char: June 2013

Librarians, booksellers, publishers and power readers gathered at this year's Book Expo, which featured celebrity, best-selling, and new authors as well as a very special little feline. Yes, Grumpy Cat came to Book Expo! Here are the reverent, ok maybe not so reverent, 2013 Book Expo awards!

great subtitle for a book award!

Mr. Rinzler's self-help book offers advice on finding peace, practicing mindfulness and seeking awakening and enlightenment when life bottoms out, as reflected in the subtitle:

Even if Your Boss Sucks, Your Ex is Torturing You & You're Hungover Again

Well, it could be worse, especially if your boss is your ex, right?

best sign promoting a celebrity appearance award!

Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, blessed Book Expo with her presence to promote her new book, The Grumpy Book. This tiny cat-extraordinaire is not only an Internet sensation, but also an author and soon-to-be movie star. We love this little grumpster!

the jury is out award!

BEA likes to mix things up each year, and rightfully so, by enhancing things that worked the previous year. So, one of the most popular features at Book Expo are the Book Buzz sessions, right? In these sessions, selected Editors exuberantly describe their latest charge, detailing how the editor and author found one another (usually through an act of fate), the ideas, thoughts and words that inspire and build this relationship, and the literary work that is ultimately conceived. The popularity of these sessions is not only the greatness of the book itself, but perhaps more so, the Editors' passion and commitment to their writer's voice, the special bond that ensues and the labor of love that is created. It seems like a natural progression to give notice to the other half of this partnership. And so, BEA introduced the author sessions to follow up on the main stages. The verdict? A unanimous vote of approval! Well done, BEA!

editors

authors

best picture-taking moment with a Children's' book character award!

Olivia, the famous little girl piglet with a big attitude, strolled outside the Exhibit Hall to meet fans and take pictures! Cute as ever, we love this little oinker!

clever book/swag tie-in award!

Graphic novelist Paul Pope and his publisher offered one of the most clever book/swag tie-in for his upcoming release, Battling Boy--an awesome t-shirt depicting artwork from the book! What's so special about that? Well, the super great artwork on the t-shirt itself . Plus, t-shirts play a very special role in the storyline! Great t-shirt, great artwork and great swag tie-in!!!

favorite vehicle at Book Expo award!

Traditionally, the C-SPAN bus is the main vehicle at BookExpo, always stationed at the west entrance to the Exhibit Hall while conducting interviews for Book TV!. This year, however, the C-SPAN bus was joined by the Penguin book truck (where attendees could buy books and Penguin stuff) and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid van (where attendees could get a Wimpy Kid sticker for their badge and more stickers for summer reading). Our favorite: all of them!

Wimpy stickers

thanks for coming to Book Expo, again and again award!

Peter Brown signs copies of Creepy Carrots!

As we know, authors and celebrities come and go each year at Book Expo, often dependent on the publication of a new book. This is what keeps Book Expo fresh and exciting. There are, however, certain authors who seem to have a continual presence at Book Expo, and this allows for a consistency that is in some ways, both comforting and ensuring. This award recognizes and thanks those authors for making a commitment to their publishers to attend Book Expo, year after year, such as Walter Dean Myers, Sandra Boyton and Peter Brown. Thank you!

Help! I Will Survive! award!

Yes, celebrity authors, you will survive the gawking and snapshot-taking by the starstruck librarians! We are a quiet sort really, unless of course, we see celebrities and/or swag! Yes, for us to put you in the same breath as swag shows how highly we regard all of you, but swag still rules! Thank you for your graciousness, patience and for not calling security on us. Octavia Spencer, Gloria Gaynor, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Carrey, Dr. Ruth and Jessica Lange are some of the celebrity authors who came to visit us this year at Book Expo! We look forward to reading your books!

Octavia Spencer from The Help

Ms. I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor

Astronaut legend Buzz Aldrin

message on a tote award!

A tote and an awesome message are always a win-win. This year's messages remind us of the power of reading, which can stir our imagination, take us to places unknown and change the way we view the world. The winning messages are:

1st Place: Workman's read. dream.

2nd Place: Chronicle Books' See tote

3rd Place: Capstone's super message

favorite centenarian @ Book Expo award!

National Geographic's tote celebrating 125 years

New York Times exhibit

Vanity Fair tote

This award goes to National Geographic (who celebrates 125 years this year) and the New York Times, two of our oldest publications! A reminder that quality publishing can survive the test of time and can adapt to the emergence of e-books, social media and other changing technologies. Congratulations to all of our publishing centenarians! This award also welcomes youngster Vanity Fair, which entered this esteemed club celebrating 100 years!

top dog award!

