Pannell Award-winning bookseller A Whale of a Tale Children's Bookshoppe, Irvine, Calif., is going to close temporarily, but owner Alexandra Uhl promises that the business will reopen in another location as soon as possible, Jacket Copy reported.

"I'm ready to pass on the bittersweet announcement that the store will be closing at the current location at the end of May, and re-opening on a reduced schedule in a new Irvine location during the summer," Uhl notified customers in an e-mail Monday. "In today's world, the economy, the size of the store, and the seven-day work weeks to manage it, no longer make sense for me."

Promising more details soon, Uhl wrote that her bookshop "will, though, continue to host popular school and library events. And even with reduced hours, the store will be there to serve your book needs. For now, I bid you a fond and grateful farewell."

Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach, Fla., is planning to consolidate its inventory into the soon-to-be renovated children's store, reducing the location's footprint from 20,000 square feet to 12,500, VeroNews.com reported.

"It's always been too big, especially for a small town," said owner Chad Leonard, whose parents founded the bookstore in 1975. "Twelve thousand five hundred is still a very big book store.... We've got to change with the times. Big book stores aren't going to exist as much anymore. The small mammals survive while the big dinosaurs die off." The move is expected to be completed in early summer and he anticipates only having to close for a "couple of days, hopefully."

The Leonard family and bookshop staff "consulted with experts and debated amongst themselves whether to keep the main book store, with its high-visibility frontage on Indian River Boulevard, or move to the children's center around the corner on Miracle Mile," VeroNews.com noted.

"The children's store is where we want to be," said Leonard, adding: "We're going to have a great store. We're pretty psyched about it."

In its most recent B-Mail e-newsletter, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, Mass., updated customers on recent expansion/reorganization plans for the Used Book Cellar: "Downstairs changes are afoot, we're expanding over into the other half of the basement to double the size of our used kids books section, increase the size of our Book Club Picks and Staff Recommends, and to double the size of New Arrivals. Your opportunities for lucky finds will now increase twofold! On the pulse of all this great weather we've been having we've also reintroduced the beloved outdoor dollar cart to the wild."

photo: Frank Espich/The Star

Barnes & Noble will relocate its Northeastside Indianapolis store at 3748 E. 82nd St. to the site of a former Borders bookstore at 8675 River Crossing Blvd. The Star reported that the "new location holds 28,000 square feet, about a third larger than the current 20,000-square-foot store, which opened in 1993." The move is expected to be completed by May 21.

Noting that the new location is easier for customers to find and has more parking, as well as a better mix of restaurants and other retailers, David Deason, v-p of development for B&N, said selling books "is a tough battle. We'll take every advantage we can get. It's a great opportunity for us."

World Book Night U.S. reported the following metrics for its second nationwide campaign, in celebration of World Book Night April 23:

• 32% sales increase, according to Bookscan, on the regular editions of WBN titles for the year to date, excluding new releases.
• 130 million market reach--those who saw or heard a WBN print, online, radio or TV message this April, up from 35 million for the first year.
• 607,000 visitors to WBN's Facebook page during the week of April 22, with a Klout score of 75 for the week.

WBN U.S. executive director Carl Lennertz commented: "These numbers attest to the effectiveness of our community/sharing/reading message. We are engaging a deep and broad base of booklovers in passionate dialogue about the power of books, as well as getting the word out to the population at large about the value of reading."

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has launched the Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award for authors over the age of 50 who have not been traditionally published in the children's literature field. The grant was established by Newbery Award winner and Newbery Honor Book recipient Karen Cushman (The Midwife's Apprentice) and her husband in conjunction with SCBWI.

"This award was established to encourage and celebrate late bloomers like me, who didn't start to write until age 50," said Cushman, who published her first children's book when she was 53. "But then I bloomed, and I'd love to see others do so as well."

SCBWI executive director Lin Oliver commented: "One of the great aspects of writing children's books is that it's not age-restrictive. The SCBWI hopes an individual's creative expression can make a valuable contribution, no matter what his or her age."

The Late Bloomer Award is open to both unpublished children's book authors or author/illustrators over the age of 50, and one winner, chosen from the pool of those who have submitted material for the SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grants, will receive $500 in cash and free tuition to any worldwide SCBWI conference.

Baker & Taylor has released axisReader, a free app for tablets and smartphones that allows patrons of libraries using the Axis 360 digital media platform to discover, checkout and read e-books in ePub and PDF formats on their mobile devices. The axisReader will be available alongside the existing Blio ereader.

Yesterday at Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C., some 260 people stood in the rain to meet First Lady Michelle Obama and have her sign copies of American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America (Crown). Noting that Mother's Day is this Sunday, she said, according to the Washington Post, "I would buy one for my mom, but she already has 10."

