Our previous Tumblr meetup at Bookmans Flagstaff had more RSVPs than attendees. They're not a shy group. It's just difficult to pull them away from the media they enjoy on a daily basis. Our most recent get-together was more fruitful. There was a better idea of which tags to use on posts to garner attention and a larger number of interested parties spreading the news by word-of-mouth as well. Tumblr is everywhere at NAU and throughout Flagstaff.

What significance does the date April 13 have with the Homestuck fandom? One of the greatest. It's tucked into just about every available niche within the comic itself. This year it marked the 4th year running of Homestuck as an active project of MS Paint Adventures creator Andrew Hussie, and it has been a wild run so far. The popularity of the story has grown strong and steady in the last year, with a lot of the attention coming from a simple Kickstarter held to create a related video game. When it began to break records, people began to take notice.

Whenever I feel as though I've hit a creative wall I surf over to my Pinterest account. Before I know it, I've added at least ten new projects that have nothing to do with what I started searching for. I'm okay with that though. Pinterest has become so many things for me: a way to stay connected with friends, an e-dream board, and a place to keep all of my ideas for store events.

All month long we're crafting up a storm at Bookmans Flagstaff with Kids' Crafts at 1 p.m. on Sundays and Adult Crafts at 6 p.m. on Mondays. The first Kids' Craft we created were simple but fluttery flowers and butterflies. We had an abundance of old coffee filters, pipe cleaners and clothespins, so we put them to use. We nearly made an entire garden of flora and fauna!

We partied hard at Bookmans Grant with Cat in the Hat and all his fans to celebrate our month-long Love of Reading theme. There were kids and families who came to decorate their own stovepipe hat, listen to the musical stylings of The Cat himself, munch on some festive cupcakes and finally hear the sweet Suessical words from Cat in the Hat's favorite Dr. Seuss books.

Our Wellness Fair at Bookmans Speedway was an upbeat, happy, healthy affair, with something for everyone to enjoy! Cesar Vinueza from Slim Shop Fitness gave two demonstrations. The first was a Zumba dance/fitness class for some weight loss fun. The second was a martial arts demonstration where students learned basic skills and gave a performance to the delight of parents and customers alike. Tucson Village Farms and Plant A Seed cooked glorious greens. The samples were so good that one young boy carried his through the store declaring, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" The store agreed. Cortiva Institute and ASIS Massage performed free massages and their chairs were never empty. Ashlie and Kelly from ViSalus gave away health/weight-loss shakes and bars and the user testimonials were inspiring. Attendees had more in-depth Reiki Massages done with Joe Machado and had their cards read with Tarot by Tanu. For those looking inward or to the future, the curious sat with Cynthia Rae and Patricia Kirkman, Intuitive and Numerologist respectively.

What a great time we had a Bookmans Grant when Santa Claus came to town! He parked his reindeer on the roof of our store and hung out with his biggest fans. Santa knows all but I was still amazed that Santa not only knew all the kids' names, but also what he brought them for Christmas last year. I wish I had that kind of memory!

Click clack, click clack! What is that sound? Is that reindeer on the roof or the sound of children dancing all around?

* by guest blogger Chuck Cheesman of Music In The Classroom

We are into our second quarter of Bookmans' Music in the Classrooms Head Start Program in Flagstaff. I come to every class with a plan but usually there is some song the children are determined to sing. At this point they often tell me what songs they want to do. I like to tease them, "Quit bossing me around!" or "Who is in charge here anyway?" They get it and we have a lot of fun together. As long as they are singing and participating in the music our mission is accomplished.

Checkmate! Bookmans Speedway learned how to castle, fork and pin on Saturday, October 13 during our National Chess Day celebration with the 9 Queens. Everyone had strategic fun during our free event cohosted by the 9 Queens Chess Club who focus on educating kids in the ways of chess.

We had a ghoulishly good time at Bookmans Speedway's second annual Zombie Fair. Not only is this a beloved genre of our employees but we revel in the replusive with other zombie zealots such as the Tucson Zombie Walk, local comic book artists and our cool customers. Besides giving away free zombie makeovers and appendage lollipops, we gave the chance to strike a pose in our photo booth. The Tucson Zombie Walk was kind enough to stop by and morbidly makeover over 100 people in the three hour fiesta.

* By Guest Blogger Chuck Cheesman

Bookmans' Music in the Classrooms (MIC) is off and running again this year. We're bringing music to Head Start classrooms in Flagstaff, and I want to say that I am very grateful to be working with these children again.

In these early weeks of MIC, I try to get to know the children's names and establish a classroom environment that is welcoming and fun. I want the children to feel safe and confident so they will participate in the singing and dancing we do. I've learned after a few years of doing this that an ukulele is often a better instrument to get the ball rolling. It's a little bit quieter than my guitar. Plus, it's fun to teach the children to say ukulele. Say, "oo-koo-leh-lay" like the Hawaiians.

Saturday we celebrated the film release of one of our favorite book and cinema series -- Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days! The very un-wimpy fans joined forces and took control of Bookmans Phoenix with a variety of fun for the entire family.

It's time to start figuring out where you put your backpack, check if your markers are dried out and hope you'll be in the same class as your best friend -- back to school time! We celebrated with special back-to-school parties at two of our Tucson locations that involved our favorite Silly Tassie in the world.

Bookmans Ina
School was in session for our Summer Kids Event -- Clown School, that is! Silly Tassie made our Back-to-School party a super silly, educational time. She painted our faces like clowns and then took the kids through clown academy, where they became certified silly clowns. Silly Tassie made the kids balloon animals because no clown is complete without a balloon animal. All Kids Club members received a free I Love Bookmans T-shirt that they got to decorate with markers and had delicious Eegees to help us cool off. It was a party to remember. Check out our Flickr page to see how much fun we had.

We had a howling good time at our first Beach Blanket Bow Wow party at Bookmans Mesa. The party was created to entice families to come hang out, celebrate our love of animals and have lots of dogs in one place! We're not above bribery. We love pets of all shapes and sizes and this was just an excuse to get as many furry friends in one place for us to spoil them. With free caninine caricatures, Pupcakes and other treats from Kiki's Cupcake Service and pet-related raffles there was plenty to do today. Our friends at the Arizona Beagle Rescue were fabulous co-hosts as they brought along their adoptable beagle pals in hopes to find everyone a new home. The Beagles were friendly, loving and adorable in their Hawaiian shirts and other beach wear.

BOW WOW! Bookmans Speedway continued our celebration of the Dog Days of Summer with three incredible organizations.

This week we kept cool and found fun without the sun! Kids across Arizona had a blast at Bookmans Star Wars, southwest critters and T-shirt decorating. It's hard to have the summer boredom blues when each store has such fun every week.

