Literacy/Reading

B&N announces CEO’s departure; Amazon to start collecting sales tax in Alabama; PEN/Nabokov Award revived to honor international writers; Christian Robinson to illustrate 2017 Children’s Book Week poster; Sesame Street and Running Press team up

The ABC Children’s Institute panel “Literacy Development for Babies and Toddlers” featured three booksellers and an early childhood education specialist discussing how to help customers choose the appropriate books for children at different stages of development.

How to use leveled book designations to guide parents and children to appropriate reading choices that are both fun and educational was the subject of a panel discussion at last month’s Children’s Institute.

Senate confirms Carla Hayden as Librarian of Congress; NEA Big Read announces new focus; Christopher Myers to launch imprint with Random House Children’s Books; Carl Lennertz named Children’s Book Council executive director; Inaugural edition of Buzz Books: Romance released; AAP survey reveals book industry net revenue of $28 billion in 2015; Malaprop’s owner discusses post-H.B. 2 decline in business; Longlist for the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize announced; PEN America introduces PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers

A Google Drawings file allows booksellers to create a customized store bingo card for the Give Me Summer, Give Me Books reading program.

Children’s Book Week display contest entries must be submitted to ABC Children’s Group Manager Matthew Zoni by May 6.

Booksellers are invited to enter this year’s Children’s Book Week display contest by mounting in-store or window displays celebrating children’s books and reading from April 30 through May 8.

John Y. Cole named Library of Congress historian; Simon & Schuster promotes two in sales division

This year, the national summer reading program Give Me Summer! Give Me Books! challenges young readers to pick up a 24-space Bingo card from their local independent bookstore and check off boxes for each book they read.

In April, Nashville’s Parnassus Books will host its fourth readers’ retreat at the Rivendell Writers Colony in Sewanee, Tennessee. This spring also brings with it the introduction of a new bookmobile and the beginning of the store’s expansion project.

Off the Shelf’s video compilation of bookseller interviews from Winter Institute’s first annual Backlist Book Swap is now available on YouTube. 

Booksellers are invited to participate in a display contest in celebration of the 97th annual Children’s Book Week (May 2 to 8). Bonus points will be awarded to stores incorporating the 2016 Children’s Book Week poster.

At Winter Institute 11, a panel of booksellers discussed strategies for connecting with Title I coordinators in their local schools and making use of federal funding to provide a robust education for underserved students.

International Literacy Association releases flier of 2016 Notable Books for a Global Society; 50,000 books go to children in need through PRH #GiveaBook campaign; PEN America to honor J.K. Rowling, Michael Pietsch

American Small Business Championship contest opens; Berkley becomes part of Putnam/Dutton; ALA joins Penguin Random House in support of National Readathon Day; We Need Diverse Books announces inaugural mentees; William Johnson named Lambda Literary program director; Winners of 2016 Pacific Northwest Book Awards revealed; The Story Prize finalists announced