Spring Road Trip - Part 3

My friends, we are nowhere near done with this yet. Continuing on this epic (and apparently endless) journey…

Carrie: We did a bunch of learning from breakfast through dinner each day . . . and while we spent a significant amount of time doodling on the paper table covers, we also took a ton of notes.

Matthew: No one else doodled.  They just sat there, listening attentively like well adjusted humans. 

Liz: I guess they don’t have ADHD like the rest of us. 

Carrie: Except for Gus! So many gorgeous dragons. 

Matthew:  Gus was pretty rad, huge shout out to the cool booksellers at Booked.  I mean I can’t name drop every awesome bookstore there, but here are three more randomly:  Pages & Parcels,  Dungeons Gate, and Belleville Books! 

Carrie: Not to mention the host shop Republic of Letters, that housed a working teaching kitchen, The Book Kitchen, that provided all of our lunches as well as a biscuit demo. Yum. This might have been the best conference food I’ve had to date.  

Matthew:  I in no way have the culinary expertise to identify the world’s most perfect food. However, with the confidence that only a mediocre white dude can muster, I confidently will say that biscuits are probably the answer.  And among the best biscuits I’ve ever had outside of Columbia, the drop biscuits Stephanie Hansen of The True North Cabin Cookbook and the upcoming follow up were some of my all time favorites. 

Liz: We got to watch a cooking demo and it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I am no chef, but watching Stephanie make these biscuits made me feel like I could be one. 

Matthew: Oh Liz…no.  No. 

Liz: It’s ok. I’m used to hearing condescending white men tell me their opinions. Emphasis on opinions. 

Carrie: Make the biscuits, Liz. You’ve got this. I think we mostly got excited about brainstorming events for the shop and hopefully you all enjoy the ideas we test for the next several months. There are big ideas and mini ones, but mostly they are fun. 

Liz: Come to the shop if you dare. But please, actually come to the shop. 

Matthew: I don’t know why Liz keeps making our store sound creepy, we only have one ghost that we know of. 

Liz: Reggie says hi!

Carrie: We also spent much of the evenings utilizing the company for brainstorming. Finding out what works for each shop and sharing things that don’t. Everything from computer troubleshooting, to discovering what voices we can work on reaching more thoughtfully.

Matthew: Indie Booksellers came in every genre of human, but all seem to really love what we do.  Which in basic terms is selling books, but the truth is we have a secret, nefarious agenda.  We want you to have a place to engage with ideas (both the comfortable/favorite variety as well as the new/challenging ones), feel accepted and respected, and finally to get you to read the book we just finished so we have someone else to talk to about it.  When you get a group with that mindset together you get a cascade of ideas that can be tailored to each of our communities.  Sometimes that focus is finding what cool events seem to work that we want to try (Grown Up Story time, anyone?) or how we can help increase access to books no matter what their situation is (we have a lot of ideas floating around, but I don’t want to tease anything else just yet). 

Carrie: So many ideas. Also also, we made time for social camaraderie and games. Book people really are the best people. And boosted by the amazing array of snacks from Mary, Game Nights were a hoot. Priorities is always a hit, and we learned fascinating things about one another. We also love Poetry for Neanderthals. 

Liz: We like to hit with club. Club is friend. 

Matthew:  Not to brag, but I'm really good at speaking in single syllables. 

Liz: Not to brag, but you not speak right way. 

Matthew:  Not everything is a game, Liz.  Grow up. 

Carrie: Okay, Kids. Behave. 

Matthew:  Liz started it. 

Liz: Your face started it. 

Matthew: Liz has a habit of taking the last you say and just saying “Your face is “whatever you last said”.  She also has this way of taking your anecdotes and trying to pass them off as her own right in front of you in group conversations.  I think it's because she finds the reaction of the person she does it to hilarious, but it's clearly a very evil thing to do. 

Liz: Weird. I seem to remember the trip very differently…

Carrie: Matthew, there are witnesses from MULTIPLE states this time.

Introducing Volume 2 of the Skylark Mixtape: DUBBED!