PHOENIX

We always have a good time when the Mandalorian Mercs make their way to Bookmans. We welcomed three members of the Star Wars costume club for a special story time including a family favorite Star Wars graphic novel from their own collection and a silly book about a tooting. The kids listened intently to the books. Following storytime, we provided all of the supplies needed to create a custom light saber made of swimming pool noodles. Everyone chose a color and added duct and electrical tape to make a safe weapon like no other. You can view photos from the event on our Flickr. Thank you to the Mercs for leaving the galaxy far far away and joining us in Phoenix

This week during our free Summer Kids events we decorated Bookmans T-shirts, celebrated a fabulous Fourth of July and used our powers of deduction with The Phoenix Zoo. Only a few weeks remain and we have plenty more in store for all of our new friends and old.

Just like supporting local businesses, it's important to support your local authors. With help from Inkwell Management, we threw a Children's Author Fair featuring three talented writers and their unique kids' book. Authors included Daddy Bookins with the Lil' Boo series (a Bookmans favorite), 11-year-old author Jesse Dowell with The Magic Forest, and John Woody with Ernie Tales and his Siberian husky Ernie.

We had nothing but fun last week hosting our annual Summer Kids Events. Each summer at each store we host kid-friendly activites, crafts, games or whatver helps beat the heat without a hit to your wallet since all these events are free. Check out what went on at our stores last week and keep an eye on our events calendar for all our upcoming events.

What a BLAST! Last Saturday we had a video game challenge at Bookmans Speedway. The games were Mario Kart on the Wii and Dance Central 2 on the XBOX 360 Kinect. Many turned up to play and all left with something. We gave away over $500 in Prizes and trade.

Hello Bookmans Universe! Bookmans on Speedway held the first of many Video Game-related events happening all month long. Devastation was on hand hosting our Street Fighter X Tekken tournament.

It was windy, rainy and the electricity went out, but did that stop us? Definitely not and hardcore Devastation and Street Fighter X Tekken fans came to Bookmans Mesa on a Wednesday night to fight for bragging rights and Bookmans Gift Cards. We are in our third year of bringing the most professional of local video game tournaments to our customers. Why? Arizona is lucky enough to have the volunteers of Devastation who love e-sports enough to make them widely available. Whether this is your first time playing in a tournament or you are a seasoned pro, the Devastation-run tournaments at Bookmans are for anyone to walk in and play.

Why Street Fighter X Tekken? Perhaps it is because Capcom took the better of two hugely popular franchises and created the best war in the history of fighting games.

Our planet is our home and what better way to make our home a beautiful place to live than by creating art? We started our Earth Day celebrations at the Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler with our East Valley friends! The Chandler Environmental Education Center provided a beautiful backdrop for environmental education through innovative and creative ways to think and interact with our world. Of course the event wouldn't have been complete without decorating reusable I ❤ Bookmans tote bags! The kids and their families had a great time as we brought out the stencils, fabric markers and imagination to make our own unique bags to carry our books around. Kids even had their faces painted with a variety of earth day related designs and animals.

Bookmans Phoenix opened Saturday morning with our annual Easter egg hunt with over 400 eggs hidden around the store. Children flooded in with baskets waving, scouring the book, gallery, video game and music sections to find as many colorful eggs as possible. Some raced through the stacks while others leisurely enjoyed the hunt. Every child went home with a basket or bag full of eggs filled with temporary tattoos, stickers, bubbles, bouncy balls and more! Following the hunt, our good friend the Easter Bunny hopped in for a visit.

Education should be everyone's priority and although it seems as though some have pushed it to the back burner, Bookmans strives to do our part in support of education in Arizona. With our Project: Educate, Kids Club, 1317 and Read 10 programs, we hope to give students and teachers easier access to materials, resources and just plain old Bookmans fun.

For the past few years we partnered with a national non-profit that helped us bring music lessons into our instrument section. Thanks to a Bookmans sponsorship, Guitars in the Classroom provides free guitar lessons to Valley educators in the hopes that they will bring music into their classrooms. After the past 16 weeks of Saturday morning classes, we awarded a special group of teachers a celebratory graduation.

"From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things are everywhere."

Fun was everywhere in Bookmans Mesa as we celebrated our Love of Reading Dr. Suess style, whose birthday is March 2. Happy birthday to the beloved author who has inspired children and adults for the last seventy-five years through creative, entertaining and educational children's literature!

We started our party by handing out Red Fish/Blue Fish snacks along with Green Eggs and Ham cupcakes, Red Fish Brownies and Star-Bellied Sneetch Cookies brought to us by the amazing bakers at Kiki's Cupcake Service! Each child was greeted by Thing 1 and received a passport to fun!

Bookmans Phoenix hosted our first author fair in celebration of our Love of Reading Month, an annual celebration in Februrary to explore the world of books. Arizona has raised, fostered and attracted numerous authors from all around the globe and this was our chance to showcase some of the talented writers we've come across in our book-loving journeys.

We had a fantastic time at our first annual Love to Read A-Z event. Bookmans Speedway was gracious enough to host the love of reading event for families and kids. Many local organizations came together to help celebrate a love of reading and promote childhood literacy. We even had a celebrity stop by to read us his favorite stories. That's right Cat in the Hat had his own story time and posed for pictures with his admirers.

Categorizing themselves as an indie/alternative classical group, Tetra String Quartet brought a new sound to Bookmans with their lively and dramatic playing style. Made of members Heidi Wright, Chrystal Smothers, Louis Privitera and Jenna Dalbey, this quartet is unlike anything we've heard. The band covered modern songs from popular artists such as Journey and Lady Gaga, and more traditional pieces like Go Tell it on the Mountain. Their range and intensity music drew a crowd and kept folks interested.

Every last Monday of the month Desiree and I host Adult Craft Night at Bookmans Flagstaff. We're starting to get a pretty good crew! So far we've made barrettes and shrines for Halloween, owl and bacon ornaments for Christmas, aprons and tarot recipe cards for January's "Here's to Your Health Month" and this February for "Love of Reading" we're offering book and paper crafts for our readers and scribblers.

Check out these images from Adult Craft Night and don't forget to join us from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27. All supplies are provided and the instruction is free. Don't be shy. You don't need to have crafting skills…yet. These events are for people aged 18 and up only because we use hot guns and sharp stuff like needles. Also our chat isn't always kid appropriate!

Christmas Owl Ornament

Ahoy Comic Lovers! Adam Yeater is an amazing local artist with crazy cool 3D art and a rocking comic book series called One Last Day. He displayed his amazing talents and signed his awesome comic strips -- very unique and unlike anything you have seen.

Happy New Year Bookmans Universe! Our theme for January is "Shift the Way You Shop" and to celebrate we had an awesome Wellness Fair at Bookmans Speedway. Many local businesses and organizations geared towards healthy and greener living were here to show us how to live better in the new year and for the rest of our lives! Personal Healing, Reiki and readings by Tanu and Sara Jean! Nutrition experts Liv'N Heathy Mannatech style, financial advising group Wadell and Reed, fitness and yoga gurus as well as El Rio Health Clinic and St. Elizabeth's Health Center! Monty provided chair massages!

