Calling all teachers and Middle Grade Maniacs!! We're throwing a pizza party in your honor! After an introduction by Boswellian Phoebe, we'll hear from a panel of five excellent middle-grade authors, who will talk about their books, after we toast our favorite teachers (with shopping passes!) and indulge in pizza from Ian's, including mac and cheese, brisket and tater tots, barbecue chicken, tomato pesto, and spinach and Portobello. There will even be a few slices of gluten free pizza. Here's our lineup of authors:

Seattle musician Steven Arntson presents The Trap, in which science fiction, kidnapping, and first crushes combine for a thrilling fantasy that's Gary Schmidt meets Madeleine L'Engle. Kirkus Reviews called The Trap "An amazing blend of mystery, romance, science fiction and social commentary."

Savvy meets Three Times Lucky in Genuine Sweet, Faith Harkey's debut novel, a small-town Georgia tale of a hardworking but poor "wish fetcher" who can grant anyone's wishes but her own. School Library Journal writes that "character and events are well written and intriguing. Genuine's frustration over the dilemma of being able to help everyone but her own family is well crafted...authentic and unique."

Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery in Mayan Mexico is the fun and fast-paced second installment of the Edgar-nominated series by Marcia Wells in which Eddie Red and his best friend Jonah must once again rely on Eddie's drawing skills and photographic memory to uncover clues to catch a crook when Eddie's father is falsely accused of a crime.

Greg Trine, debuts the first book in his hilarious new series, Willy Maykit in Space, in which our stalwart hero, Willie Maykit, is stranded during a class trip to outer space, where his wits tested against the monsters of Planet Ed. From Booklist: "Cartoon spot illustrations make the book's sense of fun and adventure pop. A wacky romp!"

Magic beans quickly lead to danger in One Witch at a Time, the new stand-alone companion to The Brixen Witch by Wisconsin native Stacy DeKeyser. Kirkus Reviews said "the characters are awfully likable, and this tale is set so believably in a traditional Alpine world that it's easy to go along with the make-believe."

Award-winning, Milwaukee-born author, Mark Wisniewski, is coming to Boswell to read from and sign copies of his latest novel, Watch Me Go. Billed as Winter's Bone meets The Wire, Wisniewski's Watch Me Go is an edgy, soulful meditation on the meaning of love, the injustice of hate, and the power of hope for two vulnerable New Yorkers recounting their versions of events that sent their lives spiraling out of control.

In Watch Me Go, we meet Douglas "Deesh" Sharp, who lives in the Bronx and has managed to stay on the right side of the law, in spite of the constant lures of drug-dealing friends, by hauling junk for cash to avoid the fate of former neighbors now on Rikers Island. But when he and two pals head upstate for a seemingly standard job, disposing of a sealed oil drum, Deesh is left betrayed and running for his life - the prime suspect in the murders of three white men. Meanwhile, Jan Price, a young horse jockey, is a rising star at a small racetrack in upstate New York, where her father was a local legend before his untimely death two decades earlier. As she struggles to piece together her father's mysterious past, Jan is charmed by a wannabe horse farmer and pulled into the gritty underworld of gambling and racing. As Jan and Deesh recount the events that sent their lives spiraling out of control, they begin to understand the whole story and how each fit into it, hoping it's enough to save Deesh's life.

Salman Rushdie called Watch Me Go "irresistible...pure, muscular storytelling" while Daniel Woodrell called it "a fabulous noir." In the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune, Peter Geye offers this praise: "Wisniewski is a sure and smart writer, and his philosophy never gets in the way of his story, which is suspenseful and original and wholly unpredictable." And here's a profile of Wisniewski by Mark Rubinstein in The Huffington Post. 

Please join us for an evening of scholarly talk on pop culture and politics with Professor of Political Science and Global Studies at Carroll University and local author, Lilly J. Goren, who will discuss the latest book she co-edited, Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America, an academic approach to the popular show.      

The chapters of Mad Men and Politics: Nostalgia and the Remaking of Modern America analyze the most important dimensions explored on the show, including issues around gender, race, prejudice, the family, generational change, the social movements of the 1960s, our understanding of America's place in the world, and the idea of work in the post-war period. Mad Men and Politics provides the reader with an understanding not only of the topics and issues that can be easily grasped while watching, but also contemplates our historical perspective of the 1960s as we consider it through the telescope of our current condition in the modern day United States. 

In the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War in April 1975, as Americans fled and their Vietnamese allies and employees prepared for the worst, John Riordan, a young banker and the assistant manager of Citibank's Saigon branch, succeeded in rescuing 106 Vietnamese people. They were his 33 Vietnamese staff members and their families. Unable to secure exit papers for the employees, Citibank ordered Riordan to leave the country alone. Safe in Hong Kong, Riordan could not imagine leaving behind his employees and defied instructions from his superiors not to return to Saigon. But once he did make it back on the last commercial flight, his actions were daring and ingenious. Please join us as we welcome banker-turned-Wisconsin farmer, John Riordan, who will discuss and sign copies of his stunning book They Are All My Family: A Daring Rescue in the Chaos of Saigon's Fall.

