Literacy/Reading

Daniel Handler to host 65th National Book Awards ceremony; BISG ends agreement with AAP to produce BookStats; Bay Area Book Festival to launch in 2015; Pediatricians adopt policy to encourage reading aloud to infants

The Family-to-Family poverty relief organization is inviting booksellers nationwide to become involved in its One Book At A Time literacy project, which links book donors with children in need.

With just over half of the funds distributed thus far in author James Patterson’s $1 million campaign to help independent bookstores, booksellers are making local news from coast to coast with stories about how they are putting the grants to use.  

At Wednesday’s BEA session “Helping Bookstores, Saving Lives,” author James Patterson announced the second round of grant recipients in his campaign to give $1 million to independent bookstores over the course of the year.

Bestselling author James Patterson’s annual College Book Bucks essay competition, which will award more than $30,000 in independent bookstore gift certificates, is currently accepting entries.

Among the figures of note relating to last month’s World Book Night celebration released this week was an impressive number of indie bookseller givers.

World Book Night U.S. tripled its media exposure this year compared to the previous year. Cision Media and Google Analytics reports recorded a total of 373 million media impressions in April 2014 versus 137 million for April 2013.

Videos from three ABC Children’s Institute education sessions are now available to all ABA member booksellers with a BookWeb username and password: Graduate Level Education on Child Development & Literacy; Selling Picture Books in the Wake of Age Compression; and Managing Successful Book Fairs In-Store and Off-Site.

World Book Night U.S. Executive Director Carl Lennertz sends several reminders to booksellers in the wake of another successful celebration of the April 23 campaign dedicated to spreading the love of books and reading.

Indie booksellers were key to last night’s celebrations of World Book Night, serving as book pick-up locations, event promoters, party and launch event hosts, and in many cases, givers themselves.

With the April 23 celebration of World Book Night just days away, booksellers at stores from coast to coast are getting ready for giver parties, author events, and in-store performances. 

Beginning April 22, World Book Night U.S. is offering a free proprietary e-book featuring 10 short stories and essays by booksellers, librarians, and authors, as well as an essay contest for next year’s edition.

World Book Night U.S. has announced the launch of an interactive giver-by-zip-code map and an official list of host stores and libraries.

With less than three weeks to go to the April 23 celebration, World Book Night’s national publicity campaign and indie booksellers’ local outreach are already paying off, said U.S. executive director Carl Lennertz.

World Book Night U.S. announced on Tuesday that Amy Poehler will be the honorary chairperson for this April 23’s World Book Night campaign.