ignore them. What do you think? Let me know through contact or on the corresponding social media post please. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the TV show Wednesday (I wrote about last month). Tonight we went to a reading by a local horror author I know (not our son) at This, That, and the Odder Things, a cool shop in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town. We were the first to hear Ken MacGregor read a new murder short story he wrote. We were held in suspense and were entertained: a fun spooky season activity. People can hire him to write a story about someone getting murdered as a special gift!

As I type, the jack o’lantern lights are blinking at me from our mantle. We visited Wasem’s Fruit Farm last week for all the goodies: donuts, cider, caramel apples and of course, pumpkins from The Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch. The weather had finally cooled enough for the cider mill to make sense. What are some of your favorite autumn or Halloween things to do? Let me know through the comments page. While you’re at it, sign up for my (infrequent) enewsletters if you’d like.