BLUE VOYAGE launched yesterday, and I had the first of two release parties! This was the Afternoon Edition, held at a new bookstore in Plainville, MA called An Unlikely Story. Plainville is a small town about an hour’s drive from Boston, and it’s recently been on people’s radar because of An Unlikely Story.

I was thrilled to make this road trip because this shiny new bookstore is getting a lot of great buzz. It was created by local author Jeff Kinney (yes, that’s the one — of Wimpy Kid fame!). You can read a great article about the store’s inception here — it’s a fascinating account of how a derelict building was repurposed for this outstanding bookstore / community hub, and how a bookstore can potentially transform a community.

My son is a HUGE Wimpy Kid fan, so when I suggested taking him out of school and coming to this after school release party with me, he didn’t raise any objections! We had no guarantee that Jeff Kinney would actually be there — it can be hit or miss, say friends who have done events there — but I thought even seeing this place Jeff had created would be a great experience for my son. (more…)