A few weeks ago I attended a Women’s Expo in Portland ME. It was okay. Lots of crafts, makeup, food, jewelry… you know. Chick stuff.
But there was also a corner reserved for Usborne books. I flipped through a couple and was immediately struck by the colors, the facts, the quality. They were having a buy-5-get-the-5th-free sale, so of course I picked some up. I had trouble choosing.
I also signed up to host a home party. I never host home parties. The last two I had gone to, over 10 years ago, were not good experiences. One was a Mary Kay party hosted at the home of a corporate Stepford wife. (All the conformity with none of the social graces, plus her husband was completely whipped.) The other was a PartyLite party at which the sales person actually got mad at me because I didn’t buy anything. I told her I was broke, so she shoved–literally shoved–a pamphlet at me describing how I too could become a sales consultant. I trashed it. I’m an introvert, people. I don’t do sales consulting.
So why in the hell did I sign up for this Usborne party? Well, the books’ quality really impressed me. I felt if I was going to hit my friends and acquaintances up for cash, the least I could do was present a product that is great for kids (Hamlet barely looks at his other books now) and high quality (Puck can’t destroy them).
So I contact a bunch of people: preschool moms, other Raising Maine bloggers (figuring I could meet a few in the deal), online friends. I got a few RSVPs and a few online sales. Things seemed to be going all right. I went out the morning of the party and got cheese and crackers, Chex mix, things like that.
No one showed.
The sales consultant and I did have a really nice chat. We have many things in common and it was nice to have adult conversation (even if half of it had to do with children). After she left, a shocked Rain Dog told me we could nosh on the leftover snacks for dinner. And now I sit here blogging and musing on my lack of ability even to plan a social event, let alone be part of one. Little wonder I write post-apocalyptic zombie fiction, I guess.
So here’s the part where I completely dispense with all social graces and solicit my readers. Feel like buying kid books? Visit my web party at this website linked in this sentence. Now, I understand the economy sucks and all of our budgets are going down the crapper right along with it. I am there myself, believe me. But just look, and if you see something you like–even just one thing–go and buy it. I think you’ll like the books’ quality just as much as I do (and I don’t make recommendations lightly) and I think you’ll like how your kids get into them, too.
