This year’s Children’s Institute took place June 5–7 in Milwaukee, bringing together roughly 340 booksellers from nearly 240 bookstores for a slate of educational programming, author signings, karaoke, and more ways to connect with colleagues. We’ve gathered highlights from the events.
Seen at the costume party/opening reception: (from l.) Amanda Olson, marketing and publicity manager at Annick Press; Sally Sue Lavigne, the owner of The Storybook Shopper in Bluffton, S.C.; Kristina Rivero, a bookseller at Books Are Magic in New York City; and Stephanie Strachan, trade marketing manager at Annick Press. Photo: Claire Kirch.
(From l.): freelance book reviewer Stephanie Appell; Blue Willow Bookshop (Houston) children’s/YA specialist Cathy Berner; agent Eric Smith of P.S. Literary; and Nicole Brinkley, manager of Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, N.Y., at the Averting the Adult Gaze in YA panel. Photo: Claire Kirch.
IPG’s Lauren Klouda (l.) spoke with bookseller Barbara Cerda of La Revo Books in Milwaukee and Barbara's daughter Xitlali Chavez about Spanish-language books and distribution. Klouda and Cerda find that Angie Thomas’s El odio que das (The Hate U Give) is hard to keep in stock. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
Illustrators Jarrett (l.) and Jerome Pumphrey signed broadsides from There Was a Party for Langston (S&S/Atheneum/Dlouhy, Oct.), written by Jason Reynolds. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
Booksellers dressed as their favorite characters awaited their opportunities to impress the judges’ panel at the opening reception costume party. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
Angie Tally, manager/buyer at The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, N.C., here dressed as Captain Underpants, was among the costume contest winners. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
(From l.): Stephanie Strahan, Sally Sue Lavigne, and Amanda Olson—dressed as Paper Bag Princess characters—also earned prizes for their costumes. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
(From l.): illustrator Nikkolas Smith, author Nikki Grimes, and civil rights icon Ruby Bridges after the closing keynote. Photo: Nikki Mutch.
During the breakfast keynote on June 7, Brian Pinkney literally illustrated his creative process in finishing his late father Jerry Pinkney’s sketches for A Walk in the Woods by drawing a two-layered composition on a large sketchpad. The book’s author, Nikki Grimes (r.), joined him on stage. Photo: Claire Kirch.
We Are Water Protectors author Carole Lindstrom signed prints from her forthcoming picture book, Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior, illustrated by Bridget George (Roaring Brook, Sept.). Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
Debut author Gabi Burton (Sing Me to Sleep) (l.) and bookseller Valeria Cerda, co-owner of La Revo Books in Milwaukee, during the book signing that followed the Indies Introduce program. Photo: Claire Kirch.
Booksellers waited for author Deya Muniz to sign copies of their graphic novel The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich (Little, Brown Ink), which is the season’s YA rom-com to grab, if the queue was any indication. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
Debut author Joelle Wellington (Their Vicious Games) (l.) and Andrea Jasmin, a bookseller at Main Street Books in Davidson, N.C. Photo: Claire Kirch.
Debut author Hannah Sawyerr (All the Fighting Parts) (l.) taking a selfie with Maryan Liban, education and community relations lead bookseller at Cover to Cover Books for Young Readers in Columbus, Ohio. Photo: Claire Kirch.
Among the 340 booksellers attending CI2023 were four international booksellers (from l.): Kristine Pikenena of Janis Roze SIA in Riga, Latvia; Adele Broadbent of Wardini Books in Napier, Hawk’s Bay, New Zealand; Anne Bestenbostel of Bücher von Bestenbostel in Nordenham, Germany; and Genevieve Kruyssen of Where the Wild Things Are of West End, QLD, Australia. Photo: Claire Kirch.
(From l.): Simon & Schuster authors Jessixa Bagley, Jarrett Pumphrey, Joelle Wellington, Jerome Pumphrey, and Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Photo: Simon & Schuster.
Lisa Yee Swope, a bookseller at Bookmarks Bookstore in Winston-Salem, N.C., reads I Am Ruby Bridges while waiting for the doors to open for Bridges’s closing keynote. Photo: Claire Kirch.
During the author reception on June 10, Daniel Denning (l.) and Darby Guinn, two publishers’ reps with Union Square and Co., took hawking the publisher’s forthcoming releases a step further. Photo: Claire Kirch.
Jen Steele, a children’s book buyer at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, checking out the offerings in the galley room. Photo: Claire Kirch.
Rye Kimmet, a bookseller at Kismet Books in Verona, Wis., showed off her bounty of galley room treasures. Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
The conference concluded with a boisterous Drag Story Hour karaoke, emceed by Mrs. Yuka of the DSH Nebraska chapter and featuring numerous talented, confident booksellers. Here Madison Gaines, children's book head at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Seattle, prepares to deliver a rousing rendition of “It’s Raining Men.” Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck.
