"They're really cool places that have a unique environment. You walk in and it feels like a sanctuary--like, 'It's all about books in here'.... The people running them are so in love with books, they're so enthusiastic, and they're looking for opportunities to share that love with people who come in. Now that I'm all-in on making picture books, I'm really looking forward to this year and spending more time going into stores, talking with people as an author, hopefully doing events with them later in the year.... I'm really looking forward to meeting more booksellers this year through those events, because they're really great people."

Pete Mulvihill, who has been a staff member and then co-owner of Green Apple Books, San Francisco, Calif., for more than 30 years, is selling his half of the business to co-owner Kevin Ryan at the end of the year. Then he is "moving on to the next chapter," as he wrote in an announcement.

Pete Mulvihill

Last September, Mulvihill joined the Watermark Agency as a literary agent, a role he will continue. ("I'll still be selling books--just earlier in the chain between author and reader.") He added, "After decades of the responsibility and privilege of running Green Apple, I'm stepping into this next phase with gratitude and a sense of possibility. I'm open to gigs, boards, consulting, mentoring, and junkets!"

Mulvihill started at Green Apple in 1993 as a temp. Eventually he and Kevin Ryan and Kevin Hunsanger bought the store from founder Rich Savoy over a 10-year period ending in 2008. Mulvihill and Ryan bought out Hunsanger in 2018.

Mulvihill is a former board member of the American Booksellers Association and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (now part of CALIBA) and, with his wife, Samantha Schoech, helped found Independent Bookstore Day.

Mulvihill thanked many people: "With guidance from founder Rich Savoy, in partnership with Kevin Hunsanger and Kevin Ryan, and with the help of hundreds of managers and booksellers, I've helped guide Green Apple through more than three decades of challenges and successes." He especially thanked Kevin Ryan, saying, "We've been through everything life brings--becoming fathers, hiring, box-moving parties, mistakes, bowling, swimming, rowing, parenting, power outages, rodent patrol, publisher dinners, arguing, apologizing, celebrating, crying, and losing loved ones. There's no one I trust more to guide Green Apple and our related stores forward."

He noted the growth and evolution of Green Apple. "Throughout this century and before, we've managed to adapt, changing our product mix and physical space to keep pace with the market. We added Books on the Park in 2014, took over Browser Books in 2019, ground through COVID, closed the music and fiction annex in 2021, popped up downtown in 2023, and now sell books to an even bigger audience at SFO."

Green Apple has also benefited, he continued, "from the support of countless editors, sales reps, neighboring businesses, SF's Legacy Business program, fair landlords, a solid bookkeeper, an excellent attorney, generous authors and artists, and fellow booksellers. Our indie bookstore peers deserve special thanks--in what other business do 'competitors' so generously share knowledge, enthusiasm, and tips on cutting your Cost of Goods Sold?" 

We wish Pete well and we're happy to note that he's is keeping his Green Apple e-mail through 2030--"so stay in touch." He's also reachable at Watermark.

The Wandering Page, a mobile bookstore that first hit the road last year, recently celebrated the grand opening of its bricks-and-mortar location at 103 Bedford Ave. in Bellmore, N.Y. Greater Long Island reported that Bellmore native and high school Spanish teacher Denise Cruz "built a thriving business selling handmade jewelry before the pandemic. But in the summer of 2023, a severe car accident in Florida left her with a broken right hand--her dominant hand--requiring two surgeries and making intricate jewelry work nearly impossible."

"I still wanted to be creative and make a little extra cash. Creating is how I relax," said Cruz, who invested in a laser engraving machine and soon was creating literary-themed merchandise. An avid reader who moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at age 12, she said books helped her learn English. She gradually expanded her offerings to include journals made from wood and leather, along with more book-themed gifts. 

Their popularity inspired her to launch the mobile bookstore. She and her husband, Carlos Cruz, converted a 7×14-foot trailer and by September 2025 the shop was drawing crowds at events across Long Island. "Seeing how happy people get about the trailer," she said, "was truly rewarding."

When she discovered a storefront had become available in Bellmore, Cruz was ready to expand: "It's always been my dream to open a store. The town needs it. We don't have any independent bookstores near here. Bedford is being built up and we need stuff like this."

The Wandering Page "features a modern farmhouse aesthetic with green, navy and beige tones accented by gold finishes. Cozy couches, comfortable chairs and even a picnic table invite visitors to settle in and stay awhile," Greater Long Island noted. 

Inclusivity in mind is a priority in the bookshop, with shelves offering Spanish-language books, works by Latino and Black authors, and a dedicated section highlighting independent Long Island writers. "My current students and former students come, my kids who didn't like to read before like to read now," Cruz said.

