Growing List of Authors and Illustrators Look to Pair With Bookstores for Indies First Storytime Day

More than 100 authors and illustrators have already signed up to read to children on Indies First Storytime Day, the daylong read-aloud taking place in independent bookstores around the country on May 17, 2014. Now more than 80 of those authors and illustrators, located in cities from coast to coast, are waiting to be contacted by local bookstores interested in hosting an event. ABA member stores can visit the reader volunteer index on BookWeb (username and password required) to find volunteer readers in their areas, including:

• D.J. MacHale, author of the Pendragon series (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin) and The SYLO Chronicles (Penguin/Razorbill) – Los Angeles, California
• Pat Schmatz, author of Bluefish (Candlewick) – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Sarah S. Brannen, illustrator of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding (Penguin/G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers) – Sudbury, Massachusetts
• Suzanne Selfors, creator of the Smells Like Dog and The Imaginary Veterinary series (Hachette/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) – Bainbridge Island, Washington
• Jennifer Alvarez, author of the upcoming The Guardian Herd series (HarperCollins Children’s Books) – Windsor, California
• Jane Kurtz, author of Anna Was Here (HarperCollins/Greenwillow) – Portland, Oregon
• Sarah Sullivan, author of All That’s Missing (Candlewick) – Charleston, West Virginia
• Kathleen McCleary, author of Leaving Haven (HarperCollins/William Morrow) – Falls Church, Virginia

As Indies First Storytime Day is a grassroots movement, bookstores and authors/illustrators should contact one another directly to make arrangements for the day. 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.

Once booksellers have one or more authors or illustrators coordinated to participate, 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.

Booksellers can find links to all of the Indies First Storytime Day resources on BookWeb and can check out the list of 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.

Spearheaded by award-winning author Kate DiCamillo, the Library of Congress’ 2014 – 2015 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Indies First Storytime Day will be celebrated in conjunction with Children’s Book Week, which runs May 12 – 18. In the spirit of author Sherman Alexie’s call last fall for authors to take up handselling at indie bookstores, DiCamillo penned a letter to her fellow authors and illustrators in February to ask them to volunteer to read a children’s book at their favorite indie bookstore. ABA is also working with the Children’s Book Council to grow the movement.