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Indies First Storytime Day will be celebrated this weekend

To celebrate Indies First Storytime Day, various authors and illustrators will be reading stories at bookstores across the country. 

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Robert Harbison
Teacher Casondra Johnson reads to her kindergarten class at Daniel Webster Elementary school in Pasadena, Calif.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

If you decide to head to a storytime hour at your local bookstore on May 17, you may see some famous faces.

Indies First Storytime Day, an event spearheaded by the American Booksellers Association, the organization Every Child a Reader, and the Children’s Book Council, is being held for the first time on May 17. Kate DiCamillo, the author of such titles as “Flora & Ulysses” and “The Tale of Despereaux” and who is also the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is the spokesperson for the event, which follows the Indies First celebration that was the brainchild of author Sherman Alexie and which was celebrated on Small Business Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving). 

For this past fall's Indies First celebration, authors were encouraged to work selling books at their local store. For this new event, DiCamillo asked authors and illustrators to sign up to read a story at an indie location.

“The point is to show up and to read aloud, to celebrate stories and to celebrate the indies who work so hard to put our stories in the hands of readers,” she wrote on the American Booksellers Association page for Storytime Day. 

Wondering if your store will be hosting an author or illustrator for the event? Check out this map, which shows which locations will be participating. Some authors that will be reading for an audience tomorrow include “Goosebumps” writer R.L. Stine at New York City’s Books of Wonder; “Ella Enchanted” author Gail Carson Levine at Byrd’s Books in Bethel, Conn.; and DiCamillo herself at the Hudson, Wis. bookstore Chapter2Books.

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