Cincinnati Area Bookstores and Libraries Team to Celebrate Indies First Storytime Day

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In the five weeks since Indies First Storytime Day was announced in a letter from National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Kate DiCamillo, 50 bookstores have signed on to participate and 150 authors have volunteered to read aloud to children for the May 17 event. Bookstores in all regions are getting plans together to celebrate, and several bookstores and libraries in the Cincinnati area are coming together to promote a community reading program throughout the month of April.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Ohio, is teaming with area bookstores and libraries to challenge local children to read Mac Barnett’s new picture book, President Taft is Stuck in the Bath (Candlewick), throughout the month of April. Joseph-Beth Booksellers is looking to get 500 children in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky to participate.

Booksellers Blue Marble Books (Fort Thomas, Kentucky), Blue Manatee Children’s Bookstore & Café (Cincinnati), and The Bookshelf (Cincinnati) are joining in the effort to encourage children to pick up the book, as are literacy nonprofit WordPlay Cincy, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and Kenton County libraries in Kentucky.

Each participating partner will display the overall number of readers and will promote and host events throughout April to raise the count. If the number of participating readers reaches 500, which will be tallied by the number of kids attending Taft-themed storytimes, purchasing the book, or borrowing the book from a library during the month of April, local readers will be treated to two events featuring author Barnett on Indies First Storytime Day.

“We are very inspired by the leadership coming from every segment of the reading world,” said Michael Link, publisher relations and events manager for Joseph-Beth Booksellers. “Sherman Alexie and Kate DiCamillo giving up their own time and energy to promote these reading initiatives and these indie bookstore initiatives, the ABA getting behind it so fully, all the different stores working on it — it really is something very tangible and meaningful for those of us who are independent booksellers. We’re all in this together — authors, bookstores, readers — and working toward something that we care so deeply about. We couldn’t be happier doing something that, hopefully, all the kids participating will find as much fun to take part in as we have had putting together.”

Stay tuned to BTW for updates on Indies First Storytime Day. Bookstores with special plans for the celebration are asked to let ABA know.

Bookstores and authors/illustrators looking to participate in Indies First Storytime Day should contact one another directly to make arrangements for the day. Booksellers wanting an author to appear in their store on May 17 should review the reader volunteer index of more than 90 authors and illustrators looking for a bookstore to host them. Authors or illustrators wishing participate in Indies First Storytime Day who do not have a bookstore in mind can sign up here to be added to the author index.

As booksellers finalize participation with authors, they should complete the Event Detail Form on BookWeb. The store’s location will automatically appear on IndieBound’s Event Map within a few days of the submission. Links to all of the Indies First Storytime Day resources are available on BookWeb, as is the Indies First Event Participation Guidelines, which outlines the ways in which authors and illustrators can support the movement, both year-round and by participating in dedicated Indies First events.

Indies First Storytime Day will be celebrated in conjunction with Children’s Book Week, which runs May 12 – 18, and ABA is working with the Children’s Book Council to grow the event.