43½ Hours in Pasadena: A Suggested Itinerary for the ABC Children’s Institute

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It has been written about Pasadena: “It is the expansive outdoors, mountain views, and fine climate (except in August, when you could fry a hot dog at the Rose Bowl) that still make Pasadena, the famed City of Roses, a shining jewel of Southern California and an enduring object of jealousy.”*

Start the parade and color me officially jealous that I’m not going to the ABC Children’s Institute. With Pasadena as the host city, the line-up of awesome authors and speakers, the visit to Vroman’s, the bookseller camaraderie, and the thoughtfully developed sessions and talks, all the ingredients are present for a wonderful working retreat.

Use the summary below to help plan your days, and please take photos at each stop along the way! Post them to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and any other of your social media outlets with the official Ci3 tag, #kidstute, and send me your favorite pics, too. We will share them on BookWeb.org and on ABA social media, and I bet I won’t be the only jealous bookstore-watcher around.

Saturday, April 18 (10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and Sunday, April 19 (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, USC Campus (free admission)

Well, this isn’t a bad way to spend the weekend:

In true LA fashion, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books combines Hollywood flair — Billy Idol, Maria Bello, Lorraine Bracco — with music, fresh food and sunshine, and a ton of authors and performers. And there is both a Children’s Stage and a YA Stage with back-to-back talks and readings. Check the Festival website for schedule details. Make a note to visit the indie bookstore booths there! A booth location cheat sheet is at the bottom of this e-mail.

Sunday, April 19

9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Welcome/Ask ABA Desk is open at the Hilton Pasadena all day. Children’s Institute sessions and special events take place in the hotel, so have a quick look around to get oriented. ABA’s member relationship managers, Nathan Halter and Catherine Cusick, are the ones to see about badges, program booklets, and the welcome bags from Baker & Taylor, which hold journals and pens (also courtesy of B&T). While at the desk, you can enter a drawing for a gift bag of surprises from HarperCollins Children’s Books.

9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Planning to visit the Festival first and then head to the Hilton Pasadena for the Institute’s opening events? Make it easy on yourself: drop your bags and meet your friends at the Radisson Hotel on the USC campus. The ABA bag check is located there in Board Room 201. Travel maps and hints are on our Hotel & Travel Page, as well as the Festival page on Info and Public Transportation.

When you’ve had enough of said music, food, culture, and fun, wind your way to the Hilton Pasadena to check in, drop off your Festival goodies, and prepare for an evening of Ci3 happenings.

4:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Ci3 scholarship winners are asked to come to the San Gabriel Ballroom a wee bit before the opening keynote to say hello to their sponsors in person. Publishers take a real interest in the booksellers lucky enough to win!

5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Wimpy kids and booksellers have something in common with Jeff Kinney and will surely enjoy hearing about his transition from author to author/bookseller. It is, indeed, An Unlikely Story.

6:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Time to eat and drink! The Opening Reception with We Need Diverse Books is co-sponsored by Publishers Weekly. There will be canapés, there will be authors, there will be signings, and there will be a chance to learn more about the WNDB campaign
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​Monday, April 20

7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Ask ABA Desk is open for questions, visits with ABA staffers, extra programs, and the inevitable cell phone lost and found.

8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Mac Barnett and Jory John reportedly visited 22 schools over the course of one week to promote The Terrible Two, but they have agreed to stand still for an hour to be keynote breakfast speakers. They will talk about their commitment to students and the results when kids learn to love writing.

9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Visiting the Galley Room is like being a kids’ bookseller in a candy store. There will be some additional tote bags there, but I warn you, sponsors are sending ARCs for nearly 100 titles this year, so come armed with your ABA/PartnerShip account information. Bonus: If you enroll in the ABA Shipping Program at Ci3, PartnerShip will cover your first shipments out of the show, up to $100, at no charge! The Galley Room — and Shipping Desk — will also be open on Tuesday from 9:45 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

 9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. It’s time to get down to business. Grab your B&T journal and pen and get ready to take notes and find great tips that you can implement in the store right away. Choose from among Best Practices for Greater Diversity, Birthday Party Rentals, and Marketing to Grandparents. Better yet, divide and conquer with someone from your store. Or buddy up with a stranger/new best friend and share notes!