In They Are All My Family, Riordan recounts how the escape was organized and carried out. John Riordan's story provides a compelling insight to the courage of individuals when all seemed lost. For all the tragedy of the Vietnam War, this saga is an uplifting counterpoint and a compelling piece of micro-history. You can see the story unfold on this clip from 60 Minutes, which first aired in 2013. CBS called Riordan the Oskar Schindler of the Vietnam War. And here's Duane Dudek's column.

While promoting this event, Boswell got a call from a film production company hoping to bring Riordan's story to the big screen. We contacted him, only to learn that film rights had already been sold. It's that kind of story! Enjoy it told first-hand by John Riordan on Friday, April 10, 7 pm, at Boswell (who, did we mention, now owns a farm in Beligium, Wisconsin?). And for a different look at the American Vietnamese legacy, here's a link to Boswellian Conrad Silverberg's recommendation of the newly released novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizers.

We're honored to be co-sponsoring Jason Reynold's return to Milwaukee, at our first event working with the new East Library. Reynolds charmed fans with his first novel, When I was the Greatest, and librarians awarded him the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for his efforts. Now he's back for The Boy in the Black Suit.

Here's a little about the story. Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died - although she did, and it sucks. He wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can't handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad's snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt's snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Not bad. But everything else? Not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She's got a crazy name, and she's been through more crazy than he can imagine. Yet Lovey never cries. She's tough. Really tough. Tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. Which is maybe why he's drawn to her, and definitely why he can't seem to shake her. Because there's nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness-and who can maybe even help take it away.

Here's what Boswellian Mel Morrow has to say about The Boy in the Black Suit: "At the beginning of Matt Miller's senior year of high school, his mom dies of cancer. Then his dad is involved in a horrific accident. Rather than sit alone in his suddenly empty house, Matt takes a job at his neighbor's business: a funeral home. A place where, suddenly, people seem to get it. It's a hard world for young African-American men forced to grow up too fast, but in the realistic Bed-Stuy of The Boy in the Black Suit, Jason Reynolds captures the myriad tiny graces and acts of compassion that keep people going when the world seems vicious and cold-the very things that make us believe in hope and love."

East Library is located at 2320 North Cramer Street, just across from Beans and Barley. Our event begins at 6:30 pm on Monday, April 13. Rumor has it that several attendees are bringing chocolate chip cookies. Once you read The Man in the Black Suit, you'll know why.

For over fourteen years, local author Philip DiMeo, a talented cartoonist and social worker, led a double life, masquerading as a fully sighted person, while becoming blind. Please join us as we welcome Philip DiMeo for a discussion of his latest book in which he reveals what it was like to hide this secret for nearly two decades, Binoculars: Masquerading as a Sighted Person. 

Despite growing diminishment of his sight, Philip DiMeo drove a car, went to college, and became a social worker, a cartoonist, and a coach for two sports teams. Then his vision grew worse and a physician diagnosed him with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease with no known cure. Phil would soon be blind. In Binoculars: Masquerading as a Sighted Person, an inspirational, first person account that charts not only the progression of DiMeo's vision loss, but the many incredible feats he accomplished, beginning at age four, when he first noticed his vision problems in sports, school and family life, but refused to give in, taking the reader on his hazardous journey not to give up his ambitions but to do all a sighted person could and more. 

When he can no longer pretend and must accept blindness, he finds, with the aid of his loving wife, a remedy to the problem he faces by going into training for a guide dog in which he and Ladonna, the yellow lab, become "the perfect match" who together rise to meet the new challenges ahead. In Binoculars, readers experience DiMeo's torment and elation as he finally confronts and accepts his blindness, finding that instead of closing doors, it is the springboard to more achievements to come.

Boswell's event is co-sponsored by Audio & Braille Literacy Enhancement, Inc. (ABLE) and Wisconsin Talking Books and Braille Library (WTBBL), and we should note that we are working with these organizations to get Binoculars available on audio for their constituents. Come hear DiMeo's story on Saturday, April 18, 2 pm, at Boswell. If you'd like to know more, read Jim Stingl's article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Boswell Book Company is excited to present screenwriter and author of the beloved The School for Good and Evil series, Soman Chainani, who will discuss his latest book in the series, A World Without Princes. After earning what they thought would be their happily ever after, Agatha makes a wish that lands she and Sophie back in the School for Good and Evil, which in their absence has become the school for boys and girls, still a perilous as ever, pitting them against an enemy from within. Perfect for ages 8 and up!

Best friends Sophie and Agatha are back in Gavaldon, living out their happily ever after. But all is not as happy as it seems. After Agatha, in a moment of weakness, wishes she'd chosen a different Happy Ending, the gates to the School for Good and Evil reopen and the girls return, finding the fairy-tale world different from when they left. Witches and princesses united to learn to survive without boys at the School for Girls and the exiled boys, led by Tedros, are camped at their own school in Evil's old towers. A war is brewing between the schools, but can Agatha and Sophie restore the peace? Will Tedros make Agatha's wish for a different Happy Ending come true-and at what cost? And whose heart does Agatha's belong to-her best friend or her prince?