Next month, the ABC Children’s Group at ABA will launch “Give Me Summer! Give Me Books!” a national summer reading program for kids that is open to all ABA member bookstores.

A number of resources are available to help booksellers promote voting for the 2013 Children’s Choice Book Awards. New this year is a Children’s Book Week window display contest for indie bookstores, sponsored by CBC and the ABC Children’s Group at ABA.

A February 25 afternoon panel at Winter 8 explored how toy buying, pricing, merchandizing, and marketing differ from norms in the children’s book industry. Panelists also shared some of their favorite finds for 2013.

At the Wi8 breakout session “Nonfiction Buying With Core Curriculum in Mind,” panelists Becky Anderson of Anderson’s Bookshops, Kenny Brechner of Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers, and Richard Buthod of Turtleback Books explained how the new Common Core State Standards are impacting their schools, communities, and nonfiction sales.

The ABC New Voices program is about to kick off for the 2013 publishing year. Under the direction of a committee of 12 independent booksellers, New Voices highlights the top middle grade and young adult debuts of the year for both the summer and fall seasons.

On Monday, January 28, at its Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, the American Library Association (ALA) announced a wide range of award-winning books, videos, and audiobooks for children and young adults, including the recipients of the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, and Printz awards.

On Tuesday, January 15,  at the Children’s Publishing Goes Digital Conference in NYC, two sessions presented key findings from recent studies on influencers of children’s book choices, methods of discovery, and attitudes towards books and reading.

Books Inc.’s Maggie Tokuda-Hall has sold a manuscript for a picture book to Candlewick Press.

Here are the top 15 bestselling titles in the categories of Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction, Paperback Fiction and Nonfiction, and Children’s Interest and Illustrated based on reporting from independent bookstores nationwide for the six-week holiday period, from November 23 through December 31, 2012.

The Women’s National Book Association has extended the nomination period of indie bookstores for the WNBA Pannell Award to Thursday, January 31, 2013.