Dear Backers,

Can you believe it's been nearly two years since we launched this project? A lot has changed since then: We made it through the recession... We had one of our best years ever in 2012... and then we lost our lease!

On February 22, 2013 Reading Frenzy closed its SW Oak Street location to make room for an expanded lobby in our home of 17-years. We've launched a Kickstarter project to raise the funds needed, not to just revive the shop, but to double our size and scope and add other other exciting elements to the venture. Two weeks in and we're more than 42% funded, but we've still got a long way to go.

This time around we've got numerous rewards ranging in price from $1-$500. If you have two minutes to spare please watch our video, and if you like it consider pledging or sharing today.

Thanks for your continued support!

Your Faithful Proprietress,

Chloe

Hello,

A few pledges have not gone through ~ if you've received a notice from Amazon about a failed attempt to process a pledge, please follow up ASAP! We can't ship your goodies until your pledge has been collected!

Thank you for your prompt responses! We're only waiting for about 15 replies out of 111 backers! If you haven't responded to our info request, please locate the original request and use the form. It gets really confusing when people send their info by other methods, as we need it all in one place. We also need it to move ahead with some parts of our project, so please take care of that today!

Local backers ~ we gave the option for backers who pledged at the tote level to come pick their items up in person (I'll message this group when your totes are ready for pick up). For other pledges it would simply be easiest for us to ship them. This is because the totes are ready to go now and don't require special packaging (we ran out of tubes!). Also, with dozens of backers coming in to pick up pledges there is bound to be some confusion.

Finally, I'd like to thank the 14 people who backed our project (from $1-$100) and chose no reward!

Although we think of Kickstarter as an alternate way to do commerce, and we're thrilled with all the pre-orders, it is really heartwarming that you guys just wanted to kick down some cash. Thank you!

Chloe

1955 Children's Book Week poster by Garth Williams

A few years ago I read a book about the history of Children's Book Week which featured posters designed by beloved children's book illustrators since their inception in 1919, and the Reading Frenzy Print Series was born. I asked a couple handfuls of my favorite illustrators and cartoonists if they would be interested in participating and they all said yes! Since that time we've produced two prints -- Reading Frenzy! by Carson Ellis and No Book Ever Ends by Aaron Renier -- we have one ready to go -- Steady by Nikki McClure -- and one in the works by Kate Bingaman-Burt.

Last night I watched Matilda for the umpteenth time, a film based on the book by Raold Dahl, to this day I still tear up when this line is spoken (lifted straight from the original text): "These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone." Books provided me with that same comfort when I was an only child growing up in a small rural town. They beckoned me to join them on a myriad of grand adventures. I couldn't wait! While I ended up staying closer to home than I ever imagined -- it's a mere 50 minute drive from my house in Portland to Gales Creek, Oregon -- I embarked on a different kind of adventure 17 years ago: bookselling.

According to many I couldn't have picked a worse time to open a small bookshop, and I was downright crazy to think I could make a go of it by devoting the shop to independent, small press and self-published titles. The internet was coming! Big box bookstores were proliferating at a never before seen rate, and Amazon was right around the corner! Besides, books were "going the way of the dinosaur" as one skeptical customer put it, print was going to become obsolete, not just in our lifetime but within a few short years. 

Well, I'm not going to claim it's been easy or that I haven't made decisions and sacrifices that most fiscally sane people would not, but we're still here, Borders just filed bankruptcy, and Amazon has not cornered the market on zines or small press. There's still a place in the world for a tiny bookshop devoted to the obscure and esoteric, the personal and handmade, the small and the marvelous.

Yes, the way people access and enjoy reading material has radically changed, and yes it has impacted us, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, but there will always be a segment of the reading public for whom there is no apt replacement for the pleasure of reading words printed on paper. This series celebrates those readers and the act of reading itself and it helps support our adventure through some currently rough waters. Thank you for your support: it's so good to know we are not alone.

Your Faithful Proprietress,

Chloe