Bound to Be Good Books, a romance-focused bookstore, celebrated its grand opening in Great Falls, Mont., over Fourth of July weekend, KRTV reported.

The bookstore carries a wide array of romance titles, including YA romance and books by local authors, and resides at 413 Central Ave., Suite A. Owner Erin Helms got her start in bookselling by selling blind dates with books at farmers markets and vendor shows. After building up a following she decided to open a bricks-and-mortar store, and she chose to focus on romance because the genre was outselling everything, Helms noted. 

The store's grand opening festivities began on July 3 and continued on July 4 following the town's Fourth of July parade. As the store finds its footing, Helms plans to continue making pop-up appearances at farmers markets over the summer.

Per KRTV, Bound to Be Good is the first romance-focused bookstore to open in Great Falls.

Author Patrice Lawrence has been named the Waterstones Children's Laureate for 2026 to 2028, succeeding Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Managed by the BookTrust and sponsored by Waterstones, the position "celebrates creativity and storytelling, promotes the vital importance of reading and children's literature, and champions the right of every child to enjoy a lifetime enriched with books and stories. Each Laureate brings their own passion and creativity to their tenure."

Patrice Lawrence (photo: David Bebber)

Lawrence is an award-winning writer whose debut YA novel, Orangeboy, won the Bookseller YA Book Prize and the Waterstones Prize for Older Children's Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award. Her subsequent novels include Needle, which was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing and winner of the 2023 Little Rebels Award, and, most recently, People Like Stars, shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards. In 2021, she was awarded an MBE for Services to Literature and in 2023 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 

"During my tenure as Waterstones Children's Laureate, I will champion the power of books to make us feel like we belong, and shared stories as a tool for bringing people together," Lawrence said. "We are living in a divided world where many people feel isolated. We need this now, more than ever."

BookTrust co-CEO Diana Gerald said Lawrence's appointment "gives a much-needed voice to the vulnerable children pushed to the edge of our society. We're looking forward to supporting her work with communities across the country to explore how sharing stories can strengthen wellbeing, build relationships and nurture meaningful community connection."

Mike Wallace, "a self-proclaimed radical historian whose magisterial, unvarnished biography of New York, Gotham, written with Edwin G. Burrows, won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired two more door-stopper volumes about the city," died July 5, the New York Times reported. He was 83.

Wallace, a pre-med student at Columbia in the 1960s, became radicalized in the years leading up to the 1968 student takeover of campus buildings to protest the Vietnam War. He "turned his studies to history, and came to define 'radical' as bottom-up social history that recognizes the profound influence of capitalism and of economic and social class distinctions and conflicts," the Times noted. 

Wallace and Burrows began their project in 1976 after receiving a $7,000 grant to write a book that would encompass the global transition from feudalism to capitalism. They eventually chose to write the story focusing on New York City over the course of 500 years.

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (1998) was published to coincide with the centennial of Greater New York. In the book, which won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History, the co-authors "made a case that the consolidation of what became the five boroughs was a natural sequel by local government to what corporations had in the late 19th century recently accomplished to stifle competition through trusts and monopolies," the Times wrote.

"For all the big bankers and corporate executives' putative love of free markets," Wallace told the Times in 2017, "real capitalists of that era thought competition is lunatic. They have to cut wages, which leads to unionism, which has to be repressed, which leads to socialism."

The Pulitzer committee said, "The authors weave together diverse histories--of sex and sewer systems, finance and architecture, immigration and politics, poetry and crime--into a single narrative tapestry that reads like a fast-paced novel."

Wallace published two more volumes: Greater Gotham: A History of New York City From 1898 to 1919 (2017) and Gotham at War: A History of New York City From 1933 to 1945 (2025). He also wrote the collections Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory (1996) and A New Deal for New York (2002). He and his wife, poet and playwright Carmen Boullosa, co-authored A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War" (2015).

In addition to his teaching career, Wallace directed the Radical History Forum for about 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s; helped save the New-York Historical Society (now the New York Historical) from financial collapse in the 1990s; advised Ric Burns on his PBS series New York: A Documentary Film; and in 2000 founded the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University Graduate Center.

Wallace observed that "historiography--the study of history--is, like history itself, a constant struggle, in part because most people are focused less on what came before than on what's next," the Times noted that 

"It's an American characteristic, to some degree," he told Columbia College Today in 2020l. "The past is the dustbin of history. It might be a source of amusing movies or interesting museum exhibits. But the action is in the future. Followed closely by the present."