The second half of 2025 welcomes our next mixtape subscription series. Unlike our personalized subscription services, Skylark Mixtapes take a different approach. The six month subscriptions include one gift-wrapped book, together with a personal letter from the mixtape creator explaining why they have chosen each title. Every subscriber of a mixtape series receives the same book and letter. 

DEEP CUTS: Alex vol 1 focused on overlooked masterpieces and forgotten treasures. We loved finding a way to continue celebrating Alex’s stellar taste and the thrill of discovery. We especially treasured keeping him and his recommendations close, even as we all adjusted to his move to Boston. 

For the second half of 2025, Carrie will be sharing her passion for books in translation. In a world that seems both too small and too big, translated works are an opportunity to explore. Other countries have different trends in literature, different genres, different experiences. Reading works from these different countries, both fiction and non-fiction, is an exploration of others and the self. You discover how much humans are simply humans, even while letting your senses explore the approach in a new and unfamiliar way. Unlike DEEP CUTS, DUBBED will feature newly released in English works from six different authors in six different countries.

The added layer of a translator creates a unique experience. We hope you enjoy dipping into both the works of other countries and the incredible skill of those doing the work of translation.

Once again, when the subscription ends, we will wrap with an exclusive event at the shop to enjoy some beverages and discuss the books!

This half-year experience can be purchased by clicking here.

Spring Road Trip - Part 2

Continuing the adventures of our intrepid trio…

Almost certainly up to no good

Carrie: I was generously informed of climbing opportunities by my co-enabler bookish buddy from Iowa. 

Liz: Carrie and her buddy were being very vague and secretive about climbing. Did Carrie climb on this trip? The world may never know. 

Matthew:  The food in this town!  Every meal was delicious.  Though I have thoughts about the biscuits and gravy I was served… It was good, but it wasn’t biscuits and gravy.  There were biscuits and a sauce that I suppose was technically a gravy.  

Carrie: Also Liz had the world’s largest cinnamon roll. 

Liz: Still in a food coma. 

Carrie: And we are all still eating cheese. 

The first full day of conferencing was a whirlwind. I’m not sure what happened on which day at this point, but there were authors, publishers, education sessions, craft projects, idea storms, and more. 

Liz: I was back in my art teacher era when the crafts came out. We got to meet an author of a children’s book and her illustrator. It was so cool getting to hear about both of their very different processes and collaboration while creating the book. 

Carrie: All of this mixed in with more valuable time spent braining with the many fabulous friends we have in the bookselling world. To say that I love these people is an understatement. It is an industry like none other, and every conversation left me with more notes and more ideas and more . . . well more. I also split off the first evening and had the joy of being pulled into Leslie’s music studio. Leslie is co-owner of Republic of Letters, the bookshop in town and they live conveniently across the street. She snagged Shane (from Left Bank) and I off the sidewalk and shared some piano playing, singing, as well as a traditional instrument from the southern Philippines that she is learning. It was the pre-dinner concert I didn’t know I needed, and she let us give it a try!

Matthew: All the rumors you’ve heard about the fast paced and dangerous lifestyle of the Indie Bookseller are true.  It was a wild haze of books and booksellers and…book related things that booksellers can read or sell.  And cheese.  Much cheese.  

Carrie: I perhaps brought home seven pounds of cheese. 

Matthew: This is now a cheese post. 

Liz: I see nothing wrong with that. 

Matthew: Tony Hook is one of the world’s premiere cheesemakers and has won all kinds of awards.

Liz: We didn’t actually realize we had spoken to Tony until the next day. He was such a sweet and humble man. 

Matthew: I’m not going to search what all the awards are, but it was all so good. 

So, anyway, books.  I know it sounds disingenuous to say that every session was incredible, but each one was truly interesting and practical.  But what stood out most to me are the sessions where other booksellers came together and talked about what works for our shops.  This is going to be pretty mind blowing, but what works is having awesome customers that love books. (Also there was a lot of stuff that was incredibly helpful to learn, but not thrilling for a blog post.  If you want proof come by and ask Liz about store organizational methods based on store and staff size) 

Liz: I like organization. Sue me. 

Carrie: Awesome customers, great books, plus a stellar staff. It was fabulous to watch my fellow Bookshop people witness just how wonderful Liz and Matthew are.  

