In honor of Independent Bookstore Day April 30, Let’s Play Books in Emmaus held a day of activities, sales and meet-and-greets with heroic characters and local authors for readers of all ages.

Let’s Play Books was founded in 2013 as a children’s bookstore by owner Kristen Hess after she and her family moved to the area from Iowa. Hess later expanded her store and relocated in 2016 to her current location, a three-story house on Main Street in Emmaus. She offers two floors of wall-to-wall books for adults, children and teens and an activity/meeting space on the top floor.

The festivities included a tent sale of titles from renown authors at discounted prices, including first printings, first editions and signed copies, in partnership with Rob Dougherty of Clinton Books in NJ. 25% of the proceeds benefited The Sanctuary at Haafsville.

LPB welcomed comic book author/illustrator and Emmaus resident Bob McLeod. Visitors could draw along with him while he demoed basic drawing techniques and peruse signed samples of his work that he gave away in honor of Independent Bookstore Day.

McLeod built his career drawing superheroes for Marvel and DC Comics and began writing his own children’s comics in the early 2000’s. He is the co-creator of New Mutants and the author and illustrator of Superhero ABC.

Following McLeod, Maribel Madrigal, heroine of the Disney film and golden book Encanto, dropped in to meet some of her biggest fans. Maribel hails from the Lehigh Valley-based event planning company, A Storybook Party.

Hess and her staff later hosted a pre-release book launch with Timothy Janosky celebrating his first book, Never Been Kissed, a summer-time LGBTQ rom-com coming out this month. Janosky is from Olbridge, NJ and attended Muhlenberg College. His second book, You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince, releases in October and he has plans for a third book coming next summer.

Local author Gina Loveless followed Janosky signing copies of her latest book Animal Rescue Friends. The book is geared towards 8- to 12-year-olds and explores how kids often figure themselves out through the animals they rescue.

Loveless writes for children and adults with the mission of helping to normalize the conversation around mental health and mental illness. She has been a freelance fact checker and researcher for Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazine with Rodale Press since 2016. Her other books include Diary of a 5th Grade Outlaw, an adaptation of Robin Hood first published on the children’s digital reading platform, Epic. She is also the author of Puberty is Gross, but Also Really Awesome (Rodale Kids), the first book for adolescents that humorously explores sexuality using gender-inclusive language and the most updated terminology.

Tara Santoro of TMS Illustrates held a story/drawing hour celebrating the work of author/illustrator Matt Phelan. Visitors could hear a story and leave with an illustration by Santoro.

The day finished with a whiskey tasting featuring samples from Triple Sun Spirits and Kurt Maitland’s celebrated book, The Infused Cocktail. Participants who bought the book were entered into a raffle to win a gift card to Triple Sun Spirits. Maitland is the Deputy Editor of the Whiskey Reviewer website and the curator of the Manhattan Whiskey Club.