Tomorrow, May 22, is National Buy a Musical Instrument Day, and to celebrate, I thought it would be fun to highlight some Bethany House books that keep musical instruments front and center. Some of the main characters inside the pages are professional musicians and music teachers, others are amateurs. Either way, I hope you enjoy this collection, especially if you play an instrument yourself.

A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White

Both violin and bow are visible on this cover (barely), and we love how the instrument draws your attention to the thoughtful gaze of the Edwardian protagonist (and vice versa).

Morning’s Refrain by Tracie Peterson

Each book in Tracie’s Alaska Song series has a fun use of close-ups of instruments to frame the main scene, and we love the glint of silver from this flute.

Playing by Heart by Anne Mateer

This music instructor character doesn’t want to take on a teaching job, but we love the class the ornate piano adds to this historical romance cover.

A Note Yet Unsung by Tamera Alexander

Not only does this lovely Belmont mansion novel have a violin, but it also showcases a lovely orchestra performance hall in the background. You can almost hear the music!

Return to Me by Lynn Austin

Let’s go all the way back to ancient musical instruments for this shofar, a horn used in Old Testament times. Maybe not one you’d perform with today, but still cool, especially in silhouette!

The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

The difference between a violin and a fiddle is in how its played, and this particular fiddle plays an important part in the Amish community during the story.

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

So, this piano needs a little TLC, but you can almost hear its haunting melody on this atmospheric cover, can’t you?

What other covers can you think of that feature musical instruments, readers? And what instrument, if any, do you play?

This week is National Library Week, but since most libraries around the country are closed (or doing curbside pickup), I thought of an alternate way to celebrate. You, yes you, can pay homage to every reader’s favorite location by creating a temporary library in your home. Here are the simple steps to accomplishing this.

One: Name your library.

Honestly, library names are probably the least creative aspect of their existence. Usually, it’s the town/community followed by “Library,” which is great for clarity, but not for hinting at the epic wonder just beyond their doors. When naming your library, I suggest the following process:

The [Column 1] [Your Last Name or Street Name] [Column 2] [Column 3]

Column 1

Astounding
Literary
Incredible
Maze-Like
Vast

Column 2

Treasure Trove
Knowledge Repository
Novel Archive
Reader Haven
Book Fortress

Column 3

Of Unending Merit
From Ages Past
To Preserve Wisdom for the Future
Portal to New Worlds
With Volumes Untold

Two: Choose a librarian.

The job qualifications are that this person must be patient, organized, and know basically everything, from where to find books for a school report on termites to the title of that one mystery a patron saw last year with yellow on the cover. Memorizing the Dewey Decimal system is optional, but recommended.

Three: More books. More bookshelves.

A pandemic is a great time to stock up on essential reading supplies. (If you’re an ebook reader, we love you and your method is totally valid, but possibly lacking in the “homey library aesthetic” department.) If a member of your household questions your new practice, it’s time to bring out your “There’s No Such Thing As Too Many Books” speech. (I hope you have one. If not, let me know and I’ll let you borrow mine, just know there’s an interpretive dance with lots of frantic gestures at the end of paragraph five.)

Four: Create your own library card.

In fact, make an application process. I always thought it was crazy that the only thing you had to do to get access to the knowledge of the ages was live in a community. Such unfathomable riches should only lie at the end of an arduous quest! My suggested questions for an application include:

• Please describe your treatment plan for the care and keeping of paperbacks, in detail and with footnotes.
• How often, if ever, have you: left a book out in the rain? Colored/written in a book (childhood counts)? Folded a page to mark your place? Lost a library book by leaving it on top of your family’s car at a rest stop in Georgia and driving away, then crying for a half hour afterward until your mom told you it would find another reader? (Maybe that one’s just me.)
• If we tallied up your past overdue fine history, how many minutes/hours/days in Disney World could we buy once it reopens?

Five: Create fun programs.

On the basic Storytime level, I am 100% in favor of reading books out loud, whether you have kids or not. (My friends and I are reading a P. G. Wodehouse novel over Zoom right now. Our British accents are terrible, and the entire experience has been fantastic.) But you can up your game by imitating the library’s craft nights, guest speakers (get everyone in your home to teach the rest of the household a “skill”), writing contests, puppet shows, and rocket launches. (What, your library hasn’t started those yet? I figured it was about time since they do just about everything else…)

Six: Promote reading in every way you can.

