Hello Readers! I’m new, I’m anonymous, I wear shoes, and I talk about them.

“What?” you say? This is an independent children’s book publisher blog… shoes? Really?

Yes, I’m here to talk about shoes.

Because shoes are more than just protective foot coverings, extravagant or not. They show personality. They show interests. They show activities. They give a glimpse into the personalities of those who work here. We’re not just a group of quiet bookish people who only hide away behind closed doors, reading, editing, designing, promoting, producing, and otherwise creating bookish things—we have interests, activities, and quirks. Our activities give us knowledge and experiences and that can help in our bookmaking professions.

Shoes, they tell all. Or at least lots. At the minimum, things. Shoes tell things.

Things like seasons. We work in Minneapolis and so are in the middle of an upper Midwest winter. It only makes sense to kick this off with the shoe that you’re probably expecting to see in this town in this climate in this season: winter boots, complete with coils.

The out of context thing of note here: bare ground. As I take this picture I’m sitting outside, on dry ground, not even wearing a coat. Were I to personify these boots in image, they’d be horribly sad. We haven’t had enough snow to necessitate wearing winter boots more than a few times, and not near enough snow to make good use of the coils even once. The boots and coils have had barely a chance to live up to their winter wear potential. It has been a sad, sad winter indeed for those of us and our shoes who enjoy the usual snow.

Not to be left out, it has also been a less satisfying winter for those that don’t. There has been significantly less of another winter pastime: reveling in warm comfort on the couch with a fuzzy blanket, a mug of hot tea, and good book while watching the streetlights glittering on the falling snow outside. Without wearing shoes.