Nominations for Outstanding Children's Booksellers Wanted

The Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has announced its annual call for nominations of outstanding U.S. booksellers in the field of children's literature. From the nominations, two bookstores -- one general bookstore and one specialty children's store -- will be selected as winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award to be presented at BookExpo America 2003. Last year's winners were Eight Cousins children's bookstore in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois.

Eileen Hanning, WNBA Pannell chair, told BTW, "WNBA created the award to honor Lucile Micheels Pannell, a model bookwoman and extraordinary children's bookseller, by recognizing excellence in the field of children's bookselling. We're not looking for huge sales, big special events, or flashy marketing. We're looking to spotlight stores that respond to the needs of the children and families in their communities; stores that help kids and parents find the books that are right for them; stores that strive to create life-long readers (and book buyers!) by exposing children to the wonder and excitement of reading."

The Pannell Award is presented to bookstores, not individual booksellers, "but often stores get nominated based on a spectacular individual bookseller," said Hanning. "That's fine -- but then I ask the store, once nominated, to gather materials that will show the jury the kinds of things the store does regularly or has done in the past to bring children and books together. While the award goes to just two stores, last year the jury found the submissions for nominees so exceptional, that they awarded honorable mentions for the first time. We also compiled a list of The Best Ideas in Children's Bookselling from the submissions."

To nominate a bookstore, members of the book industry should send a letter with the name and contact information for the store, a brief statement of why this store is worthy of the award, and their name and industry affiliation. The deadline for nominations is January 31, 2003. Nominations should be sent to [email protected] or to Pannell Award Nomination, 5200 South 6th Place, Arlington, Virginia 22204.

Naperville Reads Gary Paulsen
Anderson's Bookshops of Naperville, Illinois, worked in collaboration with school districts and public libraries to encourage the entire town to read a book by Mr. Paulsen in anticipation of his visit.

Powerful Staff Manual
Eight Cousin's Children's Books of Falmouth, Massachusetts, staff manual is simply this: "Take care of the customers. Take care of the books. Take care of the money. Take care of each other." These simple concepts are practical and humane, and demonstrate long-term vision.

OrKidstra
Hawley-Cooke Booksellers of Louisville, Kentucky, brought in the conductor and some musicians from the Louisville Orchestra for a story time with appropriate background music. Children had the opportunity to learn about music, instruments, and the orchestra first hand.

Eat Your Words
Flying Pig Children's Books of Charlotte, Vermont, worked with the New England Culinary Institute in their community. The event was a meal centered around a book or theme. The price included the discussion, the meal, and a gift certificate to the store.

Multicultural Readathon
Mother Kali's Books of Eugene, Oregon, provided a list of recommended books available at their store or the library. They encouraged children to see how many multicultural books they could read. Instead of the library and bookstore each holding its own summer reading program, they worked together.

Authors and Artists Alive
Butterfly Books of DePere, Wisconsin, created a program where parent volunteers introduce children to authors who also illustrate their books. The store has created kits featuring 14 different authors. They train the volunteers and provide books and materials for classroom visits.

Author Breakfast for Teachers
Vancouver KidsBooks of Vancouver, British Columbia, holds author breakfasts for teachers featuring favorite authors. The price of the ticket includes a copy of the author's book and a continental breakfast.

Keep Your Costume Characters Cool
The Red Balloon of St. Paul, Minnesota, uses ice packs to keep their booksellers in costume cool. Ice packs designed for sports injuries are great to drape over the shoulders underneath the costume. During breaks characters can hold small ice packs, like those for lunch boxes, in their hands to cool down quickly.