The Women’s National Book Association has revealed the nominees for its 2018 WNBA Pannell Award, which is presented annually to two bookstores—one general bookstore and one children’s specialty store—that enrich their communities by inspiring a love of reading. The award is co-sponsored by Penguin Young Readers Group.
The nominees in the General Bookstore category are: BookBar in Denver; Colo.; Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, N.H.; Horizon Books in Traverse City, Mich.; Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Mo.; Malaprop’s Books/Café in Asheville, N.C.; Napa Bookmine in Napa, Calif.; Newtonville Books in Newton, Mass.; Northshire Bookstores in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, N.Y.; Pages: a book store in Manhattan Beach, Calif.; The Conundrum in St. Francisville, La.; Village Books in Bellingham, Wash.; and Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif.
The nominees in the Children’s Specialty Bookstore category are: Bank Street Bookstore in New York, N.Y.; BBGB in Richmond, Va.; Blue Bunny Books and Toys in Dedham, Mass.; Books of Wonder in New York, N.Y.; Hooray for Books in Alexandria, Va.; Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Ga.; Monkey & Dog in Fort Worth, Tex.; Monkey See, Monkey Do in Clarence, N.Y.; Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, Minn.; Second Star to the Right in Denver, Colo.; Square Books Jr. in Oxford, Miss.; Stories Bookshop + Storytelling Lab in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Storybook Village of Pentwater in Pentwater, Mich.; and The French Library in New Orleans, La.
This year’s jurors are Brenda Bowen, literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates; Susan Katz Radin, publisher emeritus at HarperCollins Children’s Books; Emily Romero, senior v-p of marketing at Penguin Young Readers; Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief at The Horn Book; and Lisa Von Drasek, curator of Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.
The winners will be presented at the BookExpo Children’s Book and Author Breakfast on June 1 in New York City. Each of the two winning stores will receive a $1,000 check and a signed original piece of artwork by a children’s illustrator.
