SARAH LONG/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Otto’s Bookstore staff and attendees of the “Big Reveal” event gather in front of the “Magical Reading Tree,” painted by Mandy Engel at the bookstore on West Fourth Street.

Recently, community members joined authors and staff at Otto Bookstore for the big reveal of the Magical Reading Tree, painted by Mandy Engel in the children’s corner of Otto Bookstore.

Engel said she was a self-taught artist, and here is her “second or third mural at Otto’s” and third grade, she loves participating in First Friday festivities in Williamsport.

Kathryn Nassberg, co-owner of Otto Bookstore, the nation’s oldest independent bookstore, told attendees that “Over the past year, Otto Bookstore has taken the energy to restore it to all the potential we wanted it to be. We couldn’t have done this without our amazing staff.

Nassberg then explained how they wanted “The bookstore should be a center for the community and it’s a community that has been kind and generous and supportive, so we want to give back and become a center for literacy.”

Otto Bookstore will launch a reading program, also known as a reading pool, in which children will be able to write their name on a leaf of the tree after reading a certain number of books. Their leaf will be added to the tree’s canopy, creating an interactive environment that promotes reading development. Nassberg explained how this will become a “living tree that breathes” which grows with the community.

Otto Bookstore Manager John Shableski has been a driving force in promoting authors, artists and the community. Shableski added how

“This moment of introducing the tree with the festival allows us as a bookstore to take this to where we should be in the community and become a wonderful resource for families and anyone who wants to read or is looking for simply a book, » said Chableski. “We want to feel at home!” »

Shableski highlighted how he modified the space to make it more open and able to accommodate many more patrons for book readings and events. Chableski explained how they would capture children’s interest by also asking them to name the tree, then asking them why they thought the tree should be their name of choice.

Engel also encouraged the importance of other mothers finding their place.

“A lot of young mothers get lost and it was very important for me not to depend on my family and many of my friends started their own businesses to get out of postpartum depression,” she said.

Engel’s mother, Tina Capatch, recounted how Engel’s 7-year-old son, Kade Engel, keeps busy while her daughter paints and has seen “how they (daughter and grandson) became closer, closer than they ever were.”

Many authors including Shauna L. Grant, Judi Jessick, Harold Buchholz, and Amy Chu attended the event.

“As parents, we must let our children do what they love” Grant’s mother, who came to support her daughter, said, adding how she was very proud of her daughter for writing Mimi and the Cutie Catastrophe.

Chu, a comic book writer, left her corporate job to follow her passion and is well known for her six-issue miniseries Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death and a few issues of Wonder Woman for DC Comics and numerous other stories for Merveille.

“Agatha Livermore and the Magic Cookie Spoon – is a rhyming story, with Agatha Livermore not having much self-confidence and comparing herself to her siblings until she finds her own magic,” Jessick said about his book. She recognized “It’s a struggle that children and adults feel throughout their lives” and his book is about this feeling.

Buchholz created the Wild and Wooly, the Sweetest Beasts collection with the aim of addressing issues such as bullying and group membership. Buchholz went on to write The Neat Before Christmas – How Santa Soiled My Home, a fun and comical rhyming story for all ages. Buchholz is also the executive producer of creator Joel Hodgson’s Mystery Science Theater 3000, which has been released on Netflix since 2017. As of 2023, 230 episodes and a feature film of Mystery Science Theater 3000 have been produced.