On Saturday evening at the 14th annual Children's Institute, taking place in Schaumburg, Ill., children's booksellers and publishing professionals from across the country gathered to meet, mingle and fight for costume supremacy.
At the opening reception, author T.C. Kemper (The Ginghams, Holt) won first place in the costume contest for her excellent interpretation of I Spy by Jean Marzollo and illustrated by Walter Wick.
Ballast Book Company, Bremerton, Wash., booksellers Miracle Lucketti (l.) and Marisa Spence won second prize for their Frog and Toad Together duo costume.
Additional fabulous children's book costumes included (above) a four-part ensemble for Scott Campbell's Cabin Head and Tree Head by Books & Company, Oconomowoc, Wis., booksellers (from l.) Kerry Hanson, Katrina Bright Yerges, Chloe Purton, and Lisa Baudoin; and (below) Northshire Books, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., bookseller Tara Ludwin as Escargot by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Sydney Hanson, with Aubrey A. Cece of Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, N.J., as The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler.
At Children's Bookselling 101: A Seminar, experienced booksellers (l.-r.) Jamie Thomas of Women & Children First, Chicago, Ill., Kristina Rivero from Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, N.Y., Emma Kawecki of bbgb tales for kids, Richmond, Va., and Sunny Bowles from Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, Ga., spoke to a room of almost entirely first-time Children's Institute attendees about the basics of children's bookselling and the ins and outs of running a store. Helpful suggestions included starting bookseller backlist book clubs, reading picture books to your staff, and making sure that, when interacting with young readers, booksellers ask them both what they enjoyed reading and what they didn't love.
At yesterday's author reception: (from l.) Adrianna Cuevas (Mischief and Monsters, FSG, Sept.), Julian Randall (Shook, Holt, Aug.), bookseller Kristina Rivero, Books Are Magic, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Kat Cho (House of Forgotten Souls, Bloomsbury YA, Jan. 2027).
Sourcebooks authors (l.) Daniel Nayeri (This Is a Door, Oct.) and (r.) Raj Haldar (What Rhymes with Pterodactyl, Oct.) show off their upcoming books with bookseller Michael Leali from Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore in Berkeley, Calif.
And special thanks to the people who make it all happen: ABA staffers at Ci