Pre-order The ABA Right to Read Handbook now to have it on your shelves on September 16 — just in time for Banned Books Week!

Pick up the Handbook to:

• Learn about fighting book bans and why it matters.
• Empower your customers to protect their right to read.
• Gain the tools to make a difference.
• Help raise money for ABFE's work to protect freedom of expression.
  

This comprehensive guide to resisting the epidemic of book censorship through local organizing and political engagement will give your customers the tools they need to push back against book bans. (Don't forget to set aside a copy for your staff!)

• Thursday, July 18 at 8:00 pm ET: Neurodiverse Community Affinity Group
• Friday, July 19 at 8:00 pm ET: Disability Community Affinity Group
• Monday, July 22 at 8:00 pm ET: Black Booksellers Affinity Group Meeting
• Thursday, July 25 at 3:00 pm ET: Workers' Compensation: Navigating Claims, Compliance, and Coverage
• Thursday, July 25 at 3:00 pm ET: Local Voter Engagement: A Conversation with ABA and League of Women Voters
• Tuesday, July 30 at 3:00 pm ET: New Member Series: Intro to ABA Benefits

July is Disability Pride Month — a month dedicated to celebrating people with disabilities, increasing visibility, and fighting ableism — and July 26 is the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passing into law in 1990.

Want to celebrate Disability Pride Month, but not sure how? It’s not too late!

ADA National Network has created a toolkit with assets, suggested posts, and educational resources.

We’ve also collected a few 2024 titles by disabled authors that you may already have in your store! This list features authors with both visible and invisible disabilities.

Kids

• Gooseberry by Robin Gow 
• Asking for a Friend by Ronnie Riley

Young Adult

• Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew (A Kids' Indie Next List pick)
• On the Bright Side by Anna Sortino

Adult 

• The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (An Indie Next List pick)
• The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron (An Indies Introduce title)
• A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall (An Indies Introduce title and an Indie Next List pick)

Why should you participate in ABACUS?

Stores use their ABACUS report to:

• Negotiate with their union or landlord.
• Educate their community and city officials about their challenges.
• Help with professional development.
• Discover best practices for most profitable stores.
• Find potential cost savings.
• Identify areas of their business that need attention.

ABA uses the ABACUS report to:

• Help Binc support members.
• Help government officials understand the challenges unique to bookstores.
• Help publishers understand the challenges unique to bookstores.
• Help the FTC understand the repercussions of Amazon’s stranglehold on bookstores.

If you need assistance, you can reach out to ABA CFO PK Sindwani.

If you have already completed the survey, thank you! Please contact 3 bookstore friends and ask them to participate as well!

Red Wine & Blue hosted Philomena Polefrone from American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) for a talk called “Making Book Bans Legal: How State Legislatures Undermine the Right to Read.” The talk broke down some of the major trends from this year’s state legislative sessions and talked about strategies for opposing them when they inevitably return in future sessions. 

Meanwhile, ABFE’s social media featured Tanvi Rastogi, founder of Good Books Young Troublemakers, which uses YA book clubs to teach engaged allyship. 

Next week, on July 25, ABA will hold a joint event with the League of Women Voters to discuss getting out the vote and voter registration. Visit BookWeb to register for the event!