Children's Institute 2024 officially opened Monday night in New Orleans, La., with an evening keynote featuring Newbery-winning author Meg Medina (No More Señora Mimí, illustrated by Brittany Cicchese; Candlewick) in conversation with Brein Lopez, general manager of Children's Book World in Los Angeles, Calif.

Prior to the keynote, Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association, took the stage to welcome nearly 400 booksellers to the "largest kid's institute ever." She noted that roughly 40% of this year's attendees are first-timers, and she said there were some late changes to the conference program based on feedback from Winter Institute 2024 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She hoped that attendees found the changes "meaningful."

Meg Medina

Discussing her role as the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Medina said it was "beautiful" to be able to "invite families in and talk about books." It has been like "being a caretaker for 74 million children at the same time." And while these children of course have parents, guardians, and other members of their caretaking teams, Medina is trying to be "the caretaker of their reading lives."

Every bookseller in the room, she continued, "is part of the caretaking team of American children." Booksellers care for "their reading lives, their literary lives, their imagination, their learning," as well their "relationship to story and other people."

Lopez brought up the platform that Medina created as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature--"Cuéntame!: Let’s talk books"--saying, "every bookseller is going to love this platform." As the first Latina in that role, Medina said, it was very important for her to have a bilingual platform, and fundamentally it was based on all that she's learned from booksellers and librarians.

"That is, how do you talk about a book with someone else, from your heart to their heart," Medina explained. She remarked that yes, when people talk about the books they love, they talk about plot and character and exciting moments, but "the big thing that is revealed is the heart of that person." Talking about books, she added, can be an "essential part" of creating connection and trust in classrooms, families, and communities.

Lopez agreed, calling it the "best part of the job" and saying, "in bookstores, we do it every day." He added that he hasn't been a bookseller for more than 30 years because of the money. Rather, it is the experience "of being able to share books with other people and with your community and see it impact them." He encouraged booksellers to "seek outside of your physical store" and extend their caretaking to their wider community.

Expanding on the subject of caretakers, Medina said her book No More Señora Mimí is about a little girl who is initially excited that she won't need her babysitter anymore because her grandmother is coming to live with her family. She then realizes "what that loss is going to be." It appealed to Medina to explore the "emotional ties" that children have with their caretakers, and to have a book "where caretakers are seen as a valuable part of a kid's life."

"It's a caretaking book at a time when I think a lot of kids are cared for by a lot of people," said Medina. --Alex Mutter

Penguin Random House will expand its Crawfordsville, Ind., distribution and fulfillment center by 650,000 square feet, which will enable the facility to double its annual shipments of print books and improve deliveries to booksellers across the U.S. PRH acquired the Crawfordsville facility in 2001; it has some 900 employees.

To support the expansion, PRH will receive $5.6 million in tax incentives that were approved by the City Council of Crawfordsville in votes in May and June, the final one held yesterday evening. The company is investing up to $50 million in the project, which will expand the facility to about 1.5 million square feet, according to Inside Indiana Business.

PRH called the expansion of the Crawfordsville distribution center "an integral step forward" in its plans to grow its global supply chain. Next year, the company aims to establish an operations hub in the U.K. to deliver U.S. titles more efficiently to European customers. The Crawfordsville facility is one of four PRH distribution centers in the U.S., which include two in Maryland--in Westminster and Hampstead--and one in Reno, Nev.

Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton said, "Penguin Random House has continued to grow in Crawfordsville and has become a strong partner in our success. This new investment in their Crawfordsville operations further solidifies their position as an industry leader and as a premier employer in our region. We greatly appreciate their ongoing confidence in this community and look forward to working alongside them to ensure the success of this new expansion."

PRH CEO Nihar Malaviya said, "We are deeply grateful to Mayor Barton, the City Council of Crawfordsville, and the Office of Economic Development for their ongoing support and enthusiasm for our mission to provide our authors with the widest and fastest distribution of our books. The cooperation we receive daily from the city, from Montgomery County, and from our wonderful employees, who live here, ensures a welcome future for print books, and for those who sell them, as well as for our commitment to freedom of expression, and to freedom of reading choices for everyone."

Lori De Reza, PRH senior v-p of distribution, added, "My Crawfordsville colleagues and I are thrilled by this commitment of our civic leaders to the work we proudly perform at our facility on behalf of Penguin Random House authors, illustrators, and publishers. It is a privilege for us to contribute to our community's economy, as we help get our books into the hands of America's booksellers and book buyers."