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. It’s another great block of programming — Partnering for Diversity, Reaching Reluctant Readers, and Setting Up a Book Festival — all developed with input from the ABC Advisory Council and last year’s attendees. Thank you, smart people!

11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Lunch is served. Entertainment provided by publisher sponsor reps, who really know how to pitch a book.

2:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Have you ever fantasized about writing a children’s picture book? (I have, and if I were in Pasadena, I’d be whipping out the manuscript just about now…) Caldecott Honor recipient Marla Frazee and Beach Lane Books publisher Allyn Johnston give a behind-the-scenes look at the editorial process. (Hmm, verrry interesting...)

3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Finally, a session that makes you go outside! Take a 15-minute walk to Pasadena’s fabulous Vroman’s Bookstore and learn from the masters in a sit-down session about buying and merchandising non-book and gift items.

4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Now is the time to really study the store’s extensive collection of non-book items and gifts as you tour the floors. Vroman’s is like a department store, starring books.

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. No ABA Institute is complete without the joyful Author Reception, and no Author Reception is complete without hors d’oeuvres and drinks. No worries, this party will complete you! See the current list of authors here.  All the keynote authors will be there as well.

9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Ice cream! Whipped cream! Hot fudge!! And if that weren’t enough, Scholastic is bringing authors Alex Gino (George), Cherie Priest (I Am Princess X), Spencer Quinn (Bowser & Jolene) and Peter Sís (Ice Cream Summer) as special guests. Yum.

Happy dreams! Try to get some sleep, and apologies in advance for causing you to do so on a full stomach.

Tuesday, April 21

7:45 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. Breakfast means coffee, orange juice, and a few more sponsors’ rep pick presentations from the stage. We are starting earlier in order to present lots more great sessions and something you won’t want to miss: a talk about the U.S. children’s book market.

9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. What could be timelier and more relevant than a look at children’s books in the U.S. that is subtitled “Where We Are and Where We’re Going”? Kristen McLean, founder and CEO of Bookigee and co-chair of Nielsen’s Children’s Book Summit, gives this “deep-dive,” as they say, into the latest trends affecting your everyday business decisions.

9:55 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Booksellers are a remarkably generous group, happy to share experiences and tips. Roundtables are a directed way of doing just that, so choose one of the five topics being offered and join in. See the program for descriptions and moderators.

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And then there were three… three more sessions, that is, to help you sharpen your skills around three cornerstones of selling children’s books: recommendations, storytime, and book subscription clubs.

​12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Closing keynote speaker Jewell Parker Rhodes will address why diversity in children’s literature is our next civil rights frontier, why it is an obligation of all of us for the future of our nation, and why we must not be afraid to cross boundaries. Inspired by the opening reception with We Need Diverse Books, the topical education sessions, and Rhodes’ keynote, we hope booksellers at Ci3 will talk and think about diversity in all of its meanings.

That’s a wrap! Forty-three and ½ hours** in Pasadena, with many thanks to Publishers Weekly, all of Ci3’s publisher sponsors, and lead sponsor Baker & Taylor for their enthusiastic support of Ci3 and children’s bookselling! For those racing to the airport, stop by the Galley Room and pick up a snack to keep you going.

Safe travels, and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Best,

Meg Smith and the ABA/Ci3 team



Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Indie Bookstore Booth Cheat Sheet
 
Store

Booth #

{pages} a bookstore

707

Book Soup

88

Kinokuniya Bookstores Los Angeles

84

Mrs. Nelson’s Book Fair Company

720

Mysterious Galaxy

368

Mystery Ink

376

Once Upon a Time

732

Skylight Books

138

Small World Books

356

Stories Books and Cafe

186

Vroman’s

117 & 137


*The New York Times, “36 Hours in Pasadena,” 2006

** For you compulsive types, I started counting the 43½ hours from the opening reception on Sunday. It is, I know, a wild estimate.