Booksellers, authors, and exhibitors talked shop and partied at Children’s Institute 2025 in Portland, Ore., June 11–14. In this collection of photos, PW and participating publishers share some memorable moments from the show.
The Oregon Convention Center played host to this year’s Children’s Institute, with 600 people in attendance, including about 340 booksellers and 66 authors.
As CI began on June 11, booksellers, authors, and guests gathered at Literary Arts’s new bookstore and headquarters. (Photo courtesy of Literary Arts)
Opening keynote speaker and author Mychal Threets (c.) with his Random House Children’s Books team: (from l.) Amy Rockwell, Hannah Carlson, Emily Bruce, and Kathy Dunn.
Booksellers voted for their favorite outfits at the opening reception and costume party. Winners included Ms. Frizzle of the Magic School Bus series, a Purple Princess, Strega Nona, members of the Tea Dragon Society, and the Annick Press team’s all-in promotion of Sid Sharp’s Bog Myrtle. (Photo: Nathalie op de Beeck)
Behind this jubilant fuchsia homage to Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham’s heroine Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn, PW met Sarah Teehee of Kona Stories, who came to Portland all the way from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (Photo: NodB)
HarperCollins introduced booksellers to several authors, including (from l.) Sonora Reyes (The Golden Boy’s Guide to Bipolar), Sarah J. Mendonca (An Encantadora’s Guide to Monstros and Magic), Kerilynn Wilson (A Monstrous Bedtime), Lian Cho (Don’t Eat Eustace), and ND Stevenson (Scarlet Morning). Wilson also created the cover illustration for PW’s Children’s Institute supplement. (Photo courtesy of HarperCollins)
At the Indies Introduce presentation and lunch, the book selection committee joined debut authors onstage. Pictured: (l. to r.) Heather Albinson (Wild Rumpus Books, Minneapolis), Sarah Mendonca (An Encantadora’s Guide to Monstros and Magic), Cassandra Ramos-Gomez (Lost on Doll Island), Joanne Yi (All the Tomorrows After), Nicole Johnson (Baltimore Read Aloud, Baltimore), Susan Metallo (Reasons to Hate Me), Ruby Martinez (An Embroidery of Souls), Helena Haywoode Henry (Last Chance Live!), siblings Brad Riew and Julia Riew (The Last Tiger), Grace Lane (Linden Tree Books, Los Altos, Calif.), Lauren Pronger (Chapterhouse Books, Amarillo, Tex.), and Mara Luther (Chapter One Book Store, Hamilton, Mont.). (Photo: NodB)
There were authors galore at a bookseller dinner given by Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Peachtree.
Barefoot Books trade sales associate Maya Rovniak showed Kira Porton-Jones of Portland’s A Children’s Place Bookstore a copy of Out of the Blue by Alison Jay.
After giving a 45-minute keynote talk on the topic “How can I be brave?” and the ongoing book banning crisis, author Samira Ahmed (l.) (The Singular Life of Aria Patel) met booksellers from Munro’s Books of Victoria, B.C., including Hannah Berry, Cleo Harper, and Kirsten Larmon. (Photo: NodB)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (r.) signed copies of The Grandest Game and spoke to booksellers about her upcoming release Glorious Rivals at the author reception. Here she chats with Betsy Covert of the Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, N.H.
Scholastic’s team celebrated Graphix’s 20th anniversary at an afterparty with a DJ and desserts. Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man hung out with (from l.) Shauna Grant (Karen’s Prize; Baby-sitters Little Sister #10), Megan Wagner Lloyd (Winging It, illus. by Michelle Mee Nutter), Northwest district manager Chris Satterlund, Alan Gratz (Refugee, illus. by Syd Fini), Claribel Ortega (Scepter of Memories: Witchlings #4), Rex Ogle (Pizza Face, illus. by Dave Valeza), and senior manager of field brand marketing Nikki Mutch. (Photo courtesy of Scholastic)
Scholastic authors struck silly poses at the afterparty.
More than 80 booksellers waited in line as illustrator Matthew Forsythe signed copies of The Grammar of Fantasy by Gianni Rodari, translated by Jack Zipes. (Photo courtesy of Enchanted Lion)
Norton Young Readers gave a dinner at Cafe Olli, attended by (from l.) Jill Owens Leigh (Norton sales rep), Naomi Duttweiler (Norton Young Readers marketing manager), Miracle Lucketti (Ballast Book Company, Bremerton, Wash.), Emma Holland (Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.), Hanna Fischer (Rediscovered Books, Boise, Idaho), Jerome Pumphrey (The Old Sleigh), Jarrett Pumphrey (The Old Sleigh), Simon Boughton (Norton Young Readers publishing director), Peyton June (Bad Creek), Holly Weinkauf (Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, Minn.), Lisa Baudoin (Books & Company, Oconomowoc, Wis.), Jenny Gilroy (E. Shaver, Booksellers, Savannah, Ga.), Paul Hanson (Village Books, Bellingham, Wash.), Chloe Purton (Books & Company, Oconomowoc, Wis.), and Rafe Posey (Third Place Books, Seattle).
Sourcebooks threw a dinner party for (from l.) authors Lynn Smith (Just Keep Going), Lindsay Currie (The House with No Keys), Alda P. Dobbs (The Giving Flower), and Sara Raasch (The Crimson Throne), who later signed copies of their books at the author reception. (Photo courtesy of Sourcebooks)
Illustrator Jay Fleck signing his new Tiny T. Rex and the First-Day Oopsies (Chronicle) at the author reception.
Drag Story Hour’s karaoke party closed Children’s Institute on a classy note. While drag queen and emcee Nana Tuckit (l.) brought the glamour, K Kerimian, owner of the Nonbinarian Bookstore in Brooklyn, brought down the house with a rendition of 4 Non Blondes’s “What’s Up.” Behind the desk, Regan Lopez-deVictoria, DSH’s programs and grants director, ran the tech. (Photo: NodB)