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation is asking independent booksellers and comic book retailers to participate in a survey that will help guide the organization's programming and initiatives. 

The survey went live yesterday and will be open until June 30. Beacon Press will be donating $25 to Binc for the first 100 completed surveys.

Past surveys have led to things like Binc's mental health wellness program, which provides booksellers and comic retailers with access to therapy.

Owner Beth Stroh at Viewpoint Books: Chapter Two.

Viewpoint Books hosted a ribbon-cutting on June 6 for its second location, Viewpoint Books: Chapter Two, at 425 Washington St. in Columbus, Ind. "Thank you! For us, those simple words carry enormous importance," the bookseller posted on Facebook. "We always hope to genuinely convey how much you and your support mean to us. Viewpoint Books has been a part of this community for over 50 years, thanks to you. Hundreds of HUGs--Help Us Grow gifts--were shared in record time, thanks to you.... This week, Viewpoint Books: Chapter Two became a reality, thanks to you. Every day beyond this one, we believe our community will thrive, thanks to you."

Earlier in the week, fans of Viewpoint Books had "lined up to lend a hand--a couple of hundred hands, all told--to help a beloved local institution stock a second downtown storefront," the Republic reported. The "book brigade" gathered outside the current store at 548 Washington St. and passed books hand-to-hand to store staff who were filling shelves of the new second location, a block away across the street in the former Ames Mercantile shop.

Viewpoint's book chain in action.

"It's great," owner Beth Stroh said as she watched books moving along the human chain. "I had no idea really what to expect at 4 o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon.... It's been amazing. People have been so supportive."

In March, Viewpoint had launched a crowdfunding campaign called HUG (Help Us Grow) to assist with financing for the expansion. Viewpoint has been in its current location for about 30 years, but the space is cramped and Stroh believed having a second nearby storefront made sense.

She told the Republic that she was pleased with the turnout of people of all ages and from all walks of life for the book brigade. The community enthusiasm was also on display for Viewpoint's expansion plans, which relied in part on individual donations to the HUG campaign that raised thousands of dollars toward the effort.

"Just the response was enormously affirming," said Stroh, who purchased Viewpoint in 2016. "People just seem really satisfied and happy that we have an independent bookstore in Columbus, and they want to see us grow."

British doctor, bestselling nonfiction author, and broadcaster Michael Mosley, who "became a household name for diet books promoting calorie reduction and fasting, including The Fast Diet (2013), written with the journalist Mimi Spencer," has died, the Guardian reported. He was 67. Mosley disappeared June 5 while on holiday in Greece, where authorities conducted an extensive search over five days until his body was found June 9. 

Mosley's work gained popularity from his self-experimentation, "which included swallowing tapeworms, magic mushrooms, internal cameras and--most famously--fasting to cure his own type 2 diabetes, diagnosed in 2012," the Guardian noted, adding that he became a well-known TV and radio celebrity doctor, regularly appearing on The One Show for the BBC and This Morning for ITV. On BBC Radio 4's Just One Thing podcast "he offered health tips to the nation, from the benefits of daily spoonfuls of olive oil to the usefulness of the plank position."

Last month, Mosley presented a special edition of Just One Thing at the Hay Festival, the Bookseller reported, noting that he was first published by indie Short Books, now part of Octopus. Managing director Anna Bond said: "We are devastated by the news of Dr Michael Mosley's tragic death. Our hearts and thoughts are with his wife, Dr Clare Bailey, and the family. From his ground-breaking book, The Fast Diet, in 2013 to his most recent life-changing book Just One Thing in 2022, it has been a joy, a pleasure and a privilege to work closely with him on his bestselling books that have changed millions of people's lives for the better....  A brilliant, warm, funny and kind man, Michael will be so greatly missed." 

Sophie Laurimore, his agent, added: "Michael loved what he did and found it a pleasure and a great privilege to work with his colleagues in TV, radio, publishing and at his business, The Fast 800. He was immensely grateful for how receptive the public were to the ideas he had the privilege to share and to the many scientists whose work he had the honor to help popularize.... Michael was unique. The work he did was important. We will miss him dreadfully."

