[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-kevin-interviews-halfway-up-the-stairs":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Kevin had enjoyed his week at Little Acorns Bookstore in Derry. With a tummy full of traybake and Biscoffs, he said his goodbyes and took off. He flew south over the border and down the coast. As he flapped over Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, and Black Rock he saw the Irish Riviera was basking in blazing sunshine as usual, and the ice cream shops were doing a rare old trade.\\r\n\\r\nBut Kevin wasn’t all that interested in ice cream - it was too cold, and not biscuity enough. He wondered what exciting biscuits would be waiting for him at \u003Ca href=\"https://www.halfwayupthestairs.ie\">Halfway Up The Stairs\u003C/a> in Greystones?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1064761_original-058f090d3c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWhen he landed outside the shop he found that it wasn’t half way up any stairs at all, it was just on a street, like a normal shop. To his surprise, his friend Cardigan Faun was there, along with all his family.  “I’m certainly meeting a lot of people from back home in Bumbleford on this International Bookshop Tour,” said Kevin.\\r\n\\r\n“That’s because this picture of a bookshop was painted by Sarah McIntyre, and we’re the people she likes drawing best,” explained Cardigan Faun.\\r\n\\r\n“Who?” said Kevin. “And what do you mean, picture?”\\r\n“This is a picture we’re in,” said Cardigan Faun. “It’s a very nice one, too. It was done in watercolour.”\\r\n\\r\nIt was all getting a bit meta for Kevin. “You’ll be telling me next I’m just a picture of a flying pony,” he said. “But I am not, I am an actual real live flying pony, and also a roly-poly one, which is the Best Sort. Anyway, I’m mainly here for the biscuits I mean books.”\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1067917_original-729f3c9f8b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nLuckily, just at that moment, the picture of a door popped open and a picture of Mrs Cardigan Faun  came out to welcome him with a nice big plate of biscuits.\\r\n\\r\n“Are those just a picture of biscuits?” asked Kevin, suspiciously.\\r\n\\r\n“No, they’re real enough!” laughed Mrs Cardigan Faun. “And when you’ve eaten them, come inside and meet Trish Hennessy - she’ll answer all your booky questions.”\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Kevin\u003C/b>: What is the best thing about being a bookseller?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>: Getting the right books into the hands of children\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Kevin\u003C/b>: What’s one way you’ve tackled a problem that your bookshop has faced during the pandemic?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>:Teaming up with Sarah Webb, we have hosted monthly Children’s Books Salons, bringing authors & illustrators (including Philip Reeve & Sarah McIntyre!) and children’s books experts together in conversations held on Zoom, to an adult audience of children’s book lovers. We also have brought our personal touch to online transactions by providing a personal recommendation service, and handwriting cards for all postal transactions.\\r\n\u003Cb>\\r\nKevin\u003C/b>: What are three books you absolutely love hand-selling to customers?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>: \u003Ca href=\"https://halfwayupthestairs.ie/?s=Emer+Stamp&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1\">\u003Ci>Diary of Pig \u003C/i>series\u003C/a> by Emer Stamp; \u003Ca href=\"https://halfwayupthestairs.ie/?s=Boot+hegarty&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1\">\u003Ci>Boot\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Shane Hegarty & Ben Mantle; \u003Ca href=\"https://halfwayupthestairs.ie/product/9780008266165/\">\u003Ci>Here we Are\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by Oliver Jeffers (and of course The Roly Poly Flying Pony books, and we love Grumpycorn too!!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1080067_original-332f034dfe.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Kevin\u003C/b>: Who is your favourite children’s book illustrator? (Other than Reeve & McIntyre…)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>: \u003Ca href=\"https://www.oliverjeffers.com/\">Oliver Jeffers\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Cb>\\r\nKevin\u003C/b>: What is your favourite biscuit?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>: Plain chocolate digestives. Would you…\\r\n\u003Cb>\\r\nKevin\u003C/b>: Ooh! Don’t mind if I do… (TWO HUNDRED PLAIN DIGESTIVES LATER) Do you have a shop pet?\\r\n\\r\nNo. I do have a lab called Simba but he’s a bit nuts so I wouldn’t trust him for a second in the bookshop!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Kevin\u003C/b>: What is the best way for people to buy books from you if they can’t visit the shop in person?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Trish\u003C/b>:  Visit \u003Ca href=\"https://www.halfwayupthestairs.ie\">halfwayupthestairs.ie!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1079963_original-3591b224e2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nYou can follow Halfway Up The Stairs on Twitter - \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/HalfwayUpBooks\">@HalfwayUpBooks\u003C/a> - Instagram - \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/halfwayupthestairsbookshop/\">halfwayupthestairsbookshop\u003C/a> - and on \u003Ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/halfwayupthestairschildrensbookshop\">Facebook\u003C/a>. \\r\nAnd follow Kevin's tour at #ReeveAndMcIntyreBigUpBookshops!","2021-07-16T06:15:00.000Z","kevin-interviews-halfway-up-the-stairs",[],"Kevin interviews: Halfway Up The Stairs",1776628731184]