Beware of Harry Potter party poopers.

Joci Tilsen, owner of the Valley Bookseller, Stillwater, Minn., told the Pioneer Press she discovered the hard way that "companies holding rights to the boy wizard have rules--and are quick to enforce them."

Tilsen had planned to charge admission for her store's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows event, but "J.K. Rowling's agent found us on the Internet and informed Time Warner and Scholastic," she said. "We had been charging for our party, and that was in violation of the guidelines. So we have restructured our party, and it is now free with the purchase of a book from us." She added that she "was told we were not alone in being called to task for it."

Amy Baum of the Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, Minn., said, "The guidelines have forced us to be very cautious. Even the naming of the event is challenging." In fact, the Pioneer Press reported that "bookstore staffers say they are wary of using terms they think Warner Bros. owns, such as muggle."

Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, Ill., adjusted to the strict guidelines in an appropriately mysterious way by calling its HP7 event The Party That Shall Not Be Named. The bookshop's website even includes a disclaimer: "This event is not endorsed, sanctioned or in any other way supported, directly or indirectly, by Warner Bros. Entertainment, the Harry Potter book publishers, or J. K. Rowling and her representatives."

---
 
Bookselling This Week profiles New York City's Tenement Museum, which offers 1,500 titles in its Museum Shop and regularly puts on book-related events. "Even though we're attached to the museum, we'd still like to be considered one of the best bookshops in New York," Helene Silver, v-p and director, told BTW.

Because so many ethnic groups lived in the Lower East Side at different points, the shop covers a broad range of subjects. "It permits us to have a section on Jewish interest, Irish interest, Italian interest, Scandinavian interest, German interest . . ." Silver said. "People come here to learn a little more about their roots."

New assistant director Amanda Lydon, formerly manager of Good Yarns Bookshop, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., is "the first real book person we've had," Silver added.

---

BTW also celebrates the 30th anniversary of the 6,000-sq.-ft. Ninth Street Book Shop, Wilmington, Del., founded by former teachers Jack and Gemma Buckley. The couple have adapted to a sickly downtown retail environment by reducing the title base and stocking fewer business books and more fiction, among other changes. "We still manage to have the right book for people," Jack Buckley said. "We're careful watchers [of our inventory], and we're good at getting stuff back on the shelf. We also do a lot of out-of-print searches."

Jack Buckley is a member of the board of directors of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and the couple have been very active in defending First Amendment rights by posting petitions and participating in the test of the ABFFE/Book Sense gift cards.

---

Shades of Stephen King and PGW.

Larry Portzline, the founder of bookstore tourism, is planning a 50-state, 10-week tour of independent bookstores to "raise consumer awareness of independent bookstores and celebrate the indie spirit." Portzline's "Why Indie Bookstores Matter" tour will begin next year on April 1 (no fooling!) and include visits to at least 200 stores. Mr. Bookstore Tourism will drive across the continental U.S. and fly to Alaska and Hawaii.

At each store, Portzline will interview owners, booksellers and customers and post updates, pictures and podcasts on the tour's blog. At the end of the trip, he plans to write a book about the tour.

Portzline is seeking sponsorships to help pay for the trip and suggesting that fans "make a donation and ride along . . . for a day or two." For more information, go to whyindiebookstoresmatter.com. 

---

Barnes & Noble, which in 2005 closed a store at 5001 Jericho Turnpike in Commack, N.Y., is returning to the neighborhood. In July 2008, the company plans to open a store in the Huntington Square Shopping Center at 400 East Jericho Turnpike.

---

Borders plans to open a 24,540-sq.-ft. store in the Holyoke Mall in Holyoke, Mass., in November. The mall is located at the intersection of I-90 and I-91. 

---

Effective Monday, July 9, the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association is moving. Its new address is: 959 E. Walnut St., Suite 220, Pasadena, Calif. 91106. SCIBA's other contact information remains the same: 626-793-8435; fax 626-792-1402; scbabooks.org.

---

Congratulations to the Globe Corner Bookstores, Cambridge, Mass., and online, whose spring travel narrative and armchair travel bestseller list appears in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, dated June 29. The store's travel guide bestseller list is available at globecorner.com/bestsellers.html.

--- 

Something to nosh on: Our mention of Books & Books' Food for Thought series in Thursday's issue inadvertently chewed up one of the titles featured in the book group-lunch program. The Last Flight of Jose Luis Balboa (Mariner, $12, 9780618658862/0618658866), a collection of short stories set in Miami, was written by Gonzalo Barr and is a Bakeless Literary Prize winner. Francine Prose was the judge and wrote a foreword for the book, which was published last September. Our apologies!