Matthew:  We really are wonderful.  Especially me. 

Carrie: It is what it is.

Matthew: Also, whatever Liz has said she loved the most is a lie unless she said getting free books. 

Liz: I took home two whole tote bags full of books. No, I do not have a problem. Everyone else who didn’t bring home tote bags full of books has the problem.

To be continued…

Spring Road Trip 2025 - Part 1

Carrie: Spring Road Trip is a seasonal small conference for the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA). A bookselling conference is pretty much as fabulous as you might be thinking. And this particular travelling conference is introvert sized and features a new small town from the association each year. 2025 took us to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The tiny town is either the most extraordinarily idyllic place in the universe or someone there has made some horror genre level bargains to achieve quaint.

Liz: Quaint must be a new synonym for sacrificial. There were no children, which is kind of great but also kind of unsettling… we can get into that more later.  

Matthew:  I don’t actually believe that there were any cultlike activities happening (despite my best attempts to find and join them) but there really is something otherworldly about Mineral Point.  It is a small town, deeply connected to its artists and inspiringly welcoming.  It is just a hair from being too good to be true. Although, Liz has a point.  On our second day we commented to each other about how we hadn’t actually seen any children, only for an entire line of kids being led by a teacher to walk by at that exact moment.

Liz: Coincidence? I think not. 

Carrie: As VP of the MIBA Board, I had a meeting slated for the afternoon before the conference. With a six hour drive ahead, and being habitually early, I planned on picking up the crew and getting us on the road before six am on departure day. Liz and Matthew were good sports and honestly, we were pretty excited about the trip in general so it was an early, but chipper start. We managed to hit pretty much all of the required road trip requirements, including a fab CD of 90’s dance music and car games. 

Liz: We drowned so many cows. Figuratively. Not literally. And I clearly won. 

Matthew:  Liz insists this is a well known road trip game.  I’d never heard of it before and, as near as I can tell, it was a thinly veiled excuse for Liz to say that she was drowning cows. A LOT of cows. 

Liz: Don’t hate the player, hate the game. 

Matthew: It was also how we learned that Liz’s concepts of Ponds and Lakes are utterly nonsensical. Shelly from Speckled Frog popped into the shop and has also never heard of this alleged “well known” game. 

Liz: Apparently ponds are basically lakes and lakes are basically oceans… according to some people. 

Carrie: Do I need to pull this car over?

Liz: When we arrived in Mineral Point, Carrie left for her aforementioned meeting and Matthew and I started exploring the town. The downtown strip had the usual storefronts like restaurants, coffee shops, a million art galleries, you know the usual. While walking through one of the million art galleries, the gallery owner started chatting with us about why we were visiting. When they heard we were only there for a handful of days, a volunteer from the local newly refurbished opera house was listening in and offered to take us on a private tour of said opera house. 

Matthew:  I don’t want to derail the focus of this post, the awesome MIBA conference, but the Opera house was constructed in 1915 and had some amazing molding.  During the restoration process they found that the original company that did the moldings not only still existed but still had the original molds that they could use to replace damaged or missing parts.  It was kind of amazing.

Liz: Matthew was a theater kid in a previous life, therefore was very enamored with the opera house. It was a LOOOOONG conversation. 

Matthew: You’re welcome.

Carrie: So while I was in meetings, they had fun. Thankfully, I was able to meet them back at THE HOUSE, which was extraordinary, where we picked up Mary(and Jen from Fuji, our other housemate)  and met friends for dinner and kicked off the next two days of hugging and catching up.

The walk to dinner was a “gentle decline". The walk back was brutal. 

Liz: Brutal: Adjective. Meaning punishingly hard or uncomfortable. 

Matthew:  I get the feeling all of Liz’s college papers started, “The Dictionary defines…” 

Liz: And this is why I will never be a writer. 

Rilla Wows Us.

The Skylark crew is a pretty fantastic group of humans, both in and out of the shop. While Saturday was Independent Bookstore Day, it was also an opportunity to celebrate Rilla . . . and we had the best time doing both. Rilla might make her mark on our chalkboard and walls, but her talent extends way beyond our shop. We know that she is going to do some pretty incredible things and it was a privilege to see this next step with her work in the Stephens College 81st Annual Fashion Show.