Whether you recommend books to friends or donate to a Little Free Library in your neighborhood; if you encourage an author or give kids page-turners for Christmas; whenever you leave a review or join a book club; every act of literary citizenship is something your real library would approve of.

Seven: Be traditional, yet cutting-edge; scheduled, yet flexible; focused, yet versatile; organized, yet welcoming; and generally helpful and accessible to all kinds of people in all stages of life.

You can do that, right? Because libraries sure do!

In all seriousness, as I think about everything libraries are to us, it makes me more excited for the day when they’ll be open again. If you’re a librarian, thank you for all you do to serve our communities! We’ll see you soon.

In the meantime, I’ve got to open up the Vast France Avenue Book Fortress of Unending Merit.

Using our handy tool, what would you name your in-home library?

In the midst of all of the stressful news about cancellations and shut-downs, here are some pieces of good news from Bethany House:

• Our nonfiction teams are putting together a list of ebook specials on books related to prayer and anxiety to help people who might be reaching out for hope in a stressful time.
• It’s been fun to see readers sharing online about using responsible social distancing practices to catch up on their reading.
• Some authors have emailed me letting me know that being freed from social obligations might give them what they need to meet a deadline without pulling their hair out.
• Others are updating us with prayer requests for additional concerns in their lives right now, from at-risk family members to kids unexpectedly home from school and making uninterrupted writing time harder to sadness over canceled research trips. That may seem like bad news, but it’s a great chance to encourage each other and pray for one another.
• And, last but not least…We’re hosting our first-ever Bethany House virtual game night, and you’re invited!

Many of our fiction authors wanted to do something fun and cooperative given all that’s going on in the world right now, while still encouraging everyone to be safe. So even though in-person author chats may be cancelled, you can stop by the Discussion tab of our Facebook event tonight, March 19, at 7 PM Central to play a few online games hosted by our authors.

We’ll be giving away books (or book retailer gift cards), challenging our brains (a little), and laughing (a lot) as we play word games, trivia games, and drawing games together. Hope to see you there!

If you’re interested in more game-related fun, Jaime Jo Wright is putting together a landing page for COVID-19 Boredom Survival, including a list of board games you can play virtually that I compiled based on years of experience living ten hours away from my game-loving family. Be sure to check it out!

Do you have a creative approach for fighting boredom during COVID-19 downtime?

Okay, so it may be too late for you to drop hints about what you really want for Valentine’s Day, but these romantic gifts could be great anytime. Or just get them for a reading buddy…or yourself. All the best gifts are made better when you add in books!

(Not a disclaimer: Bethany House isn’t associated with any of these companies. These are just fun things someone on staff liked and recommended!)

One: Adorable Floral Page Flags

Girl of All Work has several other cute designs too, from cuddly animals to retro looks. Perfect if you’re keeping your spot in a book, marking great quotes, or (for authors) marking edits in a galley copy!

Two: Bookish Bath Products

I’m including my favorite, Lord of the Rings inspired, but check out the whole MacBath line, including Three Musketeers face masks, Anne of Green Gables rose bath bombs, and more!

Three: Jane Austen Mug

You really can’t go wrong with any Austen swag, but this mug has the added benefit of being practical and perfect for some afternoon tea…while enjoying some literary zingers and profound thoughts.

Four: Enneagram Valentines

The Enneagram personality test is all the rage these days for understanding others (and creating characters), and these pretty prints and Valentines are perfect for loved ones who are just your type.

Six: Literary Chocolate

It’s a Valentine’s classic…but with books! The packaging and the flavors are themed for some of your favorite novels at Open Book Chocolates. Yum!

Seven: Cozy Book Candles

Frostbeard Studios has a number of book-related scents, but this one sounds perfect for a February night with a blanket and a book.

What literary gifts have you loved, readers? Tell us about them!

There are lots of great conversations you can have with readers, but some of my favorites are about what makes us nostalgic. Whether it’s a childhood picture book memory or the bookstore that got away (aka isn’t in your hometown), I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

One: Book-It

If you weren’t one of the millions of kids who got a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for completing a reading goal, starting in 1984, I’m sorry for your joy-bereft childhood. You should sit down right now, make a monthly goal, and reward yourself with a greasy, cheesy, don’t-have-to-share-with-my-sister little slice of glory if you make it. Because this was the best reward program ever. Plus, the badges, am I right? So good.

