First Lady Accepts Books for the White House From ABA

On Wednesday, October 9, the American Booksellers Association presented over 260 books to the White House Library, continuing a tradition that began during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. First Lady Laura Bush met with the ABA Board and senior staff and received, from the full collection, 17 representative titles: the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year (BSBY) winners and honor books for fiction and nonfiction, the BSBY winners for Children's Literature and Children's Illustrated titles, and the BSBY winner and honor books in the Rediscovery category.

Included in the latest presentation to the White House library are the titles from the 2002 May/June, July/August, and September/October Book Sense 76 lists, all of the finalists for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards, and the recent Top Ten Reading Group 76 list. (To view the complete list of titles, go to http://news.bookweb.org/read/831.) All of the books are intended as a gift to the President and his family and have a special commemorative bookplate on the inside front cover.

The presentation came just three days before the second National Book Festival, which is hosted by the First Lady and which is scheduled for Saturday, October 12, 2002, in Washington, D.C. The event will be free and open to the public and is scheduled to run from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Pictured above, at the presentation are: (front row, from left) Ann Christophersen, ABA President; First Lady Laura Bush; and Oren Teicher, ABA COO; (second row, from left) Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA CEO; Suzanne Staubach, Board member; Carla Jimenez, Board member; Lilla Weinberger, Board member; Eleanor Chang, ABA CFO; Karl Pohrt, Board member; and Mitchell Kaplan, ABA vice president; (rear row, from left) Russ Lawrence, Board member; John Bennett, Board member; and Neal Coonerty, Board member. (White House Photo/ Susan Sterner)