Politics and Prose director of marketing Lacey Dunham reported that the signing "went spectacularly thanks to our phenomenal, hardworking staff and the terrific folks at Random House--including our wonderful rep, Sherry Virtz. We're honored the First Lady selected us as the location for her book signing." The store--and co-owner Bradley Graham--offered this unusual greeting.

"On Thursdays, for instance, Ferguson offers 20% off on new books. They call it 'Thieving Thursday' because buyers also get a free used book," the Grand Forks, N.Dak., Herald observed in its profile of Ferguson Books & Media, where the "shelves are bulging with books. The store is full of deals.... The bottom line is that the business is making enough to support three full- and eight part-time employees."

Owner Dane Ferguson said, "We're giving away free stuff every day. We have 200 to 300 loyal customers who come in once or twice a week and our inventory is rotating so fast." The Herald noted that he is also "dreaming ahead to a branch of Ferguson Books & Media in Bismarck."

In her Ploughshares essay "How to Shop at a Bookstore: An Easy 20-Step Guide for Authors," Rebecca Makkai offered suggestions for visiting writers. A few of our favorites:

"First, smell it. Look at the new arrivals, lined up like candy. See if, for just one second, you can remember what it was like to walk into a bookstore as a reader. Just a reader, a happy, curious reader. With no agenda, no insecurities, no history of bookstores as scenes of personal failure and triumph. Wish for a time machine."

"Nervously check how the store seems to be doing. Are the lights still on? Do the employees look well-fed? Thank God. The world isn't over yet."

"You cannot afford all seven of the books that have somehow wound up in your arms. Acknowledge that you will buy them anyway."

"As you cross the street with your bag of new books, remember the first time your mother took you to a bookstore and told you to pick something out. To keep, not borrow. You were overwhelmed by choice and wonder. Remember how you pulled things off the shelf at random because every book was equally unknown and fresh and promising."

A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn (Harlequin Mira).

Today on the Wendy Williams Show: Teresa Giudice, author of Fabulicious! On the Grill: Teresa's Smoking Hot Backyard Recipes (Running Press, $20, 9780762449774).

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Tomorrow morning on Fox & Friends: Steve Schirripa, co-author of Big Daddy's Rules: Raising Daughters Is Tougher Than I Look (Touchstone, $25, 9781476706344). He will also appear on Imus in the Morning and Laura Ingraham.

Also on Fox & Friends: Dave Anderson, author of Famous Dave's Barbecue Party Cookbook: Secrets of a BBQ Legend (Famous Dave Anderson, $24.99, 9780989286817).

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Tomorrow morning on CBS This Morning: Mary Higgins Clark, author of Daddy's Gone A Hunting (Simon & Schuster, $26.99, 9781451668940).

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Tomorrow on the View: Niecy Nash, author of It's Hard to Fight Naked (Gallery, $24, 9781451687729).

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Tomorrow on NPR's Diane Rehm Show: Jaron Lanier, author of Who Owns the Future? (Simon & Schuster, $28, 9781451654967).

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Tomorrow on the Jeff Probst Show: Nia Vardalos, author of Instant Mom (HarperOne, $26.99, 9780062231833).

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Tomorrow on KCRW's Bookworm: Margaret Atwood, winner of the Innovator's Award in this year's Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. As the show put it: "Atwood has adventurously embraced the frontiers of online literary culture, serializing short stories on sites like Byliner and Wattpad. She reflects on her exploration of this new digital 'toy box' and on literary innovation in general--talking about the festive tweet, the appetizing cliff-hanger, and why Hermes is the patron of the new(s)."

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Tomorrow on PBS's Newshour: Marcia Coyle, author of The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution (Simon & Schuster, $28, 9781451627510).

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Tomorrow night on the Daily Show: David Sedaris, author of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls (Little, Brown, $27, 9780316154697).

Twelve days before the premiere of Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film Behind the Candelabra, Tantor Media will publish a new edition of Scott Thorson's memoir of the same name, which was originally published in 1988.

Behind the Candelabra, and its HBO-exclusive counterpart, is the story of Thorson's life and long, complicated relationship with Liberace, who died in 1987. The Tantor edition will be available in trade paperback, e-book and audiobook formats. The print version will feature a new afterword from Thorson, while the audiobook will come with an interview with Thorson.

The publishing arrangement is an interesting one, as Tantor Media is primarily a distributor of audiobooks. After the announcement of the HBO film, Ron Formica, Tantor's director of rights and acquisitions, moved to secure the memoir's audio rights. He found, however, that Behind the Candelabra was out of print, and made a deal for print, e-book and audio rights.

"We had Scott write a new afterword, which will give readers a look into Scott's life since Liberace's death that they won't get from the movie," said Kevin Colebank, CEO of Tantor Media.

In the HBO film, Matt Damon plays Scott Thorson while Michael Douglas takes on the role of Liberace. Soderbergh has said that Behind the Candelabra may be his last film.

Behind the Candelabra will be available on May 14.

