Elm Street Books Wins Children’s Book Week Display Contest

New Canaan, Connecticut’s Elm Street Books is the lucky winner of this year’s Children’s Book Week Display Contest, co-sponsored by the Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader in partnership with the ABC Children’s Group at ABA.

As the contest winner, Elm Street Books will have the opportunity to host a visit by an author or illustrator of one of the 2015 Children’s Choice Book Award winners or finalists.

Elm Street’s window display recreated the official Children’s Book Week poster, designed by Disney Publishing Worldwide storybook artist Grace Lee. The poster, and Elm Street’s window, featured a scene of two children reading inside a cardboard castle alongside favorite children’s book characters.

“We wanted it to be as whimsical and as imaginative as the Grace Lee poster was, because that was such an inspiration in and of itself,” said Melissa Thorkilsen, who manages Elm Street’s children’s section with Connie Melvin. “I thought that would be a great way to celebrate the magic of children’s books.”

This was the first year that Elm Street Books participated in the display contest, said store manager Kathleen Millard, and Thorkilsen and Melvin pulled out all the stops to create an over-the top window display. “We are thrilled, and we are certainly happy for the two people who worked so hard to create it,” said Millard. “And we’re happy that it has broadened the reach of Children’s Book Week to a greater audience.”

The 96th annual celebration of Children’s Book Week was held this year from May 4 to 10. All entries for the 2015 Children’s Book Week Display Contest can be viewed here. Entries were judged based on adherence to the theme of Children’s Book Week, uniqueness, use of space, and other criteria.

Next week at BEA, the Children’s Book Council, the anchor sponsor of Children’s Book Week, will be honored with BookExpo America’s 2015 Industry Ambassador Award in acknowledgement of the organization’s dedication to fostering literacy, diversity, and education. The award will be presented on Wednesday, May 27, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 1E12/1E13/1E14 at the Javits Center.