Tyler Stewart's effort to sell 1,000 T-shirts at $20 each to be able to pay back taxes of $15,000 and keep Pandemonium Books, Cambridge, Mass., in business (Shelf Awareness, February 8, 2007) has been successful, the Boston Globe reported.

The effort took just two weeks, not the month Stewart had anticipated. Also, very nicely, Frank Kramer, owner of the Harvard Book Store, publicized Stewart's problems and solution--and bought two T-shirts for himself.

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The Allentown Morning Call profiles the country's oldest bookstore, the Moravian Book Shop, Bethlehem, Pa., which was founded in 1745. The store still has close ties to the Moravian Church but is not a religious bookstore. About 25% of the store's sales are books; it also has a deli with wi-fi and a printing operation as well as sells gifts, housewares, Christmas crafts, coffee, chocolates and more. Because of tourists who visit Bethlehem, December is even busier at the store than at most bookstores.

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Ann Carlson, owner of Harborwalk Books, Georgetown, S.C., has opened the Book Stall in Aiken, S.C., and will have a grand opening reception a week from this coming Friday, March 16, the Aiken Standard reported.

Carlson plans to run monthly theme events around such possibilities as cookbooks, poetry, a benefit with the SPCA and children. She will split her time between the two stores.

"Aiken's downtown is a wonderful place to shop, and there wasn't a bookstore downtown," Carlson told the paper. "I thought it needed one."

The Book Stall is located at 413 Hayne Ave., Aiken, S.C. 29801; 803-644-0604.

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Finalists for the Nebula Awards have been announced. Check them out online.

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The 50th anniversary of the publication of The Cat and the Hat was not the only big event last Friday. In Albany, N.Y., mayor Gerald D. Jennings gave native son William J. Kennedy a key to the city and issued a proclamation lauding his work, particularly the Albany series, and suggested residents read one of his books, among them Legs, Ironweed and Roscoe.

The proclamation read in part: "While it can be argued an evolutionary process is evident from his first novel, Ink Truck, to the work that won him the Pulitzer Prize, what has remained a constant is William Kennedy's faith in himself; his high standards, and a conviction he has a story to tell, if only the world would listen. Finally, it has. Albany has won the Pulitzer too. Thank you, William Kennedy, for staying the course."

During the next few months, a kind of Kennedy in Albany festival takes places, highlighted by an April 20 Albany Symphony Orchestra concert that features the original work Roscoe, a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra based on the Kennedy book; bookstore discussions; several appearances and talks by the author; tours of sites mentioned in Kennedy's works; and a staged reading of Kennedy's Grand View.

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Linda Sinisi has joined National Book Network as special sales manager. She was formerly director of special markets at Harry N. Abrams and earlier worked at the ABA, helping publishers market through Book Sense, and managed the direct response business at Hachette Book Group. 

A change of scenery is in store for Books Etc.: starting this Wednesday, March 7, and lasting until Sunday, the Maine retailer will set up shop at the Portland Flower Show, an annual event that draws 15,000 attendees.

Books Etc. will transform a 600-sq.-ft. exhibit space at the Portland Company Complex, led by the efforts of two industrious employees with design and carpentry skills. "It's an example of utilizing your staff to the fullest, bringing in their talents and creativity," said store marketing director Jay Setliff. "We're going all out to make it look like an enclosed structure you'd find in a garden."

Staffers' willingness to lend a hand beyond the scope of their normal responsibilities means that the store "can accomplish something on a low budget that we normally wouldn't be able to do," Setliff said. The gazebo-like structure, which includes columns and latticework, will allow showgoers to "walk inside and get out of the traffic pattern" and encourage them to browse.

Traditional gardening books and ecologically friendly titles will be available, along with sideline items such as garden-themed cards. Books Etc. is emphasizing children's books, and the array of kid-friendly merchandise will include Gund's garden play sets and other plush toys, practical tomes like Gardening with Children and picture books such as Linnea in Monet's Garden.

The exhibit space is adjacent to a lecture hall, and Books Etc. will hold signings with Ellen Zachos, author of Down & Dirty!: 43 Fun & Funky First-Time Projects and Activities to Get You Gardening; Paul Tukey, author of The Organic Lawn Care Manual; and Edward C. Smith, author of Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers.

Both of Books Etc.'s locations in Portland and Falmouth are selling tickets to the event and have posters up promoting the flower show. In addition, the Falmouth store has a window display featuring gardening titles.