---

In connection with its recent conference "Tools of Change for Publishing," O'Reilly has launched a blog on the topic--check out the tool at toc4p.com, an offshoot of the company's Radar blog.

Incidentally O'Reilly is planning to hold a second Tools of Change conference in February in New York City.

---

Costco book buyer Pennie Clark Ianniciello has chosen One for the Money (St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95, 9780312362089/0312362080), Janet Evanovich's first in the Stephanie Plum series, as July's book pick. She has highlighted the title in the current issue of Costco Connection, which goes to many of the warehouse club's members.

"What could be tastier than rereading Janet Evanovich's One for the Money?" Ianniciello wrote. "She introduces readers to the brassy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum--who happens to be out of work and money. Evanovich delivers laughs and clever prose with each novel. I guarantee that if you love the first in this series, now up to a respectable 13, you'll love them all."
 

Ratatouille, written and directed by Brad Bird, opened in theaters on Friday and took in $47.2 million over the weekend. The story follows a young rat (voice by Patton Oswalt) living in a famous Paris bistro. Despite his own family's doubts and the bistro's rat-despising staff, he wishes to become a chef. Movie tie-ins include The Art of Ratatouille by Karen Paik (Chronicle Books, $40, 9780811858342/ 0811858340), Ratatouille: The Guide to Remy's World (DK Publishing, $12.99, 9780756629915/0756629918) and several children's books published by Disney.

---

Transformers, directed by Michael Bay, opens in theaters tomorrow. This likely summer blockbuster based on the cartoon and toys popular in the 1980s chronicles the war between two robot factions, the heroic Autobots and the wicked Decepticons, and the fate of humans caught in the middle. Transformers: The Movie Guide by Simon Furman (DK Children, $17.99, 9780756630133/ 0756630134) is now available.

This morning on Good Morning America: Ian McEwan, author of On Chesil Beach (Nan A. Talese, $22, 9780385522403/0385522401).

---

Today on the Diane Rehm show: Wendy Shalit, author of Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good (Random House, $25.95, 9781400064731/14000647320).

---

Tonight on Charlie Rose: Günter Grass, whose new memoir/novel is Peeling the Onion (Harcourt, $26, 9780151014774/0151014779).

---

Tonight on the Colbert Report, a repeat: Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith With Our Values in a Dangerous World (Perseus, $25.95, 9780465078080/0465078087).

 

A very proud David Steinberger, CEO of Perseus Books, owner of Running Press, gave us the skinny on Skinny Bitch by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman ($13.95, 9780762424931/0762424931). The title, which first appeared at the end of 2005 and has continued to sell steadily despite some problems stemming from its name, will slither onto the New York Times paperback advice list at #4 this coming Sunday.

Subtitled "a no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous," the book is by a former model and a former agent for Ford Models, respectively, who live in Los Angeles and work with models, actors and athletes.

Although Skinny Bitch is "enormously entertaining and reads terrifically," Steinberger said, because of its title, tone and certain words used in it, Running Press has had "tremendous challenges getting it carried by many accounts and covered in mainstream media." Warehouse clubs and ID accounts in particular haven't cozied up to Skinny Bitch; by contrast, independent and chain bookstores have been reliable sellers of the book.

Word of mouth and several unexpected publicity hits have helped boost sales lately--and pushed the book onto bestseller lists. In the U.K., for one, Posh Spice aka Victoria Beckham, David Beckham's wife, was pictured in the press carrying the book, which "created a huge sensation there." And in June, one of the authors was on the E! channel here.

Skinny Bitch has 150,000 copies in print and is out of stock at wholesalers, Steinberger said. "It's been the kind of book made the old fashioned way--by word of mouth and real bookstores selling the book and without national media or non bookselling accounts," he added.

Sales have been bitchin' enough for the authors to cook up their second book: Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: Kick-Ass Solutions for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap (And Start Looking Hot!) (Running Press, $13.95, 9780762431069/0762431067) struts its stuff this coming December 10.--Fat Bastard John Mutter

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at BookSense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

The Best of Friends: Two Women, Two Continents, and One Enduring Friendship by Sara James and Ginger Mauney (Morrow, $24.95, 9780060779481/0060779489). "Almost every woman I know has a friend like this--someone you met in grade school and have kept up with for years and years even though your lives may have taken very different tracks. Sitting down to read about the friendship and adventures of the authors over time and across the world was like a visit with that old friend. And if you've lost touch, it's the perfect gift to spark a reconnection."--Jenny Stroyeck, the Homer Bookstore, Homer, Alaska

The Baby Lottery by Kathryn Trueblood (Permanent Press, $28, 9781579621513/1579621511). "Trueblood has written a beautiful novel about five women entering their 40s and discovering fault lines and continental drift where there once was easy collegiate friendship. She explores hot topics--abortion, child-raising, divorce--but the real beauty is in the writing, graceful, with startling metaphors that unexpectedly pop up, like land mines."--Rem Ryals, Village Books, Bellingham, Wash.