Our Author Fairs are great! You never know who you're gonna meet. Robert wrote a book based on the hit TV show Friends titled Coffee House Wisdom. William wrote about Southeastern Mining Towns here in the desert. Lorna wrote about Sarah Gorby's life-long quest to save wildlife. Jeff wrote a book all about his bicycle journey across the country. A Little something for everyone.

If you know Bookmans then you know we love supporting local organizations, especially local heroes! The Tucson Fire Department was in the house at Bookmans Speedway along with I Heart Heroes.

Checkmate! It's Family Game Night at Bookmans! Join 9Queens every first Wednesday of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bookmans Speedway for Family Chess Night -- an evening filled with chess, puzzles and fun. As always beginners welcome!

Happy New Year Bookmans Universe! Before the New Year began Vanessa Sheldon graced us with herself and her harp. An accomplished musician and doctor of music, she played for us some most beautiful melodies on her beautiful instrument. It was an amazing performance.

Happy Holidays! Rescue a Golden of Arizona spent Christmas Eve with us wrapping gifts and introducing people to some incredible Golden Retrievers!

Since we can't go to the North Pole we made the North Pole come to us! That is why it's been so darn cold in Phoenix lately and why we had a special visit from Santa! Every year we invite our younger customers and their families for a special story time with one of our favorite holiday books The Polar Express.

HOHOHO! Santa arivied on time and hung out with us Bookmans Speedway for a while. We made Raindeer Candy Canes and took pictures!

Full of holiday cheer, Rescue a Golden of Arizona stopped by for a visit this weekend to help you get ready for the holidays! They provided free gift wrapping during their meet and greet. They brought along some of their most lovable dogs and had information about adoption, volunteering and all the amazing things Rescue a Golden of Arizona does.

Hello! This past Wednesday at Family Game Night we had open Gaming and Live Music featuring the handsome Mark Garris!

See? We told you he was handsome.

Mark G. plays all over Tucson and sang some sweet melodies as we worked, shopped and played games. Join us every Wednesday starting at 6 p.m. for Family Game Night. Find us on Flickr to see pictures form this event! Have a Wonderful Day!

Good Day Bookmans Universe! Bookmans loves, loves, loves local! We are local and the authors at our recent author fair are locals too. Great satisfaction comes from supporting people in our backyard. We hosted J.E. Gurley, Janne E. Irvine, Michael Orozco and Judianne Lee at Bookmans Speedway as they shared and signed their books.

Hey all you die hard Twihards! We had our first ever Twilight party at Bookmans Speedway. In honor of the theatrical release of Breaking Dawn, Part 1 we kicked off what turned out to be a Team Jacob vs. Team Edward debate. Personal preferences aside everyone who came enjoyed Italian Blood Orange Soda (coutesy of the Volturi), neck bite temporary tattoos, glitter spray to make you a proper vampire, a photo opportunity with Bella and Jacob and a chance to win four pairs of tickets to the midnight showing. If that wouldn't be enough to make your heart swoon then good luck Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

Sometimes it can be hard to convince the 20 or 30 somethings of our generation that there is a kind of music that is as important as hip hop, rock, pop, metal or country. Long before Hendrix, McCartney or Cash there was Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and others who helped lay the groundwork for what creativity in music and the possibilities of playing instruments would become. We bow to the great classical music icons and proudly give them their own section in our music department. We can only hope that in this digital age their contributions and talents will not be forgotten but revived. Luckily in Phoenix there is a network of people ensuring just that ideal -– Classical Revolution Phoenix.

Ghosts! Goblins! Witches! Zombies! It was a spooky party with some GREAT costumes, tons of candy and a lot of fun! We had a costume parade around the store, went on a ghost hunt and screamed at our favorite costumes! We wrapped up those not in costume with mummy wrap! We read spooky stories and simply had a spooktacular time!

We're celebrating All Things Spooky during the month of October. At Bookmans Mesa we hosted a fete for all our favorite guys and ghouls with our first Monster Party! It was fun to see a variety of ages attended and participate in a variety of events.

Woof! Volunteers from Arizona Greyhound Rescue were on hand to answer questions and introduce you to some amazing creatures, volunteer opportunities, adoption and much more. Thanks to all who came out for this great event! Check out their site for more information.

My heart goes out, literally out since I'm a zombie, to all who crept to Bookmans Speedway for our first ever Zombie Fair. We were inspired to host this marvelously macabre event honoring the decaying dead who have inspired a multi-million dollar movie industry, survival groups and freaky fandom the world over. Heck most of us have a zombie survival plan, however loose or detailed it may be. Bookmans Speedway was as packed, practically bursting at the seams, with the undead as Michael Jackson's Thriller video. This celebration of undead proportions wouldn't have been possible without the support of the zombie zealot community partners: The Zombie Walk, The Slaughter House, Tucson Comic Con and the Summit Hut.

Check! Bookmans celebrated National Chess day with the amazing 9 Queens, a local chess group dedicated to enlightening people with this awesome game! 9 Queens had their passport stations set up and those who passed four out of the six stations got a cupcake.

What a magical day! Students of Hogwarts arrived with their families to be sorted into one of four magical houses at Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat chose Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor for each one. The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor but the Headmaster graciously loaned it to us for this event. Immediately the students began work on their wizarding wardrobe by creating wizard hats and house ties. Each hat was unique to its wearer with an assortment of glitter, stars, feathers, personal artwork and even eyeballs! While we feverishly worked on adorning our wares, raffles were held. Lucky winners went home with bookmarks, stickers, sweet treats from HoneyDukes and a toy Basalisk.

I’ve never considered myself a crafty person, which is ironic since I do consider myself an artist. I write and publish poetry, like to draw and paint and love to sing and dance. But when it comes to careful coloring, calligraphy, cutting a straight line, using glue guns or sewing machines and using obscure materials, I shiver in fear. Even so, the first three Mondays in October I’m going to help lead a Halloween crafting session for grown-ups in our Flagstaff cafe. Thanks goodness I’ll have the help of an ex-Girl Scout camp leader!

Bookmans proudly welcomed Southern Arizona Golden Retriever Rescue to Bookmans Speedway. SAGRR is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization whose Mission is to rescue and re-home adoptable Golden Retrievers in Southern Arizona in safe, loving homes; thereby improving the lives of both the dog and the adoptive family.

Solar Power! The Solar Store showed us how using the power of the sun is a wise investment. For starters Federal and State tax credits and rebates now make solar energy systems more affordable.

The Solar Store is dedicated to providing renewable energy resources, products and services while addressing the needs of their customers with the highest level of technical and professional competence. This enlightening presentation provided much information on how solar power works and all the benefits that come along with using the sun!

Every country in the world has banned books and most are surprised to find out that a lot of our classic favorites have made the list. We are all about keeping people educated and informed about what kind of materials are being censored and why its so important to join the fight against censorship. The Torch Theatre’s Apollo 12 joined us in that fight and provided our community with a free improv show based solely off banned books.

