Children’s Bookselling

Updated March 5, 2012:     The first-ever American Booksellers Association ABC Children’s Institute will be held on Wednesday, June 6, at New York’s Javits Convention Center during BookExpo America 2012.

Next Thursday, March 1, is the last day for indie booksellers to sign up for the July celebration of “Find Waldo Local,” a community-wide Shop Local promotion, co-sponsored by Candlewick Press and ABA.

Here’s a peek at some of the offerings at last week’s 2012 American International Toy Fair that drew the attention of Cynthia Compton of 4 Kids Books & Toys and Jill Miner of Saturn Booksellers.

The Art of Selling Books, a new promotion from Abrams that offers 90-days dating, free freight, and extra discounts on 20 curated assortments of front and backlist titles for adults and children, is getting an enthusiastic reception from indie booksellers around the country.

More than 900 children and teens — aka Nerdfighters — participated in a recent event featuring John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Dutton Juvenile) and his brother, Hank Green, that was hosted by Washington, D.C.’s Politics and Prose.

On Tuesday evening, the Children’s Book Council hosted a forum entitled “From the Buyers’ Perspective,” the first of a three-part series for industry retailers, buyers, and distributors to share their perspectives on the state of the children’s book market.

On Monday, January 23, at its midwinter meeting in Dallas, the American Library Association announced the winners of its 2012 awards for children’s and young adult titles.

Candlewick Press and ABA are partnering to bring “Find Waldo Local” to Main Street USA this July. Indie booksellers nationwide are invited to host a month-long scavenger hunt for Waldo throughout local businesses. The community-wide event was developed to help spread the Shop Local message.

Walter Dean Myers named Ambassador for Young People’s Literature; Online holiday sales jump 15 percent; Six university presses sign with Ingram’s CoreSource

The December issue of the ABC Toolbox, which includes programming, display, and event ideas, as well as access to free materials from publishers, was sent via e-mail last week to members of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA.

The ABC Group at ABA’s new Facebook page is a place for children’s booksellers to share news about their stores as well as their knowledge of children’s books, bookselling, and literacy.

The Winter Institute will feature two “can’t-miss” educational panels developed specifically for children’s booksellers as well as a children’s booksellers roundtable and a wide-ranging selection of additional programming to help booksellers of all kinds strengthen their businesses.

The top 10 titles on the Winter 2011 - 2012 Children’s Indie Next List flier are now featured on downloadable shelf-talkers.

The Women’s National Book Association is seeking nominations of bookstores in the U.S. that excel at inspiring kids’ interest in reading, as well as creatively bringing books and young people together.

With the recent arrivals of the ABC Best Books for Children catalog and the New Voices fliers, indie booksellers have two robust tools to help guide holiday shoppers toward a selection of outstanding books for children and teens.