Book Sense & Sensibility in July 5 New Yorker

The July 5 issue of The New Yorker, on sale June 28, features a special insert, "Book Sensibility: Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of Book Sense." The insert is an ode to the uniqueness and rich character of independent booksellers, their importance to the book industry, and of course, Book Sense. Preceding and following the insert are full-page Book Sense ads.

"The moment you set foot inside," the insert begins, "you know it. The bookshop with the Book Sense logo in the window is wonderfully different in so many different ways…. By their very presence, independent booksellers are responsible for building community. Local residents gather for intimate book-club chats and noted authors stop by for readings and signings."

The insert continues, "Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, Book Sense originally emerged out of the need to form a collective voice for the thousands of independent booksellers facing strong competition nationwide. Yet, while the Book Sense voice was collective, the components of that voice, like a symphony, would retain the unique elements of each individual store. For no independent bookstore is quite like any other; each boasts its own personality and inspires its own unique feeling of surprise and serendipity."

Also in the piece, authors such as Sue Monk Kidd, Mark Teague, and Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, discuss how crucial independent booksellers has been to the success of their books. "When independent booksellers get behind a title, it makes all the difference in the world," Teague said. And of Book Sense, Handler remarked, "What appeals to me about it is that it combines all bookstores into a phalanx of intelligence and integrity." (To download the insert in PDF format, click here.)

Preceding and following the two-page "Book Sensibility" insert are full-page ads highlighting the Book Sense "Best Books From the First 5 Years." One full-page ad features the 15 adult titles (click here) chosen as the best books from the first five years of Book Sense, while the second features the 10 children titles (click here).