Hello beautiful people! Desert Melodies showed up and celebrated movie madness with us singing music from the movies, your favorite show tunes, Broadway hits and more. Thanks for coming out and celebrating movie madness with us and listening to some amazing melodies.

What an event! Local directors, producers, actors and everything in between were on hand at Bookmans Speedway for our local movie makers expo to answer questions and tell you all about what goes into the movie making business.

Movie Madness! Elske McCain is an up-and-coming actress, model, producer and online horror host. She is also Tucson's very own scream queen. Elske was with us to promote her movies and the special edition DVD Jessicka Rabid.

Almost all of us have been directly or indirectluy affected by cancer, which is why it's so important to support the efforts for a cure of this tragic illness. We welcomed Arizona authors who are part of Writers Unite to Fight Cancer for two very different but equally important events. This organization is run by Margaret Turley who works hard to “raise community awareness about cancer and raise money for cancer research while supporting authors with venues and encouragement.”

The authors put together a great assortment of activities for a fun-filled day at the children's event with puppet shows, storytimes and workshops with Conrad Storad, Cindy R. Williams, Lisa Finder and Susan Kruger.

In our Dog Days of Summer series we proudly welcome the Southern Arizona Golden Retriever Rescue (SAGRR) to Bookmans Speedway. SAGRR is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization whose Mission is to rescue and re-home adoptable Golden Retrievers in Southern Arizona in safe, loving homes; thereby improving the lives of both the dog and the adoptive family.

Thanks to all who came out and joined us for this very exciting and enlightening event! Find us on Flickr to check out the pictures! Peacelove

Dog Days of Summer! Arizona Greyhound Rescue (AZGR) hung out for a couple of hours and brought with them some incredible animals. Volunteers from AZGR answered questions and introduced us to some amazing creatures, volunteer opportunities and adoption information.

Thanks to all who came. Check out AZGR's website for more information and find us on Flickr to see some great pictures. PeaceLove

It’s hard to believe the summer is flying by so fast but there are only two weeks left of Bookmans Free Summer Kids Events. We have great stuff in store for next week. In Flagstaff we’re hosting Willow Bend Environmental Center who will teach bigger kids about rocks/geology and younger kids about ants. The first week in August it’s time for super fun back to school parties that get kids excited for a new school year. Check out our events calendar for all the fun we have in store.

Here’s what we did last week:

Flagstaff
School days, school days, dear ol' golden rule days! This week kids colored canvas pencil pouches to hold their erasers, pens, pencils and other scholarly supplies.  Flagstaff kiddos stenciled their names, favorite animals, fantasy characters or slogans on these simple pencil pouches. Some decided to freestyle it, making their own colorful graphic art to add panache to their school stuff. And we keep on getting super excited about a whole new school year with Willow Bend Environmental education next week and our fabulous Back-to-School Party the week after. Don’t miss it. We’re gettin’ ready for reading and writing and arithmetic (minus the hickory stick)!

Yippee! We've been having a blast at our free summer kids events, going strong all summer long. Check out our events calendar for the local listings. Here's what we did last week:

Bookmans Phoenix

Customers soared out of the heat and into our cool kids event where we created kites to enjoy in the windy weather. We took plain sheets of card stock and used some simple folding techniques to form the basic shape of a kite. We then added tape to keep everything in place during flight and decorated our kites. Our summer kids group applied fun animal designs, stripes, polka dots, flowers, unicorns and hearts to give each a creative touch. We put in a request for them to report back about how the first flight went when we all gather again next week for the Pirate Party! The kids enjoyed seeing plain paper turn into high flying fun and we enjoyed giving them the how-to. We wish everyone a safe take off and landing!

Happy Dog Days of Summer! Another great Dog Days of Summer event with the Animals' Crusaders. Lisa had her furry friend Holly a beautiful and very sweet pit-bull with her today providing information on how you can be a hero to animal in need.

As you can see in the pictures Holly loves being in front of the camera. Find us on Flickr to check them out. You can learn more about this great organization at www.acofaz.com/. PeaceLove

Absolutely beautiful!

Mata Ortiz is a small pottery-making village that is built on stream terraces along the west bank of the Palanganas River in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. John V. Bezy and Stuart D. Scott put together a most beautiful book about the artistry and history of Mata Ortiz. They shared their wonderful adventures and all they have learned with a power point presentation at Bookmans Speedway. We had and have the pottery for sale made by many of the artists featured in their book. Joining them was master artist, Oralia Lopez, creating finely executed geometric pottery designs right before our very eyes.

It has been a spectacular summer so far with our Summer Kids Events, but last week we saw sparkling creativity with several Independence Day-related crafts! Are Superheroes more your thing? Check out how Tucson celebrated Superhero Week.

Flagstaff:

For our summer kids' event this last week, Flagstaff kids got ready for the 4th of July Parade with red, white and blue necklace beading and wooden Flag making. Everyone's patriotic decorations turned out beautifully. Come see us next week for reusable tote bag and handmade-at-Bookmans tee-shirt decorating! Check out the pictures here.

Phoenix:

It’s the week before the 4th of the July so we insisted that our kids turn recycled items into their own patriotic toys! We saved old cd’s, dvd’s, soda bottle caps and marbles to create 4th of July spinners unlike any you have ever seen! . By coloring on the cd’s, placing the marble inside of the bottle cap and gluing the bottle cap onto the cd hole, the kids has spin tops that kept them occupied and proud for quite some time. They colored swirls, flags, fireworks and squiggles on their blank cd’s and once the spinning began, their drawings blended together beautifully. We also handed out plastic American flags for everyone to proudly wave around during whatever fireworks display they were attending over the weekend. Everyone had a blast and we hope the kids have a fun and safe holiday! Check out the pictures here.

Mesa:

Bookmans Mesa kicked off Independence Day like a firecracker with our "Star Spangled Bangles". This week we tackled the art of stringing beads to make some "Red, White, and Blue" fun. Some even branched out, and made necklaces and collars for their pets. Every creation was unique and different, but every one was AWESOME! Check out the pictures here.

Speedway:

This week at our Summer Kids Events we celebrated Super Heros! What do you think your super hero would look like and what type of super powers would he/she have? We took pictures of kids flying through the air, colored super hero sheets and created bookmarks out of comic books! It was superific! Up Up and Away! Check out the pictures here.

Ina:

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's.... Super Hero Week at Bookmans! We had a blast designing our own super hero costumes; mine was basically just a big scribble that looks like something Lady Gaga might wear. We also made our own bookmarks using cut-up comic books. Let me tell ya, my new Dick Tracy bookmark looks so good sitting inside my copy of A Game of Thrones right now. In addition lots of kids flew by, but our lighting speed shutter camera caught glimpses of these super heroes that can be viewed on our Flickr feed. Next week, Puppet Muzik! Check out the pictures here.

