“Dig,” the latest novel by Berks County native A.S. King, has been named winner of the American Library Association’s 2020 Michael L. Printz Award, given for a young-adult book that exemplifies literary excellence.

A 1988 Exeter High School graduate, King has been publishing novels for young readers for the past 10 years, establishing herself as a prominent and influential voice in the genre.

In an email, King said “Dig,” which was released last March, is set partially in Reading, though it’s a fictional setting mixed with Lititz, where she now lives.

It’s been called “stuningly original” by Kirkus Reviews and “profound” by Publishers Weekly.

All 12 of King’s novels are set in Pennsylvania, including her 2011 Printz Honor winning “Please Ignore Vera Dietz,” in which the Reading Pagoda has a speaking part and is a character.

Her 2012 novel “Ask the Passengers,” about a girl who copes with her small town’s gossip and narrow-mindedness by sending her love to the passengers in the airplanes flying overhead, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

The Printz Award was founded in 2000 to highlight the best and most literary works of excellence written for a young adult audience.

In her email, King said she never expected to win, but she’s very happy about it.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” she wrote. “It will, in time. And I’m looking forward to accepting it in Chicago at the American Library Association Annual Conference in June.”

Penn State center Michal Menet, the former Exeter standout, will return to the Nittany Lions in 2020.

The 6-4, 313-pound Menet announced Tuesday on social media that he decided to come back for his senior season and not enter the NFL Draft.

“I am not ready for my time with this football family to end yet,” he wrote on social media, “and (I) continue to enjoy every minute with my brothers. I feel I have unfinished business to take care of, including completing my Penn State degree (in psychology).”

Menet has started 24 of the last 25 games at center and is a team captain this season for Penn State (10-2), which will learn its bowl destination Sunday.

His announcement followed one Saturday by sophomore tight end Pat Freiermuth, who could have declared for the draft but decided he will return to the Lions in 2020.

“Thank you, Nittany Nation, for your unwavering support,” Menet wrote. “We still have work left to do in the 2019 season in our bowl game. But I can’t wait to be back in front of our 107K strong in Beaver Stadium.”

The return of Menet and Freiermuth boosts Penn State’s hopes for next season when the Lions could return as many as nine starters on offense and five on defense.

“I have been very blessed during my football career to have the opportunity to play at the highest level,” Menet wrote, “and to be in this position.”

Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos announced later Monday that he is forgoing his final season and will enter the NFL draft.

Wide receiver KJ Hamler, offensive tackle Will Fries, defensive end Shaka Toney, defensive tackle Antonio Shelton, cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields and safety Lamont Wade are in their third year in the Penn State program and are eligible to enter the draft.

Founded in 2011 by Bethany Wysolmerski, the woman-owned and operated business known as Pink Poppy Party Shoppe started as an online store and website. The vision? Help busy moms plan and execute birthday parties.

As the business grew, the team began to specialize in creating personalized stationery, gifts, and styling for any event or occasion in life. Early in 2019, it was rebranded as Rubi & Lib Design Studio.

Wysolmerski, a 2003 Exeter graduate, is now expanding her business to include a retail storefront right in her hometown.

The new store, located at 3845 Perkiomen Avenue, will feature personalized gifts and entertainment supplies available for purchase. A walk-in studio will also be the home to personalized stationery design consultations.

“While we have been successful online, we dreamed of connecting locally with our friends in Exeter,” Rachael Powell, social media specialist, said. “We hope to help our local community create beautiful stationery, find the perfect personalized gift, and to help our customers style gorgeous parties and events with the perfect personalized decor.”

Rubi & Lib Design Studio will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, November 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m at its new storefront.

The celebration will include multiple giveaways and an in-studio discount of 25% off your entire purchase. Light refreshments will also be served.

Rubi & Lib offers save-the-dates, invitations, wedding and party favors, wedding welcome bags, personalized tableware – napkins, plates, cups, and coasters, thank you cards, cake toppers, and wedding day stationery both for your ceremony and reception. For more information, visit their website: https://rubiandlib.com/

Dee Kantner, a 1978 Exeter grad, who is one of the preeminent women’s college basketball officials, was elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Tuesday.