Matthew and his wife popped by after lunch to collect Caroline and Carrie. NONE of us have ever attended anything of the sort and it was a fabulous introduction. Dabbling in sewing might have given us a hint of understanding some of the work behind the scenes, but nothing prepared us for the level of skill and the fabulous drama of a live fashion show. There was proper model stomping, stunning looks, extraordinary squee children (one in a dress by Rilla herself . . . obviously, it was our fave), and even a bedecked DOG! And, seriously, these looks were incredible.

Not to leave anyone out, we headed back to the shop to dive back into Independent Bookstore Day and continue celebrating with all of you. Liz and Sophia held down the fort with expert skill and passed the torch our way. We made sure they were watching for a couple key moments and sent them off. Somehow, Sophia managed not to infiltrate the models and steal away with several outfits, but we are pretty sure Rilla hasn’t heard the last of her requests. For now, we are settling for dramatically walking around the shop when we think no one is looking and are already excited to see what RILLA DOES NEXT! Stay tuned, y’all. It is going to be epic . . . Kinda like Team Skylark.

New Book Club Announced: THE ORDER OF BOOKS AND BANTER!

We are very excited to announce the latest Skylark bookclub, dedicated to Fantasy titles. On the second Tuesday of every month, THE ORDER OF BOOKS AND BANTER will gather to discuss a variety of fantasy sub genres, covering everything from high fantasy to romantasy to cozy fantasy. Our fantastic hosts will be choosing books with diverse characters, authors, and settings. We are excited to enter magical realms and explore new lands with you!

Our first book, which we’ll be discussing on Tuesday, March 11, is Grave Empire, by Richard Swan. We’ll meet in the shop at 6:30 p.m. Attendance is free, and there is no need to register ahead of time. We’d love to see you!

Audiobook sale with Libro.fm! For a limited time only!

We love audiobooks here at Skylark, and are proud to partner with our friends at Libro.fm to offer them to our customers. (If you haven’t seen our new Skylark/Libro bookmarks, come in and pick one up!)

Until October 30, Libro are offering members a fantastic two-for-the-price-of-one sale on some amazing selected titles. Just click here to see the details, and fill your boots! (Or ears.)

Carrie's Bonkers Year of Reading for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence

Back in early March of this year, I opened my email to find an invitation to serve on the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence selection committee. Established in 2012, these awards recognize excellence for both a fiction and nonfiction adult title published in the US the previous year. It explained both the work and joy involved of being one of seven committee members, and that I had come highly recommended to be the bookselling expert on the committee. The praise of this opportunity reached through time to my joking in childhood that “I want a job where I can read all the time and be told I’m good at it.” It was an easy yes for my RSVP. The committee would work with an award coordinator to pour through books published in 2024, conversing and narrowing down first to a long list, then a shortlist, and finally two winners to be announced in January. Speaking to a previous participant and friend, she said I should prepare myself for both the time commitment and the space required to store and sort a significant number of books. Let’s just say it is a good thing my eldest is away at college.

Dedicating the majority of my 2024 reading to committee selections has been quite an adventure. I have loved every moment, even if my eyes, ears, and brain are extra-extra tired. When I say we read a lot of books, I mean we read A LOT of books. I admit that my normal reading pace is pretty swift, and this load pushed me to my limits. It was not unusual for me to pack in a book before heading in to work, another couple in the evening after, and follow up with a stack on the weekend.

It was a different sort of reading, sure. I wasn’t able to retain as well as normal. A new metric in my “will I recommend this book” meter is “do I remember it?” I learned to quickly discard what I didn’t need more effectively even than my days of cramming scientific formulas for exams.

And the books that stuck, stuck. They are pretty special. There are, of course, some favorites that didn’t make the longlist for various reasons. I look forward to finding different ways to share those titles with those of you I know will enjoy them. But for now, I’d love to celebrate the longlist for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.