Mosley's international bestsellers also include The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, The Fast 800, The Clever Guts Diet , and The Fast 800 Keto, each accompanied by recipe books created by his wife, Dr. Clare Bailey.  

Octopus added: "As a natural communicator and a hugely trusted voice, he successfully distills scientific and medical research into accessible, effective healthy eating and lifestyle advice which has benefitted a vast global community of grateful people. They all enjoy a better quality of life via his books and his health columns, his TV shows, the Fast 800 community and millions of listeners to his BBC Just One Thing podcast." 

Katie Isaak of BookPeople of Moscow, Moscow, Idaho, won first prize at the Children's Institute 2024 costume party Monday evening for her costume based on Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin.

The costume party and competition has been a Children's Institute tradition since 2018. That year's institute was also held in New Orleans, La.

Congratulations to Righton Books, St. Simons Island, Ga., which celebrated its fifth anniversary on Friday with a 20% discount on everything in the store.

In an amusing, inspiring announcement about the milestone, the store wrote:

"This week we will celebrate our fifth birthday! Wow. Where did the time go? Well, let's see...

"We opened on June 7, 2019 just a few weeks before a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Dorian over the Labor Day weekend. That hurricane led indirectly to the capsizing of the Golden Ray, a 750-foot long ship just a few hundred yards off the St. Simons pier, a sight we became used to over the following two years.

"Then, just as we were recovering from that, well, we all know what happened in March of 2020. Despite not being eligible for much government assistance due to our having just opened, we were able to find our way through and came out stronger and better.

"At the end of March 2021 we added on to our space and opened the Jittery Joe's coffee shop. In December 2022 we took an additional space and expanded the coffee shop with three times more seating.

"Along the way we built not one, or two, or three, but four entirely new websites. We plan to stay with our current platform for the foreseeable future. No, really. We do. Last fall we undertook a massive (six-month) project to change our POS system, which allows us much greater insight into our inventory and demand and integrates in real-time with our website.

"With over 16,000 books and gifts on our shelves, we now have more than twice as many titles in stock than when we opened.

"Our revenue has grown 57 of the past 60 months, a record we are most proud of. And, most importantly, we are serving customer number 111,000 this week. Holy smokes, Batman! I guess that's where the time went...."

This past weekend, Woodstock, Ill., celebrated its annual PrideFest. Read Between the Lynes took part in the festivities, including the parade on Sunday, June 9. Shop owner Arlene Lynes and her St. Bernard pup, Ophelia, dazzled the crowd. Team member Bethany (also in the parade) created an illustration of Ophelia decked out in her Pride attire, which the store applied to the team's PrideFest T-shirts, and stickers with the image were available for purchase in the bookstore. Communications manager Danielle reported, "Our team had so much fun preparing for and participating in PrideFest. We're grateful to be a part of such a beautiful community!"

At Johns Hopkins University Press:

Kait Howard has been promoted to publicity director.

Kelly Hannagan has been promoted to senior digital marketing manager.

The Teen Girl's Survival Journal: Your Space to Learn, Reflect, Explore, and Take Charge of Your Mental Health (The Instant Help Guided Journal for Teens Series) by Lucie Hemmen (Instant Help/New Harbinger).

Today:
Fresh Air: Questlove, author of Hip-Hop Is History (AUWA, $30, 9780374614072).

Tomorrow:
Kelly Clarkson Show: Griffin Dunne, author of The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Penguin Press, $30, 9780593652824).

Jennifer Hudson Show: Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht, author of Flower Love: Lush Floral Arrangements for the Heart and Home (Clarkson Potter, $35, 9780593234969).

The View: Andrew McCarthy, author of Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain (Grand Central, $19.99, 9781538709214).

Jimmy Kimmel Live!: Tiffany Haddish, author of I Curse You with Joy (Diversion Books, $28.99, 9781635769531)

Animation veteran Jill Culton has joined Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) as directing partners for a Warner Bros Pictures Animation adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic Oh, the Places You'll Go!. The project is "a big priority for the studio, being done with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Bad Robot," Deadline reported. 

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose work includes The Greatest Showman, Spirited, and La La Land, will write original songs for the film adaptation. Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit) is writing the screenplay. "The book is the blueprint for a globetrotting animated musical following a young adventurer as they journey through the joys and heartaches, and the peaks and valleys, of life," Deadline wrote.