Paperback

The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell (Harvest, $14, 9780156027137/0156027135). "This story of a family separated by war remains a book group favorite. Readers are intrigued by the period detail (pre-WWII Shanghai, 1940s California) and moved by the relationship between Anna and her father. Because the novel is structured as a memoir, the narrative has a captivating immediacy."--Marian Nielsen, Orinda Books, Orinda, Calif.

For Ages 4 to 8

Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie by Joel Stewart (Holiday House, $16.95, 9780823420681/082342068X). "Dexter has the misfortune of riding his scooter into a hungry (but rather bored) Big Blue Beastie. Fortunately, Dexter is calmly resourceful and distracts the beast with a series of increasingly entertaining joint ventures, resulting in friendship. The artwork is typically wonderful Stewart, with full, saturated colors and a playful line. More, please!"--Tina Kugler, Tweedle Bros. Children's Bookshop, Manitowoc, Wis.

Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vaccaro Seeger (Roaring Brook, $12.95, 9781596430532/1596430532). "I instantly fell in love with these two little characters: an eager, playful dog and his best friend, a sensitive, soft-spoken teddy bear. The three stories and charming illustrations celebrate friendship in a refreshing and gentle way. Seeger has created a new set of pals I hope to see more of in the future."--Emily D'Amour, Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]

Imagine a remote, superstition-gripped village in the mountains of Albania clinging to such a steep slope that when drunks fall off the sidewalk, they land on someone's roof. That's the setting of Ismail Kadare's Chronicle in Stone, newly updated, revised and published in a full version for the first time in English. The wonder-filled little town is based on Kadare's Balkan childhood home, Gjirokastër. Here witchcraft is a practical concern, eyeglasses are considered shocking and the severed arm of an English pilot can become a sacred relic.

Under Italian rule, then Greek rule, now German rule, the village has characters that loom as mythic figures in the eyes of the near-sighted boy narrator, whose whimsical imagination struggles to understand a world of resistance fighting and Allied bombing, a world where a girl who kisses a boy in public can disappear forever.

Because Albanian is unrelated to any language spoken in modern Europe, at first glance, the characters' names make you feel you've stumbled into a science fiction novel. But this only increases the humanity of the delightful characters you grow to love: Selfixhe, the matriarch grandmother who foretells the coming war from chicken bones; Kako Pino, the bridal makeup artist ("People never stop getting married"); Llukan the Jailbird who protests the opening of the jail and freeing of the prisoners; Argjir Argjiri, half-man and half-woman, who scandalizes the town by getting married; and Dino Cico, the mad inventor, with his fuel-less wooden airplane that will save Albania. And there are more: the teacher who steals local cats for dissection and the boy who searches neighborhood wells for the body of the girl he was caught kissing. This fascinating, alien world lives by its own laws.

Kadare is a world-class novelist, now 70, a Nobel Prize candidate and winner of the first Booker International prize. He's written more than 50 books, many of which are available in French (he now lives in France), only a few in English. Some of them are politically complicated and historical and symbolic. This one isn't. It's a narrative banquet, a chain of one brilliant, warm-hearting scene after another, all linked together and told by a shy, bright kid who's fallen in love with Macbeth. It's in the tradition of Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and David Mitchell (Black Swan Green), a childhood world re-created in literature so completely it becomes an entire little universe the reader can return to again and again. This loving tribute to his childhood is like nothing I've ever read before. It's a polished, many-faceted autobiographical jewel laced with horror and humor, compassion and a goofy childhood imagination. Welcome to Albania.

Some commentators quibble about Kadare's political affiliations. Sure, in a Communist country, he gave communism lip service. Kadare didn't have an option. An author says as much as he can get away with and still stay alive to write more. "The writer is the natural enemy of dictatorship," says Kadare, and as you'll see in this simple, honest, child's view of a war-torn mountain town, no one side is completely right. Collaborators and partisans, revolutionaries and reactionaries, even the hated occupying Italians, all get a compassionate word from this superbly ironic commentator on the human comedy, Albanian-style.--Nick DiMartino