Talking throughout 2024 with this magical committee has been a year of delights. As the lone bookseller on the cozy crew, I had so much to learn from these ridiculously brilliant readers. Through their vastly different and specific experiences, I was able to take in new information with every conversation. In particular, I needed their knowledge about previous works on history. More than once I thought something had a completely new insight, and learned that it had been done before. Similarly, we were able to discuss the literary quality mixed with the approachability for novels. We all serve different communities and readers, and knowing them well is something that helped guide our insights. 

I know we will be thinking of one another for a long time to come, wishing we had a scheduled chat ready to go to share our thoughts and listen to unique insights. With this many conversations about this many books, we have a pretty good shorthand and a pretty good idea of which of us will love which books. What was even more amazing was how often we were on the exact same page. And even when we agreed, listening to why we agreed added new insights to my own reading experience.

You have to wait a bit longer for the shortlist (11/12/24). And even longer for the announcement of the winners (1/26/25). For now, take a browse through 23 amazing Fiction titles and 23 amazing Non Fiction titles. Find me at the shop if you want to talk about any of them further! And if you want to read the official ALA announcement with more information about the experience and the individuals on the committee, I encourage you to read this release.

Because Books, y’all.

We Found Waldo. Come Help Us Celebrate on August 18!

Hello Waldo-finders!

We had a lot of fun in July with this year’s Find Waldo hunt! Our thanks to everyone who went hunting and to the local businesses who participated.

To celebrate, we are hosting a party for everyone who participated in the hunt on August 18th at 5 pm at Skylark Bookshop, and we hope to see you there! If you turn in a passport with 20 stamps/signatures at the party, you will be entered into a prize drawing including Waldo goodies and some spectacular treasures from several of the participating businesses. If you find all 25 and are able to find his medal so he can set up the big party, you will receive an extra goodie at the party to celebrate your extraordinary sleuthing skills. You must attend the party to receive any prizes from the prize drawing!

We hope to see you there!

Mother's Day Gift Guide - Procrastinator's edition

Little known fact: Mother’s Day in the UK is a few weeks before Mother’s Day here. (I know this because every year one of my sisters emails to remind me about it the Friday before, by which point, of course, it is far too late to do anything other than hang my head in apology when I call. My mum, bless her, is quite used to this by now. I’ve lived in the States for 21 years now, and pretty sure that I have never missed missing a UK Mother’s Day.)

Anyway, I digress. The good news is that there need be no such shame-faced phone calls for you, my fine Skylark friends! We are standing by, ready to dispatch perfect book-related gifts to your mothers/grandmothers/stepmothers/fairy godmothers/mothers-in-law (at short notice, if necessary) to spread happiness and spare the blushes of those of you who like to, er, leave things to the last minute.

With that in mind, may we propose…

A Skylark book subscription. Each month we’ll choose a book, giftwrap it, and send it to the Mom In Question. You choose how many, hardcover/paperback, etc., and we take care of everything else. It is, as the saying goes, the gift that keeps on giving. More details here.

The Skylark book spa. Ah, yes. The MIQ deserves a little pampering, no? What could be better than a one-on-one consultation with one of staff, accompanied by book picks made especially with her and her interests in mind? Plus, you know, $100 to spend. And a Skylark mug. And some chocolate. If that all doesn’t sound enough, we are now offering upgrades, too. Check out your options here.

The small-but-mighty Skylark gift certificate. The wonderful thing about these is that they represent guilt-free shopping. Which is, of course, the very best kind of shopping that there is. You can get ‘em here.

A Libro.fm subscription. Does the MIQ like to listen to audiobooks? Our friends at Libro.fm offer various wonderful gift packages which allow readers to choose from hundreds of thousands of books - and by shopping with them, you get to help a local independent bookstore rather than certain other online audiobook providers owned by people who these days are more interested in sending rocketships into space. Find out more here. (About audiobooks, not rocketships.)

However you choose to celebrate the mothers in your life, we hope you all have a wonderful day on Sunday. (And if you see my mother, please tell her I’m sorry. Again.)