The two most popular books in June at Reading Group Choices were Catching Sight: How a Guide Dog Helped Me See Myself by Deni Elliott, with Graham Buck (Beacon Press) and The Other Beautiful People by Caroline Bock (Regal House).

"It's an Analog Summer and we're kinda giddy about it," Fabled Bookshop & Cafe in Waco, Tex., posted on Instagram. "Take the time to go slow and learn the thing you've been curious about: knot tying? flower arranging? bread baking? bird watching? Whether you're a beginner or expert, we've got it all covered (and so much more) on this Analog Summer display. Catch us on Do-Not-Disturb and having the best summer ever."

Describing it as a "fun 'day in the life' of our booksellers," Novel Bay Booksellers in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., shared an "update our sign with me" video depicting the creative process involved in changing the shop's chalkboard message: "Seas the day. Read a book!"

"What exactly does the doctor mean when he says I need more greens?!" Wonderland Books, Bethesda, Md., has the answer. 

At the Harlequin Trade Publishing Group at HarperCollins:

Emer Flounders is promoted to senior director, publicity.

Diane Lavoie is promoted to associate director, marketing.

Kamille Carreras-Pereira is promoted to publicist.

Today:
Fresh Air: Ari Berman, author of Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People--and the Fight to Resist It (Picador, $20, 9781250371812).

Tomorrow:
Good Morning America: Robinne Lee, author of Crash Into Me: A Novel (St. Martin's Press, $30, 9781250412751).

Also on GMA: Hannah Dasher, author of Stand by Your Pan: 100 Easy and Affordable Comfort Food Recipes So Good They'll Hurt People's Feelin's (Harper Celebrate, $32.99, 9781400252886).

Tamron Hall repeat: Jennifer Wallace, author of Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose (Portfolio, $30, 9780593850596).

Animation studio Sycamore Studios has acquired the animated motion picture rights to the John Patrick Green InvestiGators book franchise, Deadline reported, adding that the crime-fighting alligators series has five million copies in print since its debut in 2020.

"Great family franchises don't come along very often, and when they do, they have a way of capturing the imagination of an entire generation. InvestiGators is one of those rare properties," said Christian McGuigan, co-founder and CEO of Sycamore Studios. "John Patrick Green has created something incredibly rare: a wholly original world that children genuinely love.... We couldn't be more excited to partner with John and bring Mango and Brash to audiences around the world."

"I've always believed InvestiGators had the potential to leap beyond the page," Green said. "It's been amazing watching readers embrace these characters over the past several years, and I'm thrilled to be partnering with Sycamore as we begin the next chapter of their adventure."

The Sunburst Award Society released a shortlist for the C$3,000 (about US$2,110) Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, which will be presented this fall. This year's shortlisted titles are:

The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
Horsefly by Mireille Gagné, translated by Pablo Strauss. 
Wild Life by Amanda Leduc 
The Lady, the Tiger, and the Girl Who Loved Death by Helen Marshall 
Veal by Mackenzie Nolan

Zoulfa Katouh is the author of the YA novel As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, a Governor General's Award finalist and a Yoto Carnegie Medal nominee. Katouh holds a degree in pharmacy and a master's in drug sciences. The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue (Little, Brown, June 2, 2026) is a YA novel about a Syrian American girl who turns her grief into murals.

Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:

A story about healing and a love letter to the Arabic language. An artist who finds the colors she lost through her art.

On your nightstand now:

The Elsewhere Express by Samantha Sotto Yambao. I am a sucker for pretty covers and magical plots. Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma because vampires and dark academia. Murdle: Volume 1 by G.T. Karber so I can exercise my brain and feel like I accomplished something by solving a murder.

Favorite book when you were a child:

The very first book I ever read: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I was eight years old, and my unabridged copy was holding on by a prayer and two threads. I had no idea it was a series until I was 15 years old, visiting family in Seattle. In my defense, I lived in the dial-up Internet era so I couldn't research anything. Also, I was eight.

Favorite book to read to a child:

I love whimsy and books with raw messages that make me cry. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy is unmatched. I wish I had it as a child, and it's a book I now gift to my friends who have given birth, so they can read it to their children. It's a book that grows with you, and you grow with it.

Your top five authors:

Suzanne Collins, Sabaa Tahir, Sarah Hogle, Laini Taylor, and Emily Henry.

Book you've faked reading:

I honestly haven't done that. If I start a book that turns out to be something I'm not feeling, I still finish it because Mama didn't raise a quitter. I know the most common answer might be one of the classics in school, but no, I read them all.