Grant:

Zoinks! What a super time we had dressing up and coloring our very own superheros! One of the very special superheros drawn even had a disappearing belt and cape! We took some neat-o pics of ourselves in action as we took flight to save the world and even got some helpful tips from Michelle on how to be a super hero in real life. Word! Thanks to all the kids who came out to rescue the rest of the world from summertime boredom :) Check out the pictures here.

Last weeks Summer Kids Events were filled with costumed characters, The Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona and music. Thank you to everyone who has been attending these events. You make our jobs fun!

Flagstaff

This week we had a wonderful time with Kristina Wulbern of Music Together. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers, Music Together is a music and movement education program that gets the kids singing and dancing. We even raffled off one fall session of Music Together and one happy family went home with the prize. We hope to see you Wednesday at 10 a.m. for patriotic arts-and-crafts day!

Hello Bookmans Universe! No microphone needed. I stood in all four corners of the store and the sounds of Footnotes Quartet filled the house. What a treat! Great energy, great songs, wonderful women and just a pleasant time listening to these heavenly voices.

Bookmans Mesa's Music Manager Megan presented her workshop Criss Cross Books. There are so many uses for these little books that the ideas were limitless. As always participants picked a package of art supplies and made their craft from it. Check out all of the awesome pics from Megan's craft on Flickr.

The June Author Fair at Bookmans Speedway this Saturday offered variety for non-fiction lovers. Grammar, war-time inventions and the affect of immigration were the three areas of specialty for this month's special guests.

I consider myself a Star Wars child. Having been born in the '70s I had visions of Jabba the Hut and Leia's gold bikini (unfortunately?) burned into my young psyche. Even my dog looks like a Wookiee. When my daughter whines, “I tried!” I respond, “Do or do not. There is no try.” I realize that having one’s mother quote Yoda might be both annoying and embarrassing, but I can’t help myself. Now I can indulge myself at work thanks to our new and HUGE Millennium Falcon that passed across the trade counter.

Our Millennium Falcon displayed above our counters and register.

We celebrated Music Month with a free and informative “How-to Make Your Own Pan flute Class” hosted by our friends with Medieval Skills in the Modern World. Who better to teach us how to make the medieval pan flute than this group? (HINT: No one!)

Bookmans Flagstaff's Music in the Classroom Jamboree came complete with face-painting, balloon sculpting, snacks and children's music. The party was a celebration of our Music in the Classroom (MIC) program, for which Bookmans provides free music and movement education to Head Start classrooms in Flagstaff.

Kids gets super duper excited for Mr. Chuck who leads them in dancing, singing (in English and Spanish), learning ABCs, 123s, playing with new instruments and so much more.

We love when the children send us thank you letters like this one.

You may have heard her tragic story on the local news, saw her interview on Montel or read about it in the newspaper. Tracy Stombres, a valley woman whose struggle with domestic violence caused an end to her marriage and, even more disheartening, an end to her mother's life. Authors Tracy Stombres and Stephanie Angelo visited Bookmans Phoenix for an author signing and lecture surrounding their book, Serrated: A True Story of Survival, Recovery and the Pursuit of Justice.

Good day Bookmans world! Mata Ortiz is a small pottery-making village that is built on stream terraces along the west bank of the Palanganas River in the northwestern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. John V. Bezy and Stuart D. Scott have put together a most beautiful book about the artistry and history of Mata Ortiz. They shared there wonderful adventures and all they have learned with a power point presentation at Bookmans Speedway.

The pottery for sale is made by many of the artists featured in their book. Joining them was master artist Oralia Lopez, creating finely executed geometric pottery designs right before your very eyes. Thank you for joining us for this very enlightening presentation of the incredible artistry and history of Mata Ortiz. Find us on Flickr to see video and pictures. PeaceLove

The game is awesome. The turnout, phenomenal.

Gamers came into Bookmans Mesa and threw down their gauntlets ready to rumble. Our annual video game challenge hosted by Devastation and featuring Mortal Kombat for the PS3. Individuals had the opportunity to battle it out for a chance at $100 in store credit and the title of Bookmans Mesa Champion.

Good day Bookmans Universe! Bookmans is celebrating anything and everything Video Game this month. Our friend Clayton Barnes plays the piano and video games. Ingeniously, Clayton has combined his love for music and video games by perfecting his performance of video game theme songs on his piano.

Like an amazing tasty taco, Clayton dropped in and performed live at Bookmans Speedway. From Super Mario to Tetris, Clayton entertained us with his wonderful skill. Find us on Flicker to check out pictures and video from the event! Happy Video Game Month everyone! PeaceLove & Tacos

It’s not every day that we get to hang out with a television writing legend like Mark Rothman, who appeared at Bookmans Phoenix for an author signing and mini lecture. He flew in from Detroit to spend time with our customers and give them a sneak peak into the life of a writer, director and actor and to promote his new book Mark Rothman’s Essays. His book compiles entries from his blog sure to make you LOL. The blog focuses on the little and big events in his life that he finds humor in -– and you will too! From brief moments with friends and family to encounters with Hollywood greats, Mark wraps his readers into his somewhat dark sense of humor.

In honor of Earth Month and recycling we presented a vinyl art workshop. Vinyl art is woven from the basic recycling idea of taking something not usable, in this case a scratched LP, and turning it into something usable. This was the junior edition of our popular monthly craft series, aimed at kids, but enthusiastic adults soon wanted to join in.

Mayday, mayday! I’m so excited about spring that I might need your help! Finally there’s a spring in everyone’s step in Flagstaff and it means we’re entering the beginning of the best time of year up here on the mountain. May is when the temperature curve takes a turn toward the 70s and all the wonderful free festivals get going. May is when folks start buying gardening books and grand canyon guides.

Good day Bookmans Universe! Every Friday at 10 a.m. in the Kids Corner we host story time. Light snacks and coloring are always included. This week we read books by the amazing Dr. Seuss and our guest reader was long time customer and friend of Bookmans Tina.

Thanks Tina for reading! Join us every Friday for great stories and fun activities! Find us on Flickr to check out the pictures from this weeks story time. Have a great day everyone! PeaceLove

Ahoy Comic and local artist Lovers! Adam Yeater is an amazing local artist with crazy cool 3D art and a rocking comic book series called One Last Day!

The super awesome Adam Yeater poses with the super awesome Henry Barajas.

We eat, breathe and sleep recycling. We do it all day, every day. Even at home we collect items to bring into the store for trade. We know recycling like the back of our hand but we can’t recycle everything. We’ve collected leftover children's books with the bent covers, ripped pages or coloring on the inside and turned them into something spectacular! Since March was our annual Arts and Crafts month, we decided to get the entire family involved at Bookmans Phoenix in helping us rip the pages of these forgotten books and turn them into wallets!

Greetings Bookmans universe! Another amazing Family Game Night! The wonderful 9Queens chess group was in the house guiding, teaching and playing chess! Jean from 9Queens brought along with her another chess puzzle that stumped all who tried.