Attention, Sports Fans

For weeks our favorite titles have faced off in literary combat to become the "2024 Skylark Madness of March Book of the 2024 Skylark Madness of March" (the final championship name is a still a work in progress).  And now is the time for us all to realize a deeply important thing: That Matthew is bad at math so the finals will technically end in April.The good news?  That means we have two more weeks of voting (and two more weeks of you possibly getting cool free stuff from us at the end of the bracket!)

And there is more!  In addition to the book battle to end all book battles a secret war has been waged.  As you may know, each of our books were chosen by our staff, so, in addition to finding out the "2024 Skylark Madness of March Book of the 2024 Skylark Madness of March" we will soon know which staff chose the winning book.  Or as I like to call the winner "The 2024 Skylark Madness of March Book of the 2024 Skylark Madness of March Book Selector Award".  And the competition for the 2024.S.M.M.B.2024.S.M.M.B.S. Award has been DEADLY brutal really friendly and relaxed.

Sadly, in order not to sway votes we can't reveal who has chosen which book (to the Matthew super fans out there, worry not; his books are no longer in the running.) Without further ado (except this little bit of extra ado right here) the four final books in the bracket boil down to these two matches:To Shape a Dragons Breath Vs The Picture of Dorian GrayA Deadly Education Vs Howl's Moving Castle.

Brackets, Schmackets

Things are hotting up!

In this week’s round of voting, we had two ties, which we understand is something that also happens in real sportsball. Educated Vs. Dorian Gray was solved with a coin flip, and Love, Theoretically beat out And Then There Were None after a gracious concession by the latter's selector.  Three more matches came down to a single vote.  The big winners were Happy Place clipping Fourth Wing 12 - 4, Howl's Moving Castle silencing The Silent Patient 12-5, and To Shape a Dragon's Breath leaving Know My Name forgotten 11-6.

Come in this week and cast your vote for the books which remain - and see if we can continue to find more bad puns for our weekly round-up!

The Madness of March, Week 2

Week two is upon us!  There were lots of fierce competitions with lots of close calls, but a couple HUGE winners.  Howl's Moving Castle crushed Mrs. Planksy getting a whopping 15 times more votes! (It's less impressive If  I give the actual numbers, so feel free to imagine 15000 to 1000).  Dorian Gray had the same incredible margin while martyring Martyr!.  The Silent Patient overcame an early lead by home team The Paris Hours to win by a single vote!  The rest of the match ups were all decently close in votes, but no less historic! Who will breach into the final four?  Who will have a shot at reigning supreme above all other books (well….all other books arbitrarily selected by our booksellers)?   The answer is simple: 

WE. DON’T. KNOW.

But you do, because it will be what you vote for.  So, come in to the shop and do that.  Please and Thank You!

The, er, Madness of March

To say that we at Skylark are basketball fans is a bit of an understatement…

To say that we at Skylark are basketball fans is a bit of an overstatement…

Basketball is a thing we have heard about.  And with all the talk of brackets and competition, we thought it would be fun to get in on all the excitement.  That is why this year we are starting our own book bracket with its own legally distinct and absolutely 100% non trademark infringing name: Skylark Bookshop and the Madness of March!

Our amazingly talented booksellers have chosen several of their top recommendations and we added a couple of the shop's top sellers to the mix to wind up with a bracket (above) full of all sorts of wonderful titles.  Every week for the next four weeks, You (literally you, the person reading this) can come into the shop and help these titles fight to the death to become the Skylark Madness of March 2024 champion!  Aside from bragging rights, every week when you vote you get more opportunities to win Skylark goodies!

As an added bonus, whichever bookseller’s book wins, or gets the furthest if a wildcard wins, becomes the Madness of March 2024 Bookseller Champion!  We aren’t fully sure what that means yet, but we will probably embarrass them and make them give a victory speech via social media or something like that.

To briefly recap:  

1. We have at least heard of a sport.  

2. We have a non-trademark infringing bracket.  (Alex is a lawyer and he says it’s 100% legit)

3. You could get free stuff.

Skylark's Mission Statement

Over the past couple of months, the Skylark staff has been working together to compose a Mission Statement and a Statement of Values that reflect the things we most cherish in our roles as both booksellers and members of this community. We’re proud to share this with you.

