Book Sense Best Children's Books to Ship Soon

Book Sense Best Children's Books: Favorites for All Ages Recommended by Independent Booksellers -- a collaboration of Newmarket Press and ABA's Book Sense marketing program -- is shipping September 21. The new title, which builds on the success of Book Sense Best Books: 125 Favorite Books Recommended by Independent Booksellers, published by Newmarket in 2004, features 240 favorite children's book recommendations from independent booksellers with Book Sense.

Cornelia Funke, a Book Sense Book of the Year Children's Literature winner, has written the book's foreword (which she calls a "love letter" to independent booksellers) and brief bookseller essays introduce each of its eight sections. In addition, drawings from award-winning illustrators Peter Sis, Mark Teague, Ian Falconer, Betsy Lewin, David Shannon, Jane Dyer, Brett Helquist, and Jon J. Muth are featured throughout the book.

"Book Sense Best Children's Books will have representation at all the trade shows," said Newmarket Press Publicity Director Harry Burton. "The book will be displayed at the Book Sense booth and W.W. Norton, our distributor, will also feature the book." Although, Burton noted, at the Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and New England shows advance pages would be on display, rather than a bound book.

Booksellers with Book Sense who have contributed an essay to introduce one of the book's different sections are Dinah Paul of A Likely Story in Alexandria, Virginia; Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas; Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City; Josie Leavitt and Elizabeth Bluemle of Flying Pig Children's Books in Charlotte, Vermont; Judy Nelson of Mrs. Nelson's Toy & Book Shop in Laverne, California; Ren Kirkpatrick of All for Kids Books & More, in Seattle, Washington; Alison Morris of Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Massachusetts; and Ellen Davis, president of the Association of Booksellers for Children, of Dragonwings Bookstore in Waupaca, Wisconsin.

Blue Willow's Koehler told BTW that the Book Sense anthology was an important resource for consumers. "People need help," she said. "There's way too much to slog through without recommendations. In the Best Children's Books, you have the best of the best. It's a great tool for someone buying a lot of books as gifts and for parents, educators, and people who love children's literature. They may not know which titles to choose from the last few years."

Koehler said that she continues to use the first Book Sense book: Book Sense Best Books. "I use it and take Book Sense fliers whenever I speak with book clubs and women's clubs. It's like having your favorite books on your bedside table -- you just reach for them and get ideas."

Orders for Book Sense Best Children's Books, which is a paperback, priced at $14.95, should be placed through Newmarket's distributor, W.W. Norton, at (800) 233-4830. The publisher also offers the book in a counter display, at a special 50 percent discount. --Karen Schechner