A dozen excited grown-ups took over the upstairs room at Mr. Mopps' Children's Books, Berkeley, Calif., on Sunday afternoon. Many had brought with them a children's picture book to read aloud to the group, and there was even some singing of sea shanties.
Picture Book Club is based on an idea from Chronicle editor Melissa Manlove: during the pandemic lockdown she started a Zoom version where industry professionals would meet once a week and read one another picture books for half an hour. Mr Mopp's manager Clare Doornbos discussed this idea with local picture book author Monica Wesolowska (Leo + Lea; Elbert in the Air) who agreed to help host the event.
Doornbos explained, "The pandemic, major changes at CALIBA and the disappearance of publisher author dinners from the West Coast have made it difficult to make new kidlit connections in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some people's brains start fizzing when they read a good picture book and they just need to share it with someone else, I hope Picture Book Club for Grown Ups will bring those people together."