OUR MISSION

Skylark is a fiercely Independent Bookshop. We strive to always find new ways to celebrate literature and our community. Some books give us knowledge and perspective; others simply give necessary space to breathe. Putting the right book into the right hands is a deeply meaningful act. We believe that we can find that book for everyone who walks through our doors. We embrace enjoyment, entertainment, and the beauty of Skylark Bookshop.

OUR VALUES

• Because Care.

  We believe in creating a space where customers and our staff feel safe, prioritized, and valued .People matter and we aim to show kindness and respect to all of our customers.  Our personalized service is rooted in a skilled, receptive, and proactive staff with varied backgrounds and talents. We feel that our care for others is reflected in how our community cares for us.

• Because Community.

  We believe in our responsibilities as a local business and are committed to serving our community. We do this by providing jobs, paying taxes, and investing back into Columbia with donations, actions, and partnerships. We strive to create a valued third space, a hub for discussion and those seeking knowledge as well as a thriving venue for joy, calm, and kindness.

• Because Curation.

  We believe that our staff is better than any online algorithm.  We invest time, thought, and energy into carefully curating our titles. We aim to create a constantly evolving inventory that is unique to us, our customers, and our community. 

• Because Curiosity.

  We believe that books encourage discussion and dialog of important ideas and that providing a variety of dynamic events invites this engagement.  Curiosity is the foundation for personal and societal growth. 

• Because Continued Growth and Learning.

  We believe in our own continued growth and learning as much as we believe in providing a space for yours.

• Because Constitutionality.

  We believe in the freedom of speech, expression, and reading freely. 

• Because Columbia.

  We believe in active inclusivity. We celebrate the extraordinary representation of Columbia’s diversity. We believe in providing space to give voice to those who are historically unheard. We believe that contemplating the voices of those outside our community, both near and far, enriches us all.

• Because Books.

Back to School Bingo!

School is back in session, so we thought that we would give you some extra homework with the first-ever Skylark Back To School BINGO to encourage reading for enjoyment during the school year. The rules are pretty simple: pick up a Bingo sheet at Skylark, or print off the picture attached here. Turn in your Bingo card by November 30 to receive your prize book (subject to availability) and be entered to win a $50 dollar Skylark Gift card! Each Bingo on your card equals one entry and if you get blackout BINGO (All of the spaces filled) you will get an extra three entries into the raffle. Please note, while we would love for you to get your books through us, that is not mandatory for you to participate.

Of course, if you need any recommendations to help fill any of the categories, make sure to stop by and ask any of our booksellers! And posting on social media is ALWAYS encouraged using #SkylarkBingo. We want to follow along with your progress! 

Help Us Help the Slater School District Library!

Today we write to our supportive Skylark Bookshop community with a heartfelt request to help one of our special book partners, the Slater School District library.

Slater School District is a very small Title 1 district located in Slater, MO, about 60 miles northwest of Columbia.  Quite soon after Skylark opened its doors five years ago, Slater librarian Angela Pointer reached out to ask about purchasing books in bulk through us.  We happily began working with Angela.  Over the years, Angela has ordered new, gorgeous, diverse books from Skylark for her students, and we love seeing her drop into the shop regularly.

Unfortunately, the Slater School library recently has suffered a great blow with water damage.  Angela shares the following details: 

At the beginning of the school year, I had noticed that a couple of the books students had chosen for check out felt as if they had been wet and smelled a bit musty. I didn't really think anything about it until I noticed a large water stain on the ceiling tiles in the corner of the library above one of the bookcases. When I walked over to check it out, I noticed that one of the bins I use for forward facing browsing was full of dark colored water. It was then that I realized we had experienced a major leak and all of the books on that set of shelves had been or were still sitting in water and molded. I had to record all of those books as deleted due to water damage.

I have been working on collecting holiday books from various cultures and religions around the world in an attempt to expand the experiences of our students and all of those were lost as well as all of our Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day books. With a limited budget, it is hard to replace books when you are trying to continue building a collection with new titles. Any support from the book loving community would be greatly appreciated by our students and school community.