Books Etc.'s green gig sprang up with some magical help. The store is taking part in an extravaganza to be held at the same venue in conjunction with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July. "With our name being bandied about for that," said Setliff, "they looked to us to fill the slot for a bookseller" at the Portland Flower Show.

Setliff is optimistic that the store will exhibit at future flower shows. "If we do as well as we expect," he said, "we'd love to do it every year." By going the extra mile to create a vibrant exhibit space, Books Etc. just might be sowing the seeds for a perennial presentation.--Shannon McKenna

Lisa Krebs of PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, notes that March is Small Press Month and suggests bookstores and libraries--"the lifeblood of small and independent presses around the country"--might do the following to support the event:

1. Have a National Small Press Month exhibit. Display colorful Small Press Month posters, which can be obtained from the Small Press Month Coordinator, Independent Book Publishers Association, at 310-372-2732. Posters come in units of five.
2. Display a selection of small press titles, perhaps focusing on local independent presses.
3. Bookstores could offer a discount on small press titles during the month.
4. Be sure to ask independent presses and their distributors for catalogues to keep up on new titles, especially during March.
5. Ask a local small press publisher to give a talk. One popular topic is, "How to get published by a small press."
6. Include National Small Press Month information on your Web site.
7. Organize readings or signings by local small press authors during the month.
8. Start a reading group focusing on independently produced titles in your store or branch.
9. Recommend specific titles from small and independent presses to patrons and customers.
10. Link to the National Small Press Month Web site from your own.

This coming Friday, March 9, the movie based on Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake opens. With the tagline, "two worlds, one journey," the movie is directed by Mira Nair and stars Tabu, Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Zuleikha Robinson, Jacinda Barrett and Sahira Nair. Lahiri herself appears as Aunt Jhumpa.

The movie tie-in edition of the book is published by Mariner ($14, 9780618733965/0618733965). Newmarket has a book about the movie, The Namesake: A Portrait of the Film Based on the Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri ($30, 9781557047410/1557047413), featuring essays by Lahiri and director Nair, excerpts from the book and a range of photographs.

The Namesake is getting attention at Costco, too. Book buyer Pennie Clark Ianniciello has chosen the title for her March book pick, writing, "The novel tells the story of a tradition-bound family that moves from India to Massachusetts. While the husband adapts, the wife resists. And their American-born son bears the burden of his heritage--and an unusual name [Gogol]."

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Zodiac, the movie about the Bay Area serial killer of the same name, opened this past weekend to some solid reviews and box office. Directed by David Fincher and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., the film is based on two books by Robert Graysmith: the tie-in editions are Zodiac (Penguin, $7.99, 9780425212189/0425212181) and Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America's Most Elusive Serial Killers Revealed (Penguin, $7.99, 9780425212738/0425212734).

Graysmith is a San Francisco Chronicle reporter obsessed by the case--between 1966 and 1978, the Zodiac Killer murdered at least six people and claimed many more. He was never caught.
 

Beginning this morning the Early Show is serving up a three-part series with Elisa Zied, author of the new Feed Your Family Right!: How to Make Smart Food and Fitness Choices for a Healthy Lifestyle (Wiley, $16.95, 9780471778943/047177894X) and So What Can I Eat?!: How to Make Sense of the New Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Make Them Your Own (Wiley, $14.95, 9780471772019/0471772011).

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Today the View hears from Lee and Bob Woodruff about their memoir, In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing (Random House, $25.95, 9781400066674/1400066670). Tonight the Woodruffs are also on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

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Today the Oprah Winfrey Show re-airs the episode "Great Women and Their Anti-Aging Secrets" featuring Nora Ephron, author of I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (Knopf, $19.95, 9780307264558). Also on the show is Susan Love, who offers advice from Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices (Three Rivers Press, $16.95, 9780609809969/0609809962).

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Today the Diane Rehm Show discusses China's growing global influence with David Shambaugh, author of Modernizing China's Military: Progress, Problems, and Prospects (University of California Press, $19.95, 9780520242388/0520242386), and James Mann, author of The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression (Viking, $19.95, 9780670038251/0670038253).

Also on the Diane Rehm Show: Simcha Jacobovici, author of The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence that Could Change History (HarperSanFrancisco, $27.95, 9780061192029/0061192023).

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Today NPR's Fresh Air talks with Dan Gilgoff about The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War (St. Martin's, $25.95, 9780312357900/0312357907).

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Tonight the Late Show with David Letterman turns the spotlight on naturalist and TV personality Jack Hanna, whose books include Wild About Babies: What the Animals Teach Us About Parenting (Harvest House, $16.99, 9780736912082/0736912088).