Pups and dogs always have a presence at Book Expo (as should be) and this year was no exception!
As usual, there were dogs everywhere, on book and catalog covers, totes and swag as well as floating carefree throughout the Exhibit Hall. This year's top dog goes to the inflatable balloon swag offered by MyOwnPet Balloons, which sells balloon + book kits, featuring an inflatable balloon designed after the book's main character. Attendees had a choice of one swag balloon, with a selection of 8 different dog breeds or a cat. Great concept and great, great great swag!!!

dog swag

top dog

MyOwnPet exhibit

best dog book cover award

Speaking of our best friend, its time to select this year's winner for best dog book cover!, And the winner is..... I Could Chew on This and Other Poems by Dogs.
Surely, last year's award winner for Best Cat Book Cover award (I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats) was the impetious for the follow up to the New York Times best seller and we're happy to contribute to the literary world! Though, we would have maybe suggested a more apt title, oh, maybe something like:

"I Could Chew and Eat This, and Then Pee and Make Doody on This and Other Poems by Dogs"

We know, a bit wordy, but it seems a little more fitting for our canine friends, right?

1st Place: Yum!

2nd Place: unconditional love

3rd Place: Xmas dogs with striking blue, sad puppy eyes

best girl power representation @ Book Expo award!

Girl Power was well-represented this year with an abundance of young female Childrens' and YA librarians, who are award-winning in themselves. And author Richelle Mead and graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks added to this girl power awesomeness. But, this year's award goes to the ultimate, classic girl power-inspiring super heroine, Wonder Woman, who joined forces with Superman to remind everyone that reading rocks!Wonder Woman and reading on the same tote, does it get any better than this?

"seriously, you want me to manage crowd control for a cat?" award!

To the NYPD officer who responded to the frenzy that broke out at Chronicle Books when Grumpy Cat appeared Friday afternoon, to a sea of attendees simply wanting a photo of this famous little sour puss! Needless to say, the officer left and security officers arrived shortly thereafter. Umm, just a quick note to whom it may concern, NYPD presence is kind of there to provide national security at Book Expo, you know, for terrorism and stuff like that. Just a courtesy reminder next time those unruly librarians get out of hand, maybe just call security.

aww, she's so tiny and cute!

right before the frenzy

NYPD officer arrived shortly after as the crowd starts getting closer and closer to Grumpy Cat

ugh, grumble, grumble

what we do for love award!

No, no, Santa did not lose weight. This kind gentleman is suppose to be at work. However, his wife needed someone to play Santa for the day because the guy who was suppose to help out couldn't make it. For being a good sport and a great husband, we applaud all the really good husbands out there who do what their wives want them to do.

best swag ever award!

So, did Exhibitors and Publishers NOT get the memo that Librarians love swag? Clearly this is what happened. Remember the days of Greenwood bobbleheads? Yes, the best swag ever. Well, though swag was very limited this year (outside of totes), super great swag has returned to Book Expo with the blow up pups from MyOwnPet!

best swag ever (besides the Greenwood bobbleheads)!!!

The E-book Network's pug

UBER's boxer

a girl and her dog

"BEA Book Expo Buzzword" or say this tongue twister ten times award!

Last year's Book Expo buzzword was 'sugary drinks' thanks to King Bloomberg, who rules over the land they call New York City. And many of you might think that this year's buzzword is 'Grumpy Cat,' who ruled Book Expo this year. You would be close. But this year's BEA Book Expo buzzword award goes to Twitter's 'hashtag.' Yes, you can now 'hashtag' just about anything nowadays, e.g., authors, publishers, booksellers, libraries, librarians, books, Grumpy Cat and even #bookexpoawards.

I am not a courtesan award!

Amy Tan appeared at the Downtown Stage to discuss her forthcoming book, The Valley of Amazement. During the interview, Ms. Tan noted that readers sometimes confuse the characters in her books with her real life. So, she just wanted to mention that she is not a courtesan, in case any of you were wondering or confused about that. But, Ms. Tan did grace us with a courtesan-like pose, which she mimicked from an old photograph of a courtesan posing. And this is one of the many reasons why we love #Amy Tan!

best tote award!

As exhibitors and publishers anxiously await to see if their tote is placed on this esteemed list of swag, this year's winners are:

1st Place: Capstone's Superman/Wonder Woman tote!

2nd Place: Quirk Books' reminder that we can all get along

Chronicle Books' sunglass/message tote

best Twitpic and self-promotion award!

Yes, yes, yes, some of the Book Expo Award pictures are now on Twitter, #bookexpoawards.

From Wonder Woman to Amy Tan to Grumpy Cat, girl power was in full force this year at Book Expo. E-books, social media and power readers continue to become an integral part of Book Expo. The balloon pups made a winning appearance, floating their way into the hearts of many publishers, exhibitors and librarians! And last but not least, what Book Expo is all about, so many great books and their authors. Happy reading everyone!