This is where we hope our beautiful Skylark community comes in.  We dearly want to help Angela rebuild the Slater library, so with her permission and agreement from her administration, we are sending out a call for you to purchase books to replenish the Slater School library.

Here is part of Angela's wish list (if things really take off, we've got additional titles to add).  For every ten books that are purchased, Skylark will contribute an additional book.

Let's rally to get books into the hands of these Slater students!  Here’s that link one more time!

Nestling Storytime is Going on the Road!

Nestling Storytime is about to hit the road! Our in-house storytime for kids will now happen on the first Saturday of each month at 11:00 a.m. BUT we will also be popping up in all sorts of places outside of the store, sharing our joy of picture books with friends all over Columbia. Check our events page for details!

If you have a group interested in a visit, please email us and our staff will be in touch to finalize details!

It's our birthday! (Soon.)

Hard though it is to believe, Skylark opened its doors for the very first time on Saturday, August 25, 2018 - which means that this year we get to celebrate our FIFTH BIRTHDAY. It’s been a fabulous five years, and we’re grateful for every day of it, and every one of you. (Although, given the choice, we probably would have rather not have had to deal with a global pandemic. Call us picky.)

ANYWAY. As usual, we’ll be throwing our own birthday party on the Saturday nearest the day itself - which, this year, is Saturday August 26. We are celebrating ALL DAY and in lots of different ways, as usual:

• As our way of saying thank you, everyone who buys a book on Saturday gets to choose an additional book from our towering stacks of gift books (see tine sample above.) No peeking! It will be a lovely surprise for when you get home. While stocks last - but folks, we’ve been wrapping these babies for MONTHS. There are a TON of ‘em.

• As is now traditional, we will have a raffle with a humungous bag of goodies - everyone who makes a purchase on Saturday will be entered.

• Aa is also traditional, we will be revealing this year’s new Skylark t-shirt. We love it - it’s very on-brand - and we hope you will, too. They will be available for purchase on the day. We’ll also be introducing two more new items of merchandise - a Skylark tank top and a Skylark water bottle. I know. Remaining stocks of our 2020, 2021, and 2022 t-shirts will be available at a discount on the day as well.

• If all that wasn’t enough, as a birthday treat our friends across the road at Sparky’s have created a one-off themed ice cream flavor. We’re not sure exactly what’s in it, except for one ingredient: NUTELLA. (If you know, you know.)

• Finally, we’re going to repeat a modified version of fun thing we did when we celebrated our second birthday in the midst of COVID restrictions. Remember Secret Skylark? It’s a way of sharing your very favorite book with a strangers and getting someone else’s favorite back in return. Here’s how it works. Buy a copy of your favorite book from us (fiction, nonfiction, whatever) and add it to the Skylark book nest, perhaps with a little note about why you love it. You will then receive another book back - one that someone else has donated. And because it’s our birthday, we’ll throw in a free signed hardcover of The Paris Hours for the first 20 people who play. So you’ll get two books for the price of one.

We’re still busy planning other things to surprise and delight you on the day, which - if we remember - we’ll include on an updated post. But swing by and come help us celebrate!

Bookstore Romance Day is August 19!

Love is in the air!

Anyone who has been into the shop in recent months will know that we love us some good romance. Our “comfort food” section is packed tighter than a duchess’s heaving bodice. So we’re VERY excited that Saturday, August 19 is Bookstore Romance Day! We’re looking forward to celebrating all things romance with you! Bookstores across the country will be celebrating with us!

Too often the romance genre is looked down upon or dismissed as not “real” reading (whatever that means). This is, of course, very silly. We at Skylark (all being hopeless romantics ourselves) believe that Romance - with a capital R - is for everyone! There will be lots of fun things going on throughout the day, including: 

• Photo/selfie opportunities 

• Favorite Trope contest - the winning trope gets a Skylark staff curated list of book suggestions that fall under the category 

• Raffle - all you need to do to be entered in is buy a romance book through Skylark on August 19

You can also expect other fun surprises throughout the day, and (if we know anything about anything) some specially curated music which captures the spirit of the day.

NB: if two single people both come to Skylark on Bookstore Romance Day, meet, and fall in love, WE ALL WANT TO COME TO THE WEDDING. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.