The Friday Children's Book & Author Breakfast was a wonderful way to start the day, if the laughter and applause of several hundred booksellers and publishing professionals was any indication.

Libba Bray, author of the forthcoming The Sweet Far Thing (Delacorte Press), was emcee for the breakfast event, which was presented in cooperation with the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee, a cooperative committee of the American Booksellers Association, Association of Booksellers for Children, and the Children's Book Council.

This year's winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling, announced by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) on May 2, are Books & Books in Miami and Coral Gables, Florida, in the general bookstore category and Wonderland Books & Toys in Rockford, Illinois, in the children's specialty category.

The American Booksellers Association's Thursday Day of Education (at Hotel ABA, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York) at BookExpo America 2007 also features programming for children's booksellers, sponsored by the Association of Booksellers for Children, and programming for college stores, sponsored by the National Associa

1. THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, by Brian Selznick (Scholastic, $22.99, 9780439813785 / 0439813786, Available in March) "The triple talents of Brian Selznick come into full play in this spellbinding mystery, which is presented through both narrative and original drawings. This story of a talented orphan boy, a bookish girl, and an old man with a mysterious past hidden in the early days of filmmaking will hold the reader's interest to its grand finale.

On Monday, January 22, the American Library Association announced the winners of the 2007 John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott medals, as well as honor books in each category. The announcements were made at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. A number of other award winners were also announced.

The Winter 2006/2007 Book Sense Children's Picks list can now be previewed online. Independent bookstores with Book Sense will begin receiving the Children's Picks fliers, which are being mailed directly from the printer, within the next week. Additional copies may be requested via e-mail to lindaf@bookweb.org.

The 87th annual Children's Book Week, sponsored by the Children's Book Council (CBC), will be celebrated from November 13 - 19. CBC, the nonprofit trade association of publishers and packagers of books and materials for children and young adults, sponsors the annual event to celebrate the written word and to introduce young people to new authors and ideas in schools, bookstores, libraries, and homes.

Beginning in 2007, Book Sense will augment its current monthly Red and White Box programs with a series of quarterly mailings of materials specifically geared toward children's booksellers. In addition, the Book Sense Children's Picks will expand from three to four lists annually, with the creation of a new spring list.