The winners of the 2006 Golden Kite Awards, sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators for excellence in children's literature, have gone to:

• Fiction: Firegirl by Tony Abbott (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
• Nonfiction: The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman (Arthhur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
• Picture Book Text: Jazz by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers (Holiday House)
• Picture Book Illustration: Not Afraid of Dogs, illustrated by Larry Day, written by Susanna Pitzer (Walker)
  

For honor book and other prize winners, please visit the SCBWI Web site.

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The 39 winners of the 2006 James Patterson PageTurner Awards, given to people and organizations who "go to extraordinary lengths to spread the joy of books and reading across the country," include many familiar bookstores, libraries and organizations.

The $100,000 PageTurner of the Year went to the Washington Center for the Book, Seattle, which started the "one city, one book" program. The $50,000 PageTurner Champion Awards went to several organizations such as 826 National, Dave Eggers' group that helps improve children's reading and writing skills, and First Book, which aims to give the first book to underprivileged children.

$5,000 PageTurner Award winners included:

• Elaine Petrocelli, Book Passage, Corte Madera and San Francisco, Calif., for "working day and night to keep books and bookselling exciting as well as effective."
• Emma Rodgers, Black Images Book Bazaar, Dallas, Tex., for helping to "conceive of the Romance Slam Jam, a unique annual conference that allows black romance writers to showcase their work and possibly even win an eponymous Emma Award, which honors excellence in romance action."
• Jill Lamar, director of the Discover Great New Writers program at Barnes & Noble, for aiming "to get the word out on new literary authors that the public may not be aware of."
• Kathy Patrick, founder of Beauty and the Book, Jefferson, Tex., and the Pulpwood Queens book club, for "her love of reading and determination to have fun."
• Kendra Cullin, a category marketing specialist at Borders, who "is always willing to help out, contribute ideas and is an irreplaceable employee who knows every nook and cranny of the book marketing world."
• Mary Yockey, a buyer at Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, Ill., for her "hard work and dedication to getting interesting and much loved books onto the shelves--and authors in the stores (even our own James Patterson has entertained a packed house there)" and for participating in the Book Angel Project.
• Paul Ingram, book buyer at Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Iowa, for spending "decades bringing national and international high profile authors to the store--as well as promoting these events on a local radio program called Live from Prairie Lights--giving customers a chance to meet and learn from their favorite writers."
• The Poisoned Pen, Phoenix and Scottsdale, Ariz., "which serves as an amazing book and author event resource to the surrounding area."
• R.J. Julia Bookshop, Madison, Conn., for its events, writing workshops, children's events, author visits, and owner Roxanne Coady's regular appearances on Connecticut Public Radio.
• Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance for its Authors Round the South, the Spoken Word and SIBA Book Awards programs. "While their outreach is immeasurable, book lovers everywhere are touched everyday by SIBA's passion to spread the joy of reading."

Congratulations to all winners!

From last week's Book Sense bestseller lists, available at BookSense.com, here are the recommended titles, which are also Book Sense Picks:

Hardcover

Once in a Promised Land by Laila Halaby (Beacon, $24.95, 9780807083901/0807083909). "In these very troubled times, it is crucial to understand how mixed cultures affect real lives. This novel tells just such a story in wrenching, emotional terms. One can learn much from this amazingly gifted writer, whose background is Jordanian and American."--Dana Brigham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass.

Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother by Peggy Orenstein (Bloomsbury, $23.95, 9781596910171/1596910178). "In her previous work, Orenstein tackled the psychological development of teenaged girls and the tenuous balance between work and family in women's lives. Now, she turns her journalistic eye inward, describing her move from ambivalence to a nearly fanatic desire to have a baby. An uplifting, if cautionary, tale for anyone who has wondered how far she or he would go to have a child."--Libby Cowles, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, Colo.

Paperback

Curse of the Narrows by Laura M. MacDonald (Walker, $15.95, 9780802715104/0802715109). "This account of the horrific 1917 explosion that leveled much of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a great example of compelling, readable history. Highly recommended."--Miki Wigley, Lee Booksellers, Lincoln, Neb.

For Teen Readers

Cupid: A Tale of Love and Desire by Julius Lester (Harcourt, $17, 9780152020569/015202056X). "Love, especially immortal love, has never run smoothly, and Lester's retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche emphasizes that, above all else. Complete with meddling by Psyche's sisters and Cupid's mother, Aphrodite, the couple struggles to fall in love. Along the way, Lester makes mythology accessible and entertaining to a whole new audience."--Cathy Berner, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, Tex.

[Many thanks to Book Sense and the ABA!]