Anne Ursu Event with Minnesota Life College

Today we sold books for Anne Ursu at a Minnesota Life College event. MLC is a not-for profit, vocational and life skills training program for young adults with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders. 

They asked Anne to speak as part of their John Lighty series. As MLC posted on their website, "Anne Ursu is a Minneapolis writer of books for young readers and the mother of a young boy with ASD. Her latest book, THE REAL BOY, is a fantasy featuring an orphan boy who works as an apprentice to a magician, and the boy has many characteristics of ASD. Anne will talk about why she wrote this character and about the importance of giving ASD kids novels with characters they can identify with."
 

Jessica Zikri, of MLC, introducing Anne Ursu.

Anne started by talking a bit about her book, The Real Boy. 
 

Then she read an excerpt to the audience. 
 

Afterward, she answered questions about the book, her writing, her son, ASD, and anything else the audience had questions about. 
 

Then Anne was available to sign her books.

She also signed our new 2014 lampshade! 
 

Thank you so much to Anne Ursu and MLC for asking us to be a part of this event! 
 

Rainbow Rowell Day 2 - Avalon and Harriet Island

For Day 2 of our events with Rainbow Rowell, the first stop was Addendum so Rainbow could visit our store and sign some stock. (See Day 1 here).   

The next stop was Avalon School. Students there had all read Eleanor & Park prior to Rainbow's visit, and enjoyed talking with her about the book.  

Marika Staloch, of SPPL, introducing Rainbow Rowell to students at Avalon School.

After the reading, talk, and Q&A, we participated in a Skype visit with Acacia O'Connor from Kids' Right to Read (a project of the National Coalition Against Censorship). Addendum is donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Rainbow's books during all of these events to Kids' Right to Read.

Then Rainbow signed books for Avalon students. 

Final event for the day: a reading and Q&A open to the public, held at the Harriet Island Pavilion.  

A 1986 X-Men comic book and batteries! Read Eleanor & Park for the reference!

Marika Staloch, of SPPL, welcoming guests and introducing author Anne Ursu.

When Rainbow's original visit was canceled, a number of local authors were up in arms, and wanted to make sure we found a way to bring Rainbow Rowell to the Twin Cities anyway. Spearheading that movement was local author Anne Ursu. Once SPPL had decided to bring Rainbow here, we at Addendum suggested that Anne Ursu could introduce her, considering she had done so much to help get Rainbow here.
 

Local author Anne Ursu, introducing Rainbow Rowell. 

Rainbow spoke with guests and then answered questions. 

After her talk and Q&A, Rainbow signed books for her fans. 

Rainbow Rowell and Anne Ursu, signing their books for each other.  :)

Thank you again to Rainbow and her sister Jade for making the trip to St. Paul. Thank you, too, to Marika Staloch and SPPL, as well as Avalon School, the St. Paul Parks and Rec, and author Anne Ursu for helping to create such memorable events!