Kantner, a longtime resident of Charlotte, N.C., has officiated 22 Final Fours and 15 NCAA championship games.

In 1997, she and Violet Palmer were the first women hired as NBA officials.

Kantner has also served as supervisor of officials and director of referee development for the WNBA.

Among those included in the 12-person class are two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III and former ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan.

The induction ceremony will be held in May.

After successfully launching as a mobile business, Donut NV, Alex and Amanda Gingold, 2001 graduates, opens a brick-and-mortar location. 

Donut NV recently put down roots on South Hanover Street in Pottstown in a retail space included in the Hanover Square townhome development.

“It was one of those opportunities that found us,” said co-owner Alex Gingold. “The highlight of the brick-and-mortar store is getting to know the community.”

Royersford residents Alex and Amanda (Scott) Gingold set up the brick-and-mortar doughnut shop after launching a successful food truck business focused on selling doughnuts in July 2015.

“It was so successful we had to add another trailer the following month,” said Alex Gingold, a Lehigh County native who graduated from Penn State Berks with a degree in small business and entrepreneurship in 2012. “We travel the Tri-state area.”

Putting down roots

Alex and his wife, Amanda, who graduated from Exeter High School in 2001 and also attended Penn State Berks, put down roots in the doughnut business in 2014 with a kiosk at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, called Cinnamini Donuts.

The mini doughnuts are made in front of the customers and are only about a third the size of a regular doughnut, hopefully bringing less guilt to the table.

Alex said, “It was something different. Cupcakes were kind of played out.”

Donuts were a runaway success for the Gingolds, according to Alex, and the demand grew for catering weddings, private parties and corporate events.

“We both came from corporate America,” he said. “We weren’t happy with our schedules and we wanted to work together and spend more time together.”

The kiosk at the Premium Outlets solidified a relationship with the outlet’s owner, Simon Premium Outlets, who eventually permitted the Gingolds’ food trucks access to their outlets along the East Coast.

“The kiosk was good, but you were tied to a seven day a week schedule,” Alex said. “The food trucks allowed us to follow the market.The food trucks are still a full-time business for us.”

And the market research told the Gingolds that the name Cinnamini Donuts denoted only cinnamon doughnuts to consumers, causing the brand to relaunch as Donut NV in 2018.

Franchise opportunities for mobile doughnut shops in protected mobile territories are offered through Donut NV with a proprietary mobile unit that converts from a kiosk to a trailer, an endeavor which took a year to develop and is made at a company in Salt Lake City.

“The unit can be pulled with almost any vehicle,” Alex said.

Selling and training

Along with franchise opportunities came the need for training, which started the Gingolds on the journey ending with their shop in Pottstown which will double as a training facility.

The 1,000-square-foot store has 20 seats for customers and joins the development leasing office and a yoga studio in retails spaces.

onut NV doughnuts are made from a proprietary recipe and created in custom doughnut-making machines made in Hungary, stamped with the Donut NV logo, and available to be sold to franchisees.

“They’re cake doughnuts, not yeast doughnuts,” Alex said. “They’re light and fluffy.”

The doughnuts are reminiscent of funnel cake, he says, and can be topped with a choice of sugars including Oreo, Fruity Pebbles, cinnamon and French toast, and dipped in sauce such as vanilla, Hershey’s chocolate and Nutella.

Alex said his wife is a big cooking advocate and baker and he enjoys eating sweets.

“It’s a good mix,” he said.

Also available at Donut NV are fresh squeezed orange juice and lemonade, fresh brewed ice tea, hot coffee and a special iced coffee called NVous, a blend with condensed milk and sugar.

A grab-and-go case is onsite for a quick meal and Nelson’s ice cream, previously made in Royersford, is on the menu in cups, cones, and milkshakes, along with bagels from the New York Bagelry in West Lawn.

“We always said if we had a store, we’d have the best bagels,” Alex said.

Traffic to the new shop has been busy with early morning commuters, students, networking groups, travelers, and residents, and corporate and catering orders have been coming in with delivery available within a 25-mile radius through EZ Cater, according to the owners.

“We went back to our roots and what we enjoyed,” Alex said. “You can really change someone’s attitude by giving someone something delicious. We have so many people saying thank you for picking Pottstown.”