The first trailer has been released for Ender's Game, adapted from Orson Scott Card's novel. Also available is a Google+ Hangout conversation with director Gavin Hood, producer Bob Orci and Asa Butterfield, who plays Ender Wiggin. The film, which hits theaters nationwide November 1, also stars Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley.

Winners of the 2013 James Beard Foundation Book Awards include:

Cookbook of the Year: Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America by Maricel E. Presilla (Norton)
American Cooking: Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking by Nathalie Dupree & Cynthia Graubart (Gibbs Smith)
Baking and Dessert: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish (Ten Speed Press)
Beverage: Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding & José Vouillamoz (Ecco)
Cooking from a professional point of view: Toqué! Creators of a New Quebec Gastronomy by Normand Laprise (les éditions du passage)
General cooking: Canal House Cooks Every Day by Melissa Hamilton & Christopher Hirsheimer (Andrews McMeel)
Focus on health: Cooking Light The New Way to Cook Light: Fresh Food & Bold Flavors for Today's Home Cook by Scott Mowbray and Ann Taylor Pittman (Oxmoor House)
International: Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi (Ten Speed Press)
Photography: What Katie Ate: Recipes and Other Bits & Pieces by Katie Quinn Davies
(Viking Studio)
Reference & scholarship: The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World by Sandor Ellix Katz (Chelsea Green)
Single subject: Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard by Nigel Slater (Ten Speed Press)
Vegetable focused & vegetarian: Roots: The Definitive Compendium with More Than 225 Recipes by Diane Morgan (Chronicle)
Writing and literature: Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson (Random House)
Cookbook hall of fame: Anne Willan

James Beard award–winning chefs and restaurants were named last night. The complete list of award winners in all categories will be available on the James Beard Foundation website.

The graphic novel Odd Duck (First Second/Roaring Brook, May 14, 2013) brings together two quirky web-footed characters and also unites two talented veterans who've dabbled in this format before: author Cecil Castellucci (The Year of the Beasts) and artist Sara Varon, who both wrote and illustrated Bake Sale and Robot Dreams. Their collaboration spans the coasts; Castellucci lives in Los Angeles, and Varon resides in Brooklyn.

Newbery medalist Cynthia Kadohata's (Kira-Kira) moving novel of an intergenerational family unfolds through the eyes of 12-year-old Summer Miyamoto.

Her parents have gone to Japan to care for three dying elderly relatives. But it's harvest time, when the family makes the majority of its income working the wheat fields of Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. So Summer, her 10-year-old brother, Jaz, and her Obaachan (grandmother) and Jiichan (grandfather) head off to work as "wheaties" with the Parkers, a kind, hardworking family with a son close to Summer's age. Summer has always found Rob rather boring, but this May he has blossomed into a handsome young man, and Summer often forgets what she's going to say around him. Obaachan scolds her, "Don't stare." Her brother (who "wouldn't be Jaz if he weren't obsessed with something") has been diagnosed with ADHD, PDD-NOS and OCD, depending on which doctor you ask. But his biggest fear is that he'll never have a friend, after his best friend moves away from their town of Littlefield, Kans. Summer's kindness toward him wins out over her impatience with him. A recent bout of malaria has given Summer a maturity beyond her years.

Kadohata's novel is a love letter to the flatlands of the Midwest. Summer connects with its beauty and shares her fascination with how the wheat gets from field to table, and her interest is infectious. (She describes the uncut wheat on a gentle slope of the Franklins' Oklahoma farm: "It looked like windblown sand beneath the bright sky.") It's man against nature, as the Parkers and their team race to finish harvesting one farmer's land in order to get to the next before a storm moves in. Summer and Obaachan serve as the cooks for the combine operators--which include Jiichan--who drive the machines that cut the wheat. Nature and mealtimes govern the rhythms of their daily lives.

Summer's grandparents play a large role in the shaping of Summer's conscience and outlook. Despite their bumpy English, they know just what's going on and also how and when to speak their minds. Summer's accumulation of wisdom through the harvest season results in an ending that sneaks up on readers in its impact and poignancy. Kadohota's novel opens a window into a multigenerational family that honors its own culture while also planting a firm foundation in America. --Jennifer M. Brown

Shelf Talker: Newbery Medalist Kadohata delivers a love letter to the Midwest, through the eyes of 12-year-old Summer Miyamoto and her family as they harvest the wheat fields from Texas to Oklahoma.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Twisted Perfection by Abbi Glines
2. Real by Katy Evans
3. Life Code by Dr. Phil McGraw
4. Rock My Bed by Michelle A. Valentine
5. Promise Me Darkness by Paige Weaver
6. Resisting Her by Kendall Ryan
7. The Sisterhood by Helen Bryan
8. A Beautiful Lie by Tara Sivec
9. Restore Me (Wrecked) by J.L. Mac
10. Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]