Bad Robot's J.J. Abrams is producing along with Hannah Minghella, Bad Robot's head of motion pictures. Culton, a 30-year veteran in animated feature films, is best known for both writing and directing Abominable (2019). She is a computer animation pioneer, having spent a decade at Pixar working on the company's early classics like Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2. She also designed Jessie, the cowgirl doll, in the Toy Story franchise.

George McWhirter won the 2024 Griffin Poetry Prize, which is designed to "encourage and celebrate excellence in poetry," for his translation from the Spanish of Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence by Mexican poet Homero Aridjis. The international prize of C$130,000 (about $94,480) is shared 60% to the translator, 40% to the original author. Each of the other finalists receives C$10,000 (about US$7,265)

The judges' citation noted: "Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence brings poet-translator George McWhirter's adept English to the service of a great world-poet, Homero Aridjis. The book's enchanting variety of tones and subjects expresses a rounded human being engaged with our total experience, from the familial to the political, from bodily sensations to dream, vision, philosophic thought, and history, from hope to foreboding. A keynote is the sense of a person speaking with us plainly and yet from kinship with a light that bathes, and springs from, each thing."

Don McKay won the C$25,000 (about $18,170) Lifetime Recognition Award, nominated by the trustees of the international Griffin Poetry Prize. As reported here last week, Maggie Burton took the C$10,000 Canadian First Book Prize for Chores.

Gabino Iglesias delivers a propulsive supernatural thriller, House of Bone and Rain, set in San Juan on his native island of Puerto Rico, where the inequities are many: "the thing about Puerto Rico, especially if you're poor, is that there's a lot going on--death, drugs, gangs, violence--so you either grow up quickly or you don't get to grow up at all." Iglesias (The Devil Takes You Home; Zero Saints) introduces a quintet of do-or-die buddies since fourth grade: impulsive Bimbo, surfer Tavo, moody Paul, methodical Xavier, and most-of-the-time-narrator Gabe. They're "Brothers, really... like the tight-knit group of kids in a Stephen King novel, except with three brown dudes and two Black ones running around and getting in trouble." Their bond is unconditional: "if someone fucks with one of us--They fuck with all of us."

On the last day of high school classes, Bimbo's mother, Maria, is gunned down while working at the door of the Lazer Club. "Murder is an attack on someone's life, yes, but also an attack on those left behind," Gabe presciently warns. Bimbo vows revenge at her open casket. The rest pledge their cooperation to kill her killers, to "make this right." Retributions are imminent: "It was a fucking awful idea, but it made sense." Brutality and blood beget confessions that reveal an untouchable drug lord is involved. Bimbo's determination only multiplies: Maria's "death had turned her into something else, a glue that held us together." Most importantly, "mothers are sacred"--that Bimbo's is named Maria makes her even more so, channeling the original Mother Mary. The destructive deluge of Hurricane Maria--"the Big One"--further underscores Bimbo's vicious rampage.

Corpses, clairvoyants, traitors--and specters with gills!--populate Iglesias's vengeful frightfest. He writes with a steely resignation, mirroring his characters' youthful tunnel-vision that won't be tempered by (still living) mothers, struggling sisters, questioning girlfriends. He bestows only Gabe with first-person autonomy, as Gabe attempts to justify (often to himself) his, and the crew's, devotion to Bimbo's frenetic desperation. Gabe's chapters are occasionally interrupted by his girlfriend, Natalia, who's determined to escape the island and hopes Gabe will stay alive long enough to accompany her. Altagracia, Bimbo's potential spouse-of-convenience, who's been passed the gift to "see inside people" and swallows souls, briefly speaks, insisting Bimbo is no killer. Additional viewpoints, however, can only temporarily distract from--and perhaps warn against--fatal reckonings. In the end, "all stories are ghost stories." Let the haunting begin. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Gabino Iglesias's dynamic thriller House of Bone and Rain wends through San Juan, Puerto Rico, chasing five teens seeking revenge for the murder of one of their own's beloved mother.

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

1. Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
2. Fire in the Hole! by Bob Parsons
3. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton
4. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
5. Bespelled by Laura Thalassa
6. King of Sloth by Ana Huang
7. Gleam by Raven Kennedy
8. The Ritual by Shantel Tessier
9. The Inmate by Freida McFadden
10. Hunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]