RAJI WRITES

Junot Diaz read from his new children's book Islandborn at Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park. It was a sold out event, which started with an introduction and slide show by Junot, followed by a reading from the book. Diaz wrote it 20 years after he promised his goddaughters that he would write a book for them. The stunning illustrations are by Leo Espinosa. The Q&A session began with "the young people" who had good questions: -How did you think up a Blanket bat? -Is the monste

A gift card to Kepler's! I was delighted and overwhelmed at this farewell gift from my colleagues. It was 1999. I had completed my fellowship and was moving on to my first job. Kepler's, iconic independent bookstore in Menlo Park. Absolute heaven for readers. Back then there was a large section on cooking. As soon as the idea struck me, I knew that was how I would use the gift card – on cookbooks! And what a pleasure it was to look through those shelves and select the tr