ABC Children’s Group Silent Auction and Reception Reservations Open

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Preview of Unique Artworks Begins Online

Reservations are now being accepted for the ABC Children’s Group Silent Auction and Reception at BookExpo America. The ticketed event, to be held on Wednesday evening, May 25, at the Javits Convention Center, benefits the new ABFFE Fund for Free Speech in Children’s Books and is open to all BEA attendees.

This year’s honorary chair is Laurie Halse Anderson, whose bestselling novel Speak has come under attack from those who would ban books from local schools and libraries.

In a recent letter about this year’s Silent Auction, Anderson noted that, in response to these attacks, “Speak was supported by booksellers, librarians, teachers, and Americans of every stripe who know that the freedom to read is a basic component of democracy.”

And she reminded her fellow authors: “We are all called to defend that freedom.”

Sales of one-of-a-kind art from America’s beloved children’s book illustrators at this year’s Silent Auction will support the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression’s efforts to fight censorship of children’s books through education, advocacy, and participation in legal cases around the country.

“We have always admired the wonderful ABC children’s art auction,” said ABFFE President Chris Finan, “and we are excited by the opportunity to put the auction proceeds toward activities that promote understanding of the importance of free speech for children and young readers.”

A preview of this year’s Silent Auction artwork is available online through Flickr and is accessible here. Check back often because additional art will be added in the coming weeks.

All BEA registrants will be able to preview select pieces of Silent Auction artwork on Tuesday, May 24, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in the Javits Convention Center’s Crystal Palace.

The Silent Auction and Reception will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., on Wednesday, May 25, in Rooms 1E09/10/11 of the Javits Convention Center. Ticket prices for the Silent Auction and Reception are $69 for bookseller members of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA and $89 for all others. (Reserve your tickets here.)

If the event is not sold out prior to BEA, tickets will be sold during the preview and at the entrance to the reception on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets purchased on site will cost $79 for ABC Group members and $99 for all others.

Raffle tickets for chances to win a few special pieces of artwork will be sold at Tuesday’s preview and at the Silent Auction reception.

Music during the reception will be provided by a Putumayo World Music artist.

Below is a look at some of the other special events for children’s booksellers at BEA.

Speed Dating With Children’s Authors and Illustrators

Registration is now open for “Speed Dating With Children’s Authors and Illustrators,” to be held on Tuesday, May 24, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., at BEA.

This 90-minute speed dating session, sponsored by the ABC Children’s Group at ABA and the Children’s Book Council, will give booksellers the opportunity to chat with up-and-coming authors and illustrators of children’s books, as they make their way around the room. The event will take place just prior to the Celebration of Bookselling Author Awards Luncheon.

Authors and illustrators scheduled to participate are:

  • David A. Adler, Mystery Math: A First Book of Algebra (Holiday House)
  • Jane Hampton Cook, What Does the President Look Like? (Kane Miller)
  • James Dashner, The Death Cure (Random House)
  • Laura Lee Gulledge, Page By Page (Abrams)
  • Jeff Hirsch, The Eleventh Plague (Scholastic)
  • Carrie Jones, After Obsession (Bloomsbury)
  • Alan Katz, Was Looking (Simon & Schuster)
  • Jon Klassen, I Want My Hat Back (Candlewick)
  • Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me (HarperCollins)
  • Kate McMullan, Myth-o-Mania series (Capstone)
  • Jennifer Roy, MindBlind (Marshall Cavendish)
  • Marie Rutkoski, The Jewel of the Kalderash (Macmillan)
  • Clete Smith, Aliens on Vacation (Disney)
  • Ashley Spires, Kids Can (Spires)
  • Susan Stockdale, Bring on the Birds (Peachtree)
  • Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Little, Brown)
  • Linda Urban, Hound Dog True (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • Meg Wolitzer, The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman (Penguin)

Space at the event is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. To register, send an e-mail to [email protected] with the attending bookseller’s name, store name, street address, city, state, zip, and e-mail address.

Speed Dating With Children’s Author and Illustrators will take place in Rooms 1E09/10 in the lower concourse of the Javits Center, next to the ABA Booksellers Lounge.

Tea With Children’s Authors

Tea With Children’s Authors, on Wednesday, May 25 from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in Room 1E12 at the Javits Center, is open to booksellers and librarians only. Tickets are $15 each. (The sponsors reserve the right to review all reservations for eligibility.)

Participating authors are:

  • Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, The Bridge to Neverland (Disney)
  • Anna Dewdney, Llama Llama Home With Mama (Penguin)
  • Mordecai Gerstein, Dear Hot Dog (Abrams)
  • Beth Kephart, You Are My Only (Egmont)
  • Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers, We Are America (HarperCollins)
  • Christopher Paolini, Inheritance # 4 (Random House)
  • Jerry Pinkney, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Little, Brown)
  • Judy Schachner, Skippyjon Jones: Class Action (Penguin)
  • Marilyn Singer, Tallulah’s Tutu; A Stick Is an Excellent Thing (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
  • Maggie Stiefvater, Forever (Scholastic)
  • R. L. Stine, The First Day of School ... Forever! (Macmillan)
  • Scott Westerfeld, Goliath (Simon & Schuster) 

Space is limited, so click here to reserve your tickets today.

The Tea With Children’s Authors is sponsored by the ABC Children’s Group at ABA and the Children’s Book Council.

And, don’t forget ABA’s Day of Education, on Monday, May 23, at BEA. Programming developed specifically with children’s booksellers in mind includes “Conversion Strategies for Turning Mind Share into Market Share,” “Selling Non-book in the Children’s Department,” “Creating Events for Children,” “The Digital Market and the YA Audience,” and a Children’s Booksellers Roundtable.

View the full ABA Day of Education.