Anne Marie Keohane and her husband own Symposium Books, one in Providence, R.I. (which last week appeared on BuzzFeed’s list of “44 Great American Bookstores That Every Book Lover Must Visit”) and its sister store in nearby East Greenwich. Between customer visits, she spoke with PW about a handful of books that she is currently handselling.

It’s not a new book, but my number-one pick to handsell is Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I read it just after reading John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, and I thought it was phenomenal – and maybe even better than that novel. I thought the author really nailed the budding relationship between two awkward teens who feel like misfits. And I like that readers are left to make their own conclusion. The novel is an absolute knockout.

Another fabulous book is The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak. When we get copies in we display it on a table and the books go out the door the same day. It really was an overnight success. It’s intended for a parent to read to a child, and is filled with some nonsensical and silly words – the author and the child are actually in cahoots to make the parents seem silly. And while there are no pictures, there is a bit of color, and it’s a beautifully designed book.

We also enjoy selling Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss. I was so excited to hear that these new stories had been found, since he’s been such a favorite of everybody’s for so many generations. And I was happy to see that Random House published it in the same format as his other books. I was afraid they wouldn’t, because it is a lot wordier than most of Seuss’s books. It’s great for reading to kids who are not yet reading themselves, or for chapter book readers.

I know we’ll soon be selling that perennial holiday favorite, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. It’s a steady perennial seller. Obviously, there are lots of babies born every year, and they all need a copy!

We’re doing very well with Santa Is Coming to Rhode Island by Steve Smallman and Robert Dunn. We got 10 copies in a week ago and there’s only one left on the shelf. It’s part of a series, and I think it’s lovely when a book is set in a child’s own state and readers can recognize different places mentioned. That makes kids super happy. And I have to mention another book set in this state that we love to handsell – Old Salty Dog by Seth McCombs, which tells the story of a boat.

A book series that we love is W.C. Mack’s Athlete vs. Mathlete, which is about twin boys. One’s an athlete, and one’s a math whiz, and the stories send a lovely message to children who feel a bit different. I often recommend this to parents looking for suggestions. That’s one of my favorite things about being a bookseller – helping parents who are lost in a sea of books and don’t know which to select for their children. That’s what handselling is all about!