Free Expression

BookStats annual survey results announced; BEA author events to be streamed live; “Buzz Books 2013: Fall/Winter” released; Prospective booksellers learn the ropes at Paz workshop; Midwest Booksellers Choice Awards finalists announced; Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl challenged at Michigan school; Winner of Hugh Hefner First Amendment Award announced; Bookmasters to distribute TGS International

A Glen Ellyn, Illinois, school district has banned Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower from eighth grade classrooms, but parents, teachers, students, and the Kids’ Right to Read Project are asking the district to reconsider its decision.

Booksellers, publishers, authors, and anyone else who loves children’s book art or feels strongly about kids’ right to read should be sure to have the Annual Children’s Book Art Silent Auction and Reception on their BEA calendars. For book industry professionals who can’t make it to the auction, those who just want to double their opportunity to bid on great art, and members of the public, ABFFE has added an online auction component.

With double the number of works of art compared to last year, a special tribute to Maurice Sendak, and hosts Jack Gantos and Lauren Myracle, the May 29 Children’s Book Art Silent Auction & Reception at BEA is shaping up to be a stellar event. Thanks to a donation from the Estate of Maurice Sendak, auction participants will be able to bid on a sketch of Little Bear on tracing paper signed by the beloved author and illustrator.

A special section of this year’s Children’s Book Art Silent Auction at BEA will honor the late Maurice Sendak, the beloved author and illustrator of classic children’s titles and a passionate defender of free speech. A number of illustrators will be creating special artworks commemorating Sendak that will be auctioned off at the event.

Pubs for the Hub to raise funds for Boston; Intuit’s “Make a Wish” contest for small business owners returns; ALA’s list of most challenged titles released; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announces Take 5; Books Are My Bag to launch in U.K.; Simon & Schuster in pilot program with New York City libraries; Ingram adds Ebook Library titles to OASIS

Tickets for the annual Children’s Book Art Silent Auction & Reception at BookExpo America are on sale now. In addition to remarkable art from new books, this year’s auction will feature pieces created in honor of Maurice Sendak, who mentored and inspired so many artists and fought vigorously against efforts to censor In the Night Kitchen.

ABFFE and the ABC Children’s Group at ABA are seeking donations of original art for the 2013 Children’s Book Art Silent Auction and Reception at BEA.  This year’s event will be on Wednesday evening, May 29, and will be hosted by bestselling authors Jack Gantos and Lauren Myracle.

ABFFE will be receiving an initial gift of $8,000 in special royalties from sales of My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop, thanks to Black Dog & Leventhal and Workman Publishing.

The Annual Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception at BEA to benefit ABFFE will be hosted by Newbery Medal-winner Jack Gantos and Lauren Myracle, whose books top the list of the country’s most challenged titles. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

The National Coalition Against Censorship, on behalf of the Kids’ Right to Read Project, has come out in strong opposition to the Chicago Public School system’s decision to remove the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi from certain district classrooms.

ABFFE has hired two consultants to manage its major fundraising projects — the auction of original children’s book art and an affiliate program for sideline producers who contribute to ABFFE a portion of their sales to independent bookstores.

Monday’s Winter Institute session entitled “Banned Books, Censorship, and YA Literature” fostered a lively discussion about booksellers’ roles when communities face censorship issues.

ABFFE will conduct a silent auction of 25 original children’s book artworks in conjunction with the Authors Reception at Winter Institute 8.

Laurie Halse Anderson, a featured panelist at the Wi8 session “Banned Books, Censorship, and YA Literature,” speaks to ABFFE President Chris Finan about how she chooses the subjects for her books and why people try to ban them.