April Virtual Reading Series Explores YA Science Fiction and Fantasy

This April, the American Booksellers Association’s ABC Children’s Group is partnering with We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) for its consumer-focused spring virtual reading series discussing A Universe of Wishes (Crown Books for Young Readers) with the book’s author and WNDB Chief Operating Officer Dhonielle Clayton.

Clayton is also the author of the New York Times bestselling series The Belles (Freeform) and co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, now a Netflix original series.

The four-part virtual reading series will take place every Wednesday in April from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET (1:00 to 2:00 p.m. CT / 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. MT / 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PT) on Zoom.

The series will be moderated by ABC Council Advisor Brein Lopez, general manager of Children’s Book World in Los Angeles, California, and will feature special author guests including bestselling author Victoria Schwab, recent Nebula Award finalist Tochi Onyebuchi, bestselling author Samira Ahmed, and bestselling author Zoraida Córdova. Topics for the series include:

• April 7: Magic and queering fantasy worlds with Victoria Schwab
• April 14: Magic, speculative, and real-life issues with Tochi Onyebuchi
• April 21: Identity in the future with Samira Ahmed
• April 28: Diverse worldbuilding in short stories with Zoraida Córdova

Bookstores that are interested in bringing the free A Universe of Wishes virtual book club to local educators, students, and readers of all ages can share the Eventbrite registration link and utilize the marketing materials available for download on BookWeb.org.

While ABA will coordinate these events for stores to promote, whether a bookstore benefits from them will depend on how much effort it puts into marketing both the event and the store to its customer base. Social media marketing materials created for the event have space available for bookstores to customize with their logos. Marketing materials include:

• Facebook event banner
• Instagram images
• Instagram story carousels
• Website image

While promoting these events, booksellers are encouraged to link all materials directly to the book’s purchasing page on their website.

Registration for the free event series is required through Eventbrite; the event link and password will be shared with attendees the Tuesday ahead of each part of the series in a direct email. An attendee will only have to register once for access to the entire four-part series.