Sioux Falls women launch ‘novel’ business featuring book boxes

Sometimes as you read a book you come across an unfamiliar word or the mention of an unknown food or a song you’ve never heard before.

What do you do when that happens? Maybe you quickly turn to a dictionary or the internet, maybe you make a mental note to learn more about it, maybe — usually? often? — you’re left wondering what you’ve missed.

Now, a business started by two Sioux Falls natives will answer your questions.

A Novel Type co-founders Stephanie Gongopoulos and Jessa Howes offer book boxes that give readers three opportunities to pause on a page of a novel or nonfiction work when they see an arrow, open a wrapped package that corresponds to that page and — without grabbing a laptop — experience what has been referenced.

Take the book “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor, for example. The collection of anecdotes and pseudoscience about breathing gives readers suggestions of things they can try such as a special chewing gum or a counting method that relies on a string of beads. In the “Breath” book box, Gongopoulos and Howes have tucked away a pack of the gum and the string of beads. When readers reach that point in the book, they immediately will have the items they need to put the breathing exercises into practice.

It takes reading from a passive process to an active activity, the two former educators said.

“Reading always has been and continues to be a fantastic way of communicating with people,” Howes said. “I love the idea of grandparents and a child having the same book and experiencing it together. With A Novel Type, we recognize that people also are looking for unique ways to connect with each other.”

Along with each book comes a suggested playlist from Spotify. The women have compiled eight book boxes so far, with two more coming soon. They also offer the option of special requests. If someone suggests a book they want to give as a gift, the women will read it and come up with three complementary activities and a music list.

A Novel Type offers books for children and adults, but the literature for kids holds a special place.

“We’re having a ball with those,” Gongopoulos said. “It’s turned out to be so much fun. If we can instill a love of reading in children, this will be extremely fulfilling.”

What also is fulfilling for the two women is the deepening of a casual friendship that started when they were teenagers. Both women attended Lincoln High School, a couple of years apart, and for several decades it never progressed beyond quick conversations and hand waves across a room.

For a time, their professional lives took a parallel path. Howes started teaching Spanish when her two sons were both in elementary school. She earned a master’s degree in education and taught Spanish at both the Pavilion preschool and the Challenge Center, an elementary school for gifted education.

Gongopoulos earned her undergraduate degree in education and taught preschool. She returned for her master’s in business administration and then for almost 20 years worked at The First National Bank in Sioux Falls. A couple of years ago, she decided to step away from day-to-day responsibilities, although she continues to serve on two bank boards.

“It’s given me more flexibility to pursue other projects I’m passionate about,” Gongopoulos said. She is involved with the Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation and helped with the recent bond issue that led to new middle and high schools opening this fall.

Howes found herself at a crossroads when the pandemic put her teaching on hold. Spanish classes were an additional offering, and only essential staff could continue at the preschool and elementary school.

So Howes turned to the bike trail. And she turned to Gongopoulos. It started with a phone call, Howes asking Gongopoulos if she’d like to walk on the bike trail together some morning.

“Are you a morning person?” Howes asked.

“Yes,” Gongopoulos replied.

“How about 6:30 a.m.?” Howes asked.

“I said I didn’t think I was *that* much of a morning person,” Gongopoulos said.

Both women laugh at this recounting. Such laughter began that first walk and has continued since then.

During their 4-mile walks — longer, if conversation is lively — they often discussed books. Gongopoulos shared her idea of a book box offering items to engage readers. Howes immediately saw the possibilities.

There was one hitch. Howes had called Gongopoulos to take that first walk impelled in part by her admiration for the other woman’s willingness to totally transform her life. Howes wanted the same. She now is a part-time student at the University of South Dakota School of Law, commuting to Vermillion.

A Novel Type has come a long way since Gongopoulos shared her idea and Howes assigned this homework: Next week, bring a book that would work for the project and suggestions, and then exchange them in the parking lot.

The months since then have brought a steep learning curve as the two women’s strengths have meshed. Gongopoulos loves spreadsheets while Howes finds joy in writing haikus. That’s why if you order a book box from A Novel Type and make a request in the comments section, Howes will send back a haiku.

Of course, there’s more to starting a small business than spreadsheets and haikus. A Novel Type operates out of an office building on 14th Street that Howes’ husband owns, and they now know when you order 1,000 packing boxes, you will need a forklift to get them off the pallet. They also can speak glibly on topics such as search engine optimization to move their results higher up on a Google page.

Both women are eclectic readers. Howes tends to literary fiction, new releases and histories of current events. Gongopoulos reads “a little bit of everything,” she said. That began when she was a ninth grader at what was then Patrick Henry Junior High School. Teacher Darlene Ormseth handed out a mimeographed reading list on yellow paper.

“I still have that list,” Gongopoulos said. “She would give little snippets of books to pique our interest, and after that I absolutely loved reading.”

To learn more about A Novel Type, visit anoveltype.com.