Celebrating arts and crafts month Bookmans Mesa presented Bookmans Craft Day. This was third in our series where our store manager Sarah hosted Altered Recipe Tags. Each participant brought their favorite recipes and was given a packet of materials resulting in beautiful works of art. These recipe tags could be used as gift ideas or make the perfect accessory to a gift.

Hello Bookmans world! Thanks for coming to meet some incredible animals. Volunteers from Arizona Greyhound Rescue were on hand to answer questions and introduce you to some amazing creatures. Volunteer opportunities, adoption and much more. Check the Arizona Greyhound Rescue's website to learn more about this awesome organization.

Find us on Flickr to see pictures from the event. Keep an eye out for more visits at bookmans.com. PeaceLove

Truly with the voice of an angel, Lauren Black with AZ Chicks with Picks performed original songs at Bookmans Mesa that had people stopping in their tracks to see who was singing. Multiple people stopped me to ask for information on Lauren. Does she have a CD available? If so, where can I get it? (Are you listening record companies?)

Every so often I ask myself, “Why do I read?” I always have many answers. Most often I answer, “because it’s awesome!” I’m happier when I’m off in a book. Story is important but so are characters and every once in a while an author surprises me with their grammar, syntax and language. I have to admit that one of my guiltiest pleasures is needing a dictionary or a thesaurus to look up an unknown word. I love it so much!

March is Arts and Crafts Month at Bookmans and I’m not the only lady who’s noticed the “cool” factor of crafting, quilting, knitting and all kinds of do-it-yourself projects in the alternative, third-wave feminist, punk grrrl community.

Steampunk, Bookmans Universe! This past weekend Bookmans Speedway played host to David Lee Summers, an amazing and imaginative steampunk author.

Chicks with Picks feature female musicians from throughout Phoenix on the third Thursday of each month. Bookmans fortunately snagged a monthly performance with the freshest talent around. This month we hosted 14 year old Spencer Ann Bryant whose business card (that’s right this 14 year-old has a business card) indicates she’s a singer, songwriter and musician, but after meeting her in person, it's clear she’s so much more.

Good day Bookmans world! Thanks for coming out and meeting some incredible animals! Volunteers from Arizona Greyhound Rescue were on hand to answer questions and introduce you to some amazing creatures. Volunteer opportunities, adoption and much more. This is a great organization and Bookmans loves the Greyhounds! They will visit us again from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday March 26! Find us on Flickr to check out more pics. PeaceLove

Our beloved Nancy hosted a Valentine's theme Papercraft where participants could make various items such as picture frame books, table settings and personalized cards. The sky was the limit. Nancy gave us the supplies, we supplied the creativity! One of the best parts was the surprise gift at the end. Not only was there a door prize, but there was one for everyone!

Last weekend Bookmans Mesa offered the opportunity to discover A New You through two days of pampering yourself. We provided the massages, healthy but lucious snacks and some ear candy. You provided the resolve to treat yourself right in 2011!

Most people use the New Year as a reason to set goals for themselves and hope that within those next 365 days, they will emerge a new person and maybe even hope to learn something along the way. We find it inspiring to raise the bar just a bit higher and not just better ourselves, but better our community and state as a whole by working together. January didn’t just mark the New Year for us, but gave us a new chance to promote Local First Arizona’s new SHIFT campaign. Local First promotes the fact that shopping locally can improves our home and its economy by keeping money re-circulating within Arizona and increasing our tax revenue. Recently, they’ve released the idea of shifting spending, your shopping and your sourcing, away from big chain retailers and towards locally owned and operated businesses.

Hours after A.J. Odneal's performance, customers continued to ask us about her and how they could download her music. Thanks to Chicks with Picks and Ear Candy, Bookmans Phoenix presents one free live performance each third Thursday of the month. This month we welcomed A.J. She brought along her gorgeous guitar with mother-of-pearl detail and took us by storm for two hours with a powerful musical performance. A.J.'s strong and beautiful voice had the entire sales floor in shock and awe!

Hello Bookmans Universe! Fitness gurus, farming, massage, Reiki and acupuncture were among the organizations that participated in our A New You Wellness Fair at Bookmans Speedway! These organizations have made it their purpose to help better people and the earth through fitness, nutrition and the human touch.

Tucson Village Farms is a cosponsor of our upcoming Green Fest!

All aboard! By now, everyone is quite familiar with the Chris Van Allsburg classic picture book The Polar Express and every year we are anxious to invite back Mike, a real-life train conductor on the Grand Canyon Railway who turns his average train into a Polar Express experience every year, including a trip to the North Pole and a special visit from Santa. The conductor and his helper Lindsey (a chef on the train) drove hundreds of miles to visit Bookmans Phoenix this and every December for a special reading of the book for our community kids.

We packed December with Holiday happenings at Bookmans Mesa.

What better way to get in that holiday spirit than to climb aboard for a storytelling ride on the Polar Express! Mike the conductor and the chef from the Grand Canyon Railway took us on a heartwarming adventure that follows a doubting boy who takes an extraordinary train ride to the North Pole, embarking on a journey of self-discovery that shows him the wonder of life never fades for those who believe. Eating Santa's favorite cookies and sipping hot chocolate, you could almost feel the chills on those mountain peaks. Do you believe? Everyone who did was rewarded with a silver bell from the sleigh of Santa himself!

Find us on Flickr for more photos of our Polar Express visit.

Glenda and her wonderful storytellers stopped by on Saturday to release their new storyteller CD and to share their wonderfull stories with the Bookmans universe. Glenda Bonin has been performing for more than 30 years and has made her living as a storyteller since 1996. She was born in Wyoming, raised in Oregon and currently lives in Arizona. Her group of incredible storytellers told stories from their CD and the adventures they have had in storytelling.

Last Thursday night was our second installment of live music brought to you by Ear Candy and Chicks with Picks. We welcomed local high school musician Lauren Black for a special in store performance that included everything from holiday tunes, original music by Ms. Black herself and covers by some of her favorite artists. She even got her cousin in on the action with a song that she played guitar to while her cousin sang.

We’re teaming up with the local organization Chicks with Picks to bring you informative classes and live performances every third Thursday! To kick things off the valley band Star Unknown provided us with an awesome show in our music department this Thursday. The band consists of Lindsay Lombard on vocals and violin and Anthony Ciarleglio on guitar and bass. The two have been rocking out together for over three years after meeting on Craigslist, of all places. While Anthony has a musical background Lindsay just recently discovered her singing talent and is sharing it with the world. The two were so harmonious together that our customers stopped in their tracks to sit down for the special performance.

Our beloved cashier Nancy lead yet another of our ever popular Bookmans Craft Workshops this past weekend at Bookmans Mesa. Nancy is a master of... well, everything, but she specializes in scrapbooking, craft papers and altered art. This month she hosted a project she called Holiday Tags. Holiday Tags are a way of personalizing that perfect gift to someone in a fun and creative way using various items.

