Spotlight on the 2002 Pannell Award-Winning Bookstores

Earlier this month, Anderson's Bookshops in Naperville, Illinois, and Eight Cousins in Falmouth, Massachusetts, were named by the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) as the 2002 winners of Lucile Micheels Pannell Awards, for general bookstore and children's specialty store, respectively. (For more information on the Pannell Awards, click here.)

Both stores were delighted to be named recipients of the award, which will be presented at BookExpo America in New York at the Children's Book and Author Breakfast, on Thursday, May 2, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

According to Eileen Hanning, WNBA's Pannell committee chair, stores are first nominated and, then, must prepare and submit entries that illustrate the store's creativity, responsiveness to community needs, passion, and understanding of children's books and young readers.

Anderson's Bookshops, Naperville, Illinois

For Becky Anderson, whose family has run Anderson's bookstores for the past 127 years, the store cannot be separated from the community. Her family runs three bookstores, one in Naperville and two in other suburbs, and an independent pharmacy, which was also started by her great, great grandfather.

In December of 2001, Anderson's was awarded the Illinois Family Business of the Year award, with the sixth generation of the family now working in the stores. She told BTW that "the pharmacy that my great, great grandfather opened sold books as well. One of my brothers owns the pharmacy, Oswald's Pharmacy, down the street. And if you think it's tough for independent booksellers, try the pharmacy business, they're getting rarer and rarer."

Anderson noted that "in 1963, my grandfather opened a separate store above the pharmacy called Paperback Paradise. It expanded several times and eventually got its own home; the name was changed to Anderson's partly because people mistook Paperback Paradise for a religious bookstore. We have also started bookfair and warehouse businesses."

The three Anderson stores carry general books, but they specialize in children's books and events. "Children have always been a huge part of what we do," said Anderson. "Being creative with our programs and sharing our love and knowledge of books is truly the fun part of what we do. We are always thinking of ways to connect kids with books."

This past January through March, Anderson's spearheaded the Naperville Reads initiative, which was unlike any other city-wide book club or community reading program. Rather than selecting a single book for everyone to read and discuss, Anderson's, in conjunction with Naperville Public Library staff, school librarians, and reading specialists from Naperville public schools, encouraged people of all ages to read any book by Gary Paulsen. Since Paulsen's 200 books for adults and children span all ages and reading levels, discussions and activities could be geared to many groups.

Schools hosted a panoply of events, including many reading challenges (several "Iditereads," in reference to Paulsen's writings about and participation in the Iditarod); the raising of "Camp Paulsen" for cozy story times; original computer games based on Paulsen's Harris and Me; sixth-graders reading Harris and Me to residents of a local nursing home; and seventh-graders reading all of Paulsen's picture books to children at a local day care center. Anderson's held an in-store read-a-thon and local shelters brought in animals for adoption. The events culminated in a weeklong visit by Paulsen to Naperville.

According to Anderson, "I think between the libraries, schools, and our stores, about 30,000 of Paulsen's books were read. That program may have been what impressed the Pannell panel."

Eight Cousins, Falmouth, Massachusetts

Carol Borg Chittenden and her mother, Betty E. Borg, opened Eight Cousins children's bookstore in 1986 in a "900-square-foot space in the hubcap and donut zone of a hyper-extended Cape Cod Main Street," said Carol Chittenden. In a recent interview, she recalled with amusement how her mother had the idea to replicate The Cheshire Cat of Washington, D.C., as a retirement project. Plans called for her to stick around for a year to help her mother get things started.

Their combined prior business experience was "one good yard sale," and Chittenden recalled their reliance on their optimism and advice from SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives -- sponsored by the Small Business Administration). Betty Borg continued working at the store, as did her husband once he was convinced to retire a year later, until 1997, one year after SCORE had named Eight Cousins the Cape Cod Small Business of the Year.

At that point, the Borgs retired completely and sold their interest in the store to Chittenden. Chittenden said she never left because she's "still having too much fun," but her parents "moved to the opposite side of the country just to be safe." In 1990, the store expanded its space, and in 1992 moved into the heart of historic Falmouth Village, occupying 1,600 square feet in the old telephone building.

Chittenden said that "Eight Cousins was born of the love of books and the firm conviction that reading is one of the most powerful tools any child can possess. On our wall is a poster that reads 'Kunst offnet die Augen -- Art opens the eyes.'"

Chittenden noted her appreciation of the great degree of collegiality among children's booksellers. Many would say that she has been instrumental in fostering that collegiality. Rusty Drugan, executive director of the New England Booksellers Association wrote in support of Eight Cousins, "Carol Chittenden is a consummate children's bookseller who has made an extraordinary contribution to bookselling in New England and beyond. One of the founders of the New England Booksellers Children's Advisory Council, Carol has served several terms as chair of that organization and has served the New England Booksellers Association on its Advisory Council and as a panelist, committee member, and writer on innumerable occasions over the last 15 years."

Although Eight Cousins was started by a mother and daughter team, the name does not allude to the involvement of many other family members. "Eight Cousins was a Louisa May Alcott book -- we like that association -- a Massachusetts author ahead of her time," she said. "Besides," Chittenden noted with a pause, "it was better than calling ourselves Little Men or Little Women." -- Nomi Schwartz