Book Beat in Oak Park, Mich., and Monkey See, Monkey Do... Children's Bookstore in Clarence, N.Y., have won this year's Lucile Micheels Pannell Award, given annually since 1983 to a general bookstore and children's-only bookstore "that excel at inspiring the interest of young people in books and reading" and sponsored by Women's National Book Association.
Book Beat won in the general bookstore category; Monkey See, Monkey Do won in the children's specialty category. The awards will be presented at BEA's Children's Book and Author Breakfast on Wednesday, June 6, in the Javits Special Events Hall.
Each winner will receive a check for $1,000 and a framed piece of original art. This year's artwork will be contributed by Jenni Desmond and George Ford (the first illustrator to win the Coretta Scott King Book Award in 1974). Penguin Young Readers Group is again underwriting the award.
According to Valerie Tomaselli, the WNBA Pannell chair, the jury of five book industry professionals who selected the winners praised Book Beat for its "passion and true understanding of children's books and young readers [and its] tremendous success as an independent haven within a tough urban environment." Monkey See, Monkey Do was commended for its enthusiastic and innovative approaches to getting kids engaged with reading, and its "spirit of entrepreneurship, looking for ways to make money not just from book sales."