Two: The First Read of Your Favorite Book/Series

Sure, you’ve re-read it, recommended it to friends, maybe seen the movie version a dozen times, and so on, but nothing beats the excitement of the first time you read a favorite book. Before you knew what would happen to the characters, back when every cliffhanger left you agonized (especially if there were years between releases in a series), to all the late nights reading “one more chapter.” Ah yes. If only we could time travel and re-experience that wonder. Sigh.

Three: Reading Contests

Whether it was run by your library over the summer to keep you off the streets or some elementary school achievement bribe, there’s something about checklists and competition that warms a reader’s heart. Like, okay, I can still read a stack of books now, but I won’t be able to put snobby Susie Accelerated Reader Queen in her place, edging her out in the last few days by binging a bunch of Nancy Drew mysteries. It’s just not the same level of satisfaction. Besides that, remember the prizes? Those multi-colored clicky pens, slap bracelets, yo-yos, erasers shaped like small animals, and all manner of plastic toys that broke the first recess you took them out. Real treasures, for sure.

Four: Beloved Original Copies

I’m not talking fancy first editions here, just the battered-and-scarred books that have seen a lot of love in their day and hold a place of honor on the bookshelf. Even if newer, cooler covers have come out, there’s something sentimental about the originals, even if the originals are falling apart at the spine. Like, okay, I know the words inside are the same and it shouldn’t make a difference, but seriously, what nonsense are the new cheap-animation-knockoff Boxcar Children covers? Heresy.

Five: PBS Book Programming

Whether you still have a hard time remembering that the main characters of all classic novels aren’t Jack Russell terriers or now have the Reading Rainbow theme song stuck in your head, PBS had some delightful book-themed shows. (Reading Rainbow retweeted one of the flowcharts I made for Bethany House about getting people books for Christmas, and it was one of the happier moments of my life.) If none of that resonates with you, just accept the fact that in Wishbone, a dog stars in reimagined classics with so many canine puns (Ivanhound, Frankenbone, Bone of Arc) and that LeVar Burton is the actual best. That’s all you need to know.

Six: Scholastic Book Fairs

Picture tables of books with shiny, colorful covers, all within arm’s reach, with the visual appeal of a candy store window full of those giant lollipops that no one can actual eat. There was the avenue of horse and puppy books with big round eyes begging you to adopt them. There were displays of absurdly gender-specific reads, including super gross potty humor titles and books about princesses with embossing or glitter. There were rows and rows of chapter books that made you feel like the Awesome Big Kid you totally were, because look, there’s only one black-and-white picture per chapter now! My school cleverly paired the book fair with Grandparent’s Day, because what grandma is not going to buy their precious angel a stack of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure survival books? (She was not, for the record, thrilled about the Captain Underpants trend.) Man. Those were the days.

Seven: Vacation Bookstore Visits

It seems like everyone has been on a trip where they find The Bookstore of Their Dreams. Whether it’s elegant and rambling with every book you could ever imagine or cozy and cramped with hilarious signs in the stacks, something about it makes you want to move in. Like, permanently. (And if you never visit bookstores on vacation, build it into your schedule, it’s the best.) Unfortunately, this near-mythical bookstore is too far away for regular visits, so you can only think wistfully of how much of your budget you’d spend on books if it was across the street instead of across the country, or even the world.

Eight: Iconic Children’s Book Characters

Bonus points if said character had a weird name, because let’s face it, you don’t get characters like Amelia Bedelia, Yertle the Turtle, Pippi Longstocking, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle in grown-up literature, which is a real shame. But seriously, forget the Internet fandoms over TV shows and such, I want to get into a hearty debate over whether the ending to Charlotte’s Web is more or less tragic than Where the Red Fern Grows. Or is Willy Wonka even a reasonable protagonist, or a thinly-veiled sociopath? And why is Goodnight, Moon a kids’ book when it is so deeply eerie? These are the real questions, guys.

Which of these makes you feel the most nostalgic? Tell us about it in the comments!

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m on constant Christmas surveillance to detect my favorite presents under the tree…books! After years of careful research, I’ve come up with some ways to be confident in my guessing abilities.

This is Amy Green, fiction publicist…and sneaky book-present detective. Here is my top-secret method for your instruction and use. Enjoy!

Okay, readers, what tips have you used to determine whether you have any book presents under the tree?

We here at Bethany House hope you are enjoying a day of joy and gratitude with the people closest to you…and that you count books among your list of blessings.