Enthusiasm Resounds at Children's Institute

The American Booksellers Association and the ABC Children’s Group at ABA welcomed 130 booksellers from 32 states to San Antonio, Texas, this week for an upbeat and energetic 2014 ABC Children’s Institute. Booksellers arrived on Sunday, April 6, for an opening reception and stayed for a full day of education and special events on Monday, made possible by the support of lead sponsor Baker & Taylor with additional support from publishers large and small.

“Our first standalone Children's Institute exceeded our expectations,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. “The feedback that we’ve received from participants to date has been extremely positive. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and while we will await the post-institute evaluations from attendees before making any decision about next year, based on the feedback we've already received, I think it fair to say there will be future Children's Institutes. Our job as an association is to keep growing, improving, and expanding these kind of educational initiatives and we remain committed to doing just that.”

To kick off the insitute’s programming, ABA President Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, welcomed booksellers, authors, and publishers to an opening plenary on Sunday evening and noted the exceptional range of upcoming educational sessions, from child development and literacy to book fairs and author events, in a schedule packed with presenters and authors. “What’s clear from the programming is that all of us are committed to helping young readers discover and develop their love for reading,” said Bercu.

Author Brad Meltzer, whose books I am Abraham Lincoln and I Am Amelia Earhart are part of his Ordinary People Change the World series (Dial), presented the plenary talk “What Is Your Legacy?” Asking booksellers what legacy they planned to leave behind — how they will be remembered, and, more specifically, what their obituaries will say about them — Meltzer explained, “That’s a really selfish question, but it’s a vital question.” Everyone is remembered by their family, friends, and coworkers, he continued, but beyond that, people are remembered by the community they influence and the impact they have on complete strangers. “Those things you do for other people — that’s your legacy,” said Meltzer. “That’s what endures.”

Pointing to the unending efforts booksellers make in their hometowns, he said, “You don’t realize the impact you have on your community. There are so many people who, because of you, find that book. That’s what you do. That’s your impact. And sometimes, as you know, it can take a lifetime to have an impact on a community. But when you do, it will pay you back forever.”

Following Meltzer’s speech, booksellers had the opportunity to meet the author and enjoy drinks and conversation with other institute attendees during an outdoor reception. To close out the evening, booksellers gathered around a full ice cream bar to get to know authors Trent Reedy, Deborah Wiles, Jim Benton, and Varian Johnson at Scholastic’s Meet & Treat After Party.

A full day of educational sessions and plenaries kicked off on Monday with speaker Tim Federle, author of Five, Six, Seven, Nate! and Better Nate than Ever (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers). Federle, who danced on Broadway in New York City and later coached young dancers for the play Billy Elliott, told attendees, “I think booksellers and authors are more alike than different. I think it’s because all of us know that words can change somebody’s day for a couple of hours and, occasionally, words can change somebody for a lifetime.”

“If you’re in this room, you’re a dreamer and an optimist because you work in bookselling,” said Federle. “It means that while it might not every single day of the year make sense on paper, it makes sense in your heart, and that’s the truest accountant there is — your heart.” Federle encouraged booksellers to welcome new readers to their stores by approaching each day with new eyes and treating each customer as though they had never been in the shop before. “People remember the way you feel,” said Federle. “A website can make you feel a little bit, but a shop can make you feel a lot.

“On the day that you put the right book into the right hands... you can and you will change a life,” Federle concluded. “I don’t think of you as booksellers, I think of you as book soldiers because you are fighting for stories that I think need to be heard and read, and I salute you from the sidelines.”

Designer and author Chip Kidd, who has a lifetime of experience as a freelancer and a designer for Knopf, spoke to booksellers about his book Go! A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design (Workman). Known for creating compelling, alluring book covers, Kidd discussed a current project in which he is collecting blank comic book cover variants and is having modern comic book artists illustrate them. As a compilation, the book will be sold to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Kidd also praised his favorite bookstores in New York City, noting “You can tell that they’re putting real care into interesting books and interesting covers that you, frankly, may not otherwise have heard of or encounter.”

Anastasia McKenna, or “Miss Anastasia” as she is known to her storytime attendees at The Twig Book Shop in San Antonio, gave booksellers an enthusiastic demonstration of her style of storytime and offered a variety of tips on making storytime a great experience for attending children, including meeting with the kids at eye level, starting every session with the same call-and-response song, and creating a display of face-out titles on the shelves behind her so that parents with wandering eyes can take a look at the store’s new books. McKenna follows storytime with a craft project and a snack of gourmet cookies from a local restaurant.

At the closing reception, booksellers met with more than 30 authors and illustrators, snapping photos and getting signatures on everything from picture books to young adult titles. Despite it being the end of a jam-packed day, booksellers displayed resounding enthusiasm for the Children’s Institute. Candace Tate, who is in the process of opening Kidz 2 Teens International Bookstore in Texas, attended the Children’s Institute as her first-ever ABA event. “It was wonderful,” she commented, adding that she was astounded by the warm welcome she received from fellow booksellers and the helpfulness of the education sessions. Next on Tate’s list is attending a Paz & Associates workshop for new and prospective booksellers in Florida.

William Bauer from Redbery Books won the raffle for illustrator M. Sarah Klise’s original Children’s Institute artwork and plans to hang the picture in the bookstore upon his return to  Cable, Wisconsin. Bauer noted specifically how much he enjoyed, “the passion, the energy, and the education,” at the Children’s Institute.

With a background in the field of dance, Lauren Savage of The Reading Bug in San Carlos, California, said, “What really hit home for me was Tim Federle,” as the author followed a very similar path as Savage in life, from Broadway to the book business. “It really justifies for me that I’m in the right place now.”

Also enjoying the institute were Jennifer Frances and David Fain of Bess the Book Bus mobile literacy outreach project, who visited with booksellers during the reception and welcomed the donation of leftover galley room titles that will be shared with families across the country who don’t have the means to build home libraries.

Stay tuned to Bookselling This Week for upcoming coverage of educational sessions from the Children’s Institute, as well as news about the availability of plenary and education session videos, made possible by a grant from author James Patterson.