Book you're an evangelist for:

Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye. When a minor plotline could be the main plotline, you know you've stumbled on something rare. My nervous system didn't know the difference between the last 10 chapters and running for my life from a pack of wolves.

Book you've bought for the cover:

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. Not just the cover, but the title as well. It turned out to be one of the best reads of my LIFE.

Best book an adult handed to you when you were a child:

Holes by Louis Sachar. I always, ALWAYS, think about this book. Something about the story being a full circle scratched my young brain so good that it now seeks this in stories.

Book that changed your life:

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. It left me speechless and in awe. It broadened my worldview and humbled and empowered me. This book should be a must-read for everyone.

Favorite line from a book:

"Let us lie here forever. Let us be buried as wild things are, by tooth and claw and worm. Let the grasses grow up through the sockets of our eyes. Let them find us in seven years or seventy, and let their brows furrow, because they cannot tell my bones from yours." --Alix E. Harrow, The Everlasting

I love lines about love that make me feel like I'm listening to Hans Zimmer's soundtracks for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Five books you'll never part with:

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. It's always dawn or dusk. It's the summer and it's hot and humid but you don't care. Something about the way the shadows fall during the afternoon feels otherworldly. And between one breath and the next, you think you can see through the veil.

"The Six Deaths of the Saint" by Alix E. Harrow. I think about this short story all the time.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi. The prose is as deadly sweet as the plot. I wish I wrote this story.

You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle. My absolute go-to comfort book that makes me laugh out loud but also feel complex emotions.

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. An absolute gem of a book.

Book you most want to read again for the first time:

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson via audiobook. It's narrated by Daphne Kouma who, I think, has magical powers. She didn't just narrate Hodgson's words; she made them a movie.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. The story is so beautifully original and the prose so gorgeous, I have no idea how Laini came up with it.

A book you've recently enjoyed:

The Museum of Modern Love by Mariko Turk. As an art and a second-chance romance lover, this hit the right spot. I now wholeheartedly expect to fall in love at the Met. I'll take any museum, really.

A book that took you by surprise:

A Stage Set for Villains by Shannon J. Spann. I thought I was smart, figuring out the plot twist three seconds before it was revealed that it was, in fact, not the plot twist.

Five books on your TBR:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Reality Is Not What It Seems by Carlo Rovelli
Last of the Talons by Sophie Kim
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

Book you're reading right now:

Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity. I'm having a grand time with this one!

The Library of Memories is a joyous middle-grade fantasy graphic novel that gracefully explores grief through the determination of a charmingly intrepid girl to regain her lost memories.

Copenhagen, a girl with messy black hair and blue eyes, cannot remember who she is. It is as if she fell asleep in one place and woke up in a fantastical art deco steampunk world inhabited by sentient metal creatures. Those "Gyrotrons" remind her--yet again, apparently--that she is an assistant in the Library of Memories. Each eclectic item in the infinite space contains a memory, and interacting with it enables one to experience it firsthand. Every time Copenhagen touches an object in the library, however, her own memory resets, the physical library changes, and whatever she touched vanishes. The girl seeks to understand this process but has nothing to guide her except her journal, filled with confusing notes, and Lawrence, an uptight mechanical bird who has taken it upon himself to protect her. Eventually, she learns that someone named the Bookkeeper is responsible for relocating the lost artifacts to the boiler room, where their contents can be forgotten forever. When Copenhagen enters the room, she finds more hidden objects than just the ones she has touched; these additional items are vaguely familiar and grief filled. Copehnhagen worries this means her own memories might be held here, and she endeavors to protect them all from their mysterious keeper.

Barbara Perez Marquez (who adapted the graphic-novel edition of To All the Boys I've Loved Before) and Lissy Marlin (illustrator, The Magic Misfits series) together deliver a darling tale that depicts joy in all types of memories. Copenhagen's hopefulness and exuberance are accentuated by her tear-filled experiences with the boiler room's artifacts ("I can feel the grief like it's my own"), yet these complex emotions only embolden her resolve to stop the Bookkeeper. Marlin's dramatic digital art allows Copenhagen's endearingly spirited personality to shine; the exaggerated anime-style expressions show her many moods, and metafictional activity--such as Copenhagen turning the page of the actual book--highlight her playfulness. Jets of cotton candy-colored magic slip into sepia memories, all in a detailed, visually arresting steampunk setting. An abundance of humor keeps this graphic novel lively, and Sophie Escabasse and K. O'Neill enthusiasts will likely enjoy this moving adventure. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer

Shelf Talker: A girl who can't remember who she is races to save an infinite space that contains strange memories in this wondrous middle-grade graphic novel about the bittersweet nature of the past.