Book Sense

Here is the full listing of April Book Sense Picks, with booksellers' comments, as well as a preview of the month's Notables. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will be receiving their April Picks fliers in the March Red Box. (The flier includes jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes.)

Friday, March 2, is the deadline for the May Book Sense Picks list.

In addition, Friday, March 9, is the deadline for the 2007 Book Sense Reading Group Picks List.

Nominations for both lists can be sent to [email protected]. In addition, booksellers can use the online nomination form on BookWeb.org.

Watchung Booksellers, which opened in 1991 and was bought by Margot Sage-EL in 1996, is in Montclair, New Jersey, 12 miles from downtown Manhattan. This scenic town of 38,000, located on Orange Mountain in the Watchung Mountain range, is home to several bookshelves featuring local notable authors and celebrities from all fields.

Time may soon run out for the owners and staff of American Booksellers Association member stores who have not yet registered for Hotel ABA - Brooklyn. The New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, the exclusive hotel for ABA member booksellers at this year's BookExpo America (BEA), is almost booked to capacity.

There are just seven days left for the owners and staff of ABA member bookstores to cast their ballots for the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards. Ballots for independent booksellers' handselling favorites in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, and Children's Illustrated must be received by midnight on Thursday, March 1.

Booksellers will have two opportunities in March to help create Book Sense Picks lists, the May Picks list and the Book Sense Reading Group list.

Penny McConnel and Liza Bernard founded The Norwich Bookstore almost 13 years ago, before a building even existed to house it. What is now a 2,000-square-foot general bookstore occupying two stories in Vermont's Norwich Square downtown shopping area was then merely a big hole in the ground. A local builder was razing buildings to create new retail spaces that resemble private homes.

Book Sense gift cards featuring Random House Children's Book characters The Cat in the Hat and pat the bunny are now available for purchase through the end of the year. The cards are available thanks to Random House Children's Books, which has given Book Sense permission to use the artwork through 2007.

When author Amy Stewart reads and signs at an independent bookstore, she has a knack for making her visit memorable.

Touring a few years ago with her second book, The Earth Moved (Algonquin), Stewart -- who specializes in writing on gardening and on growing things -- showed up at each venue bearing a Tupperware container filled with earthworms.

The Spring 2007 Book Sense Children's Picks, offering great titles for babies and pre-schoolers, young children, and teens, as well as great reading group suggestions, is now available for preview.

Independent bookstores with Book Sense will receive this list with the first quarterly Children's-specific White Box mailing, to be sent to stores by the end of this month.

Based on sales in independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide for the eight-week period ending February 6, 2007.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available on ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org.

Attention Media: Contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.

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.

Here is the full listing of March Book Sense Picks, with booksellers' comments, as well as a preview of the month's Notables. Independent booksellers in the Book Sense program will be receiving their March Picks fliers in the February Red Box. (The flier includes jacket images, bibliographic information, and bookseller quotes.)

Voting for the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards is now open to the owners and staff of all ABA member bookstores. The ballot features titles in the categories of Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Children's Literature, and Children's Illustrated that appeared on 2006 Book Sense Picks lists, as well as space for write-ins in each category. Only books published in 2006 are eligible.

For the eight-week period ending January 23, 2007, and based on sales at independent bookstores with Book Sense nationwide.

Past Category Bestseller lists are available on ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org.

Attention Media: Contact Meg Smith at [email protected] for reprint guidelines for your newspaper or magazine.