Think Black Friday falls only the day after Thanksgiving? Not so!

The first week of December has been exciting here at Bookmans Mesa. For an entire week we hosted "Broken Black Friday". What kind of goofy thing is Broken Black Friday? It is our annual art show where employees take items from their own department which are broken, torn up, and seemingly have no use left, and upcycle them into works of art to display for the holidays.

Science Fiction and music ruled the day at Bookmans Mesa last Saturday. We started off with Mos Eisley Base, the Arizona branch of the Rebel Legion, an international Star Wars costuming organization. Benefiting Relay For Life, they posed for pictures, told stories and answered costuming questions. Everyone from Princess Leia to Yoda to Imperial Troopers were here. What? Were there droids? Of course there were! They featured a fully-functional R2-D2 unit that strolled throughout the store chirping and beeping. That was truly amazing! Thank you to Mos Eisley Base for coming out, the Force was truly with us!

Every Friday our ongoing children's music program Tunes for Tots meets at Bookamsn Grant for tons of tuneful fun. Lately, we've been having so much fun I had to share it! We had a hoot Fricay, November 12 as we sang along to some of our traditional faves (Shake Your Sillies Out, Hokey Pokey, Wheels on the Bus), played finger puppet theater (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Baby Bumble Bee) and shook our shakers 'til we were all shooked out! We hope you can join us in the future for more fiddlin' fun!

Lots of Tricks and plenty of Treats! October 30, Bookmans Speedway hosted our annual Family Halloween Party. Magic, candy and costumes! Patrick the Magician dazzled us with his spooky magic show! He made a bunny appear out of thin air, turned a tiny piece of gum into the longest starchiest piece of bubble gum you ever saw and made coins appear and disappear right before our eyes! All the children filled up their sacks with tons of candy and lined up for pictures and a costume contest! Thanks to all who came down and partied with us for Halloween! What a blast! The costumes were amazing! It was hard to pick winners, they were all so awesome!

Find us on Flickr to check out the pictures from the event! See you next year! PeaceLove

Hokey smokes and alakazaam! We sure had a sweet time at our Halloween Hootenanny! It's days like this that have us feeling that cool, electric, Fall Festive Feeling! Mrs. Witchway whisked into Bookmans Grant weilding her mighty facepainting flourishes and had all the kids looking extra special in their crazy costumes and funny faces. She even popped out a couple of scare-rific balloon black cats! And the fun was just starting as she (and her puppet pal) spun tale after tale of specacular spookiness! Kids and adults alike were thrilled. Next we played a game of Cat's Eye (pin the eye on the cat), Spooky Pokey (the Hokey Pokey, but creepier) and gathered up our noise makers to prepare for the Groovy Ghoul Parade! Man, did we make some noise! We creepy crawled our way through the store sounding like an old Halloween record played backwards! We screeched, howled and boo'd our way to the front only to mob our Mummy host for a treat at the end! Boo! You had to be there!

Thanks to all of you who made the first Groovy Ghoul's Day Parade a HUGE hit and don't eat those wax lips, K? See you next year for more spooktacular fun! Yiiieeee! Find us on Flickr for more ghoulish images from the Bookmans Grant Halloween Hootenanny!

For the truly brave at heart Bookmans Mesa celebrated All Things Creepy this Saturday with our annual Halloween Festival of Fright. What is the Festival of Fright you ask? Well if you didn't make it to this store-wide event, man, did you miss out! Patrons were greeted at the door by the maniacal Dr. Eggbert. Dr. Eggbert is not your typical scientist, his love of candy, love of chickens, and his high pitched cackle would appear to the average person as true madness. This good Dr. took evil delight in passing out eyeballs, discussing his latest science experiments, and handing out special edition store maps that led victims, er, people throughout the store to frightful places of interest. If they dared....

This past Saturday, Bookmans Ina was treated to a visit by Lisa Dembowski from the Postal History Foundation. She brought thousands of stamps with her and set-up a couple of fun crafts that were enjoyed by kids and parents alike. As you should know, October is National Stamp Collecting month and Lisa was on hand to drop some knowledge about the history of the postal service. In addition to many historical stamps, she also brought with her the very first stamp every produced. Known as The Penny Black, it comes from Great Britain and features a representation of Queen Elizabeth.

Last Friday night, Tony McMillen took us on an adventure we won't soon forget (the fact that he ended his performance in his skivvies pretty much guaranteed it, but I digress)! Tony showed up to perform his You Are a Suicide Sex Bomb with a bow tie and guitar in hand. What the hell are we talking about? Well, Tony had this concept where he wanted to recreate the old Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories but for adults and with the audience getting to participate and choose.

It was a craft-tastic day at Bookmans Mesa. Our very own Music Manager Megan hosted the Dia de los Muertos Workshop, where participants had the opportunity to decorate and embellish prayer candles to honor this festive holiday.

This Saturday had us celebrating Stamp Collecting Month with a cool presentation by Lisa Dembowski from the Postal History Foundation! We learned about the history of stamps and their origination. We also learned about all the modes of transporatation the USPS has used over the years. We got our very own stamp books and got to fish through a huge trunk of stamps to put in our new books too!

Thanks again, Lisa! See ya next week at our Speedway store!

Check out Bookmans on Flickr for photos from Lisa's presentation at our Grant store.

Hey Bookmans Universe! Check this out! 9 Queens and Bookmans held the first ever 9 Queens Family Chess Experience right here at the Speedway store! There were pick-up games, puzzles and prizes and much chess fun was had. Thank you 9 queens! Lets do it again! It was a chessrific event!

Find us on Flickr to check out the pictures from the event! PeaceLove

Paul Sprawl has his own approach to music, the guitar, songwriting, and to finding an audience for his work. He sprouted a small national following by traveling around in a van going to open mics. His songs combine percussive guitar techniques with bottleneck, tapping, harmonica on a rack, and songs of the downtrodden and forgotten. He travels with a truck-stop guide next to the driver's seat, has a college arts education and put out six CD's in seven years. One of those stops was right here in Bookmans on Speedway. Paul Sprawl delighted us with an afternoon of incredible music! Thanks Paul and all those who came out to listen!

This month's "Altered Art" workshop at Bookmans Mesa focused on our banned book month and featured paper sewn bookmarks. Hosted by our very own magnificent music manager, Megan, attendees were able to take the idea of a plain old bookmark and express themselves, to classy up their favorite page turner.

Metal, mosh pits and head banging. Oh my! HEAVY METAL! September is Fight Censorship month here at Bookmans and last Friday we had an event for you. All things metal were celebrated during this magazine release party!

AZ Chihuahua Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all volunteer organization. Their purpose is to rescue, rehabilitate and place chihuahuas into stable, loving homes. To educate the public about the responsibilities of chihuahua ownership in an attempt to alleviate the problem of unwanted pets and to build public awareness about the human-animal bond and its benefits to society.

Sunday at Bookmans Mesa, we had muggles, magic, and much, much, more. In honor of Fight Censorship Month at Bookmans, we held a Harry Potter party. (Did you know Harry Potter was banned?)

We started by gathering everyone in a circle and let each participant reach in the sorting hat to get sorted by house names. Everyone who drew a house received a special edition house/Bookmans lanyard to commemorate this awesome day. After everyone had been sorted by their houses, the party kicked into gear!

Hello Bookmans universe! Last Friday, August 27th, Southern Arizona Beagle Rescue (SoAZBR) brought a few special guests to Bookmans on Speedway for a meet and greet. SoAZBR is a charitable, non-profit, 501(c)(3), all-volunteer organization dedicated to Beagle and Beagle-mix dog rescue. They provide education on the breed and general animal welfare. Additionally, they actively promote spay and neuter programs and the "No Kill" philosophy. They also provide education, training, and referral services for families hoping to find a new home for their beagle.

We ain’t afraid of no ghosts, at least not with the Arizona Ghostbusters around! The local costume fan club drew a huge crowd at Bookmans Phoenix as part of our annual Movie Madness Month. The club impressively makes their own outfits, weapons and accessories and trot around the valley volunteering their time and efforts in order to raise money for various charities. Every year, the AZ Ghostbusters team with the Step Out to Fight Diabetes Walk and join the thousands of other supporters across the country who participates in this sponsored walk to promote diabetes awareness, prevention and cure. The team came out promoting their walk as well as to hang for a few hours with our anxious customers.

Hey everyone! Steve McCine, the creator of DDMAU, was in our store with another DDMAU workshop. Prizes and giveaways, fun and instruction on how to play this  fast paced, family fun card game. Like UNO on steriods, you get rid of your cards by playing on suits or numbers. Skip and hit players across the table. Lay down runs. Go out with big points. Don't get caught with the DeckMaster or you could be the dealer for a while! Hours and hours of fun for families and friends! One more workshop will be held here on Saturday September 4th from 11am - 3pm. Steve is getting ready for the big DDMAU tournament on September 18th, 2010. Check out the DDMAU website for more details on that.

Who you gonna call? We called the Arizona Ghostbusters to help us raise awareness for the American Diabetes Association! And that is exactly what they did. In between busting ghosts, these guys took some time to stop by and hang out with Ann from ADA here at Bookmans Speedway. With picture taking and book stacking contest, these guys were a ton of fun and we can't wait to have them back. Hey, seen a ghost? Call the Arizona Ghostbusters! Check out some sweet pictures from this event! 

Customers came up up and away to Bookmans today to celebrate our first Super Hero Day! As part of our Movie Madness month in August, we decided to tie on the capes and squeeze into spandex to honor our favorite super heroes of all time. If you stepped into the store this afternoon, you may have felt like you were entering a mini-comicon with all of the costumes on both our grownup and tiny customers. We met Death Pool from the Arizona Avengers, Bat Girl, mini Kick-Butt, Batman, mini Hit Girl, Ninja Boy, The Flash, and Neo from the Matrix today, all of whom looked fantastic in their costumes.

During Movie Madness Month, Bookmans Grant is welcoming local filmmakers into our stores to give them some exposure and to show off their wares. On Wednesday, August 11, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. we're welcoming Jeremy Schliewe & Ben Manker-Seale to show us a series of short films, including selections from the series Lowbrow Hipster.

Thursday, August 19, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., join us in welcoming welcoming Ben Thomas, with his short film 7:01, a short film about a manipulative drug dealer whose karma comes back to haunt her.

"Shaken, not stirred" was the saying of the day as our customers enjoyed martinis and casino games in the store today. Like something straight out of a James Bond movie, we had a roulette table and a vivacious young woman serving mocktails (made to look like a martini, but actually just lemonade). To celebrate Movie Madness Month we decided to pay tribute to celluloid's favorite secret agent. In addition to drinks and games, we had a screening of James Bond's first film adventure, Dr. No. Rounding out the event was James Bond trivia, with the winner getting a trade credit and a Bookmans t-shirt! It was a ton of fun and it's still early in the month so be on the lookout for other Movie Madness events at all the Bookmans locations, including a screening of The Dark Knight at The Loft later this month.

For pictures of our Casino Royale check out our Flickr page!

Today may have been the last summer kids event for the year but we went out with a bang! To get us ready for the upcoming school year, Bookmans Mesa hosted a back-to-school party. What better way to get us ready for the upcoming year than by decorating book covers made from recyclable material that you can use all year long? Little ones had the opportunity to color school related coloring pages, enter a raffle for awesome school supplies which ranged from Spiral notebooks, to colored pencils, pencil cases, Bookmans tote bags and much more!

Teacher, teacher! We had the greatest time today at Bookmans Grant Back-To-School Party! Mother Goose enthralled us with her fun stories, face painting and games! We all looked forward to a new school year and were well-equipped with some cool new supplies. We even had apples for the teacher! Thanks to everyone for coming out and check out the pics here!

A group of local authors who go by the collective name, Gecko Gals Ink, came by the store last Saturday to do a signing and the response was quite favorable. The Gecko Gals Ink are local authors Mary Ann Hutchison, Jude Johnson, Ashleen O'Gaea, Carol Costa, and D.H. Palmer. Covering everything from adult historical fiction to spirituality, the gals are a very eclectic mix and were a lot of fun to have in the store. Be sure to check out their signing at the Speedway location on Saturday, August 28! We hope to see you there.

For some pictures of the gals check out our Flickr page

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Hello everyone! Today is the last day of Dog Days of Summer and to celebrate our fuzzy friends, the Humane Society of Southern Arizona was in the store with dogs and information on how you can be a hero to an animal in need of a good home. At today's event a dog was adopted! Santa Claus was here taking pictures with people's pooches and hanging out with the kids! Thanks to the Humane Society and Santa for making this event amazing. Check out all of the great pictures on Flickr.

The Mandalorian Mercs have stepped out of their Star Wars world and into Bookmans Phoenix for a special Star Wars story time as part of our summer kids events. We’ve asked the Mercs to come in and read some of their favorite kids books to our eagerly awaiting tiny customers. They chose two Star Wards picture books and a couple other animal-related books in honor of animal month in July to read aloud.

Music hour is so much fun--every last Tuesday of the month we gather all our recyclable stuff meet in the kids corner and make instruments! Beans, toilet & paper towel rolls, coffee cans, yogurt containers, rice and plastic bottles are just a few of the recyclable things we use to make our instruments. Put beans in a balloon, then blow it up, and it makes a great thunder sound! Check out the good times that were had making recycled instruments on Flickr!

Hello Bookmans universe! Scott K. was here in the store today displaying his beautiful photos of Tucson, surrounding areas and Hawaii. His prints are available for purchase here at the Bookmans on Speedway. If you like landscape photography you will love Scott's work. Check out some of the beautiful pictures on Flickr.