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May the Fourth be with you…

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in event guides, Events, Free Resources, General Interest, Graphic Novels, Reading is a Superpower, Spotlight

May the Fourth, Star Wars

… this weekend and all year long!

This fun, fan-created holiday celebrates the Star Wars movie franchise. For the last few years, ABDO has helped support libraries in different cities with putting on their own Star Wars events for May 4th—as well as other times of the year.

That’s because we’ve been licensing Star Wars comics and graphic novels for years—bound for heavy circulation and use in school and public libraries.

We even have a free event guide to help you execute one of these events!

Check out the official May the Fourth events going on this year—maybe one is in your area! If not, don’t Fett (pun intended). Download our guide to see how easy it is to set up an event at your own library.

Looking for some Star Wars inspiration for last-minute plans this year or a rainy-day activity (the weather’s pretty gloomy here)? Check out our Pinterest board dedicated to Star Wars for some creative ways to bring Yoda and friends to life at home.

What We’re Reading

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Fiction, General Interest, Literary Interest, Nonfiction, Recreational Reading

what we're reading

Ever wonder what editors and publishers read? Here’s a look at our picks for the month of March:

Megan Gunderson, Managing Editor
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Jaime Lint, Director of Multimedia
The Unusually Useful Web Book by June Cohen

Angela Bruning, Sales Manager
The Healing by Johnathan Odell
Defending Jacob by William Landay
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Bobbie Schweim, Database Administrator
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Amanda, Warehouse
Dark Tower by Stephen King

Jim Abdo, Publisher
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches by S.C. Gwynne

Mary, IT
Dr. Phil’s Life Code by Phil McGraw

Jordan, Warehouse
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Heidi Elston, Managing Editor
The House Girl by Tara Conklin

Paul Skaj, VP of Sales
Taken by Robert Crais

Renée LaViolette, Production Artist
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
Stylin’ with CSS: A Designer’s Guide by Charles Wyke-Smith

Autism Awareness Month!

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in General Interest

We recently posted on social media to draw attention to the important issue of autism awareness. Autism touches us all, with one in 88 children being affected. We’ve even published a book for middle and high schoolers to better understand this complex disorder.

Learn more at Autism Speaks.

One of our authors, Dawn Babb Prochovnic, put together such a great post on autism awareness for this month, as well as deafness and poetry—also celebrated in April—that I thought I’d just link to it here.

Enjoy!

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Over 1 month ago
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Happy Friday!

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Free Resources, General Interest

free posters, National Poetry Month, quotes, spring, William Shakespeare

Happy Friday, everyone!

April is a month full of interesting anniversaries, birthdays, and special events. Our social media team has been busy looking at all these calendar dates and wondering how we’re going to cover it all!

Notably, April is the month of Shakespeare’s birth and death. So keep your eye out for more Shakespeare info on the blog in the coming weeks.

If you like our poster, feel free to download a copy for yourself here: AprilPoetry

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Over 1 month ago
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Stories from the Road: Superhero Edition

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Conferences, event guides, Events, Free Resources, Graphic Novels, Product Highlights, Reading is a Superpower, Reluctant Readers, Spotlight, teacher guides

Marvel, Star Wars, TESOL

A guest post from our Director of Marketing, Kim Standley.

Attending Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Convention & English Language Expo
Our Reading is a Superpower division just returned from our first time exhibiting at the TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo, held this year in Dallas, TX.

TESOL was big. And busy. We talked to people from the United States, Canada, Kuwait, Mexico, China, Argentina, Sweden, Morocco, Japan, Turkey, and everywhere in between. We spent so much time talking about our program that we didn’t get to hear many of your stories, so please share them with us by commenting on this post or emailing them to superpower@abdopublishing.com!

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Almost 2 months ago
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What We’re Reading

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Fiction, General Interest, Literary Interest, Recreational Reading

what we're reading

Ever wonder what editors and publishers read? Here’s a look at our picks for the month of March:

Jennie Forsberg, Managing Director
Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Renée LaViolette, Production Artist
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Mrs. Kennedy & Me by Clint Hill
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Stephanie Hedlund, Editorial Director of Magic Wagon
The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis
War Brides by Helen Bryan

Janet Larson, Office Assistant
Percy Jackson & The Olympians by Rick Riordan
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Megan Gunderson, Managing Editor
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

BreAnn Rumsch, Marketing Coordinator
Reached by Allie Condie
The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy

Heidi Elston, Managing Editor
Stay by Allie Larkin
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

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Almost 2 months ago
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Party Time for Abby and the Book Bunch!

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Events, General Interest, Magic Wagon, News, Product Highlights

Abby and the Book Bunch, book launch, Ellwood CIiy Library, librarians, Nancy K. Wallace, public libraries

This week we caught up with one of our authors, Nancy K. Wallace, about the book launch party held this past weekend in her honor. Wallace, a longtime librarian, enjoyed the celebration hosted by her very own Ellwood City Library in Pennsylvania.

The party was celebrating Wallace’s second publishing effort, the Magic Wagon series Abby and the Book Bunch.

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Almost 2 months ago
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Books Begin with B-O-O

Posted by Dan Verdick in Chapter Books, General Interest, Magic Wagon, Picture Books, Recreational Reading, Spotlight

Alvin Schwarz, mystery books, scary books, Scooby Doo, Stephen King

We know there’s a reason the word books starts with b-o-o. Check out our Top 5 Strange-but-True Thoughts about Scary Books. And tell us the scariest book you read as a kid in the comments below!

#1: If a child was up all night because of a book you lent them, you have done your job as a librarian

One time a librarian friend shared at a workshop that she had lent the classic Alvin Schwartz book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark to a 7-year-old patron. Of course he read it—those older books have some of the best cover art in children’s literature history, in my opinion.

Turns out he learned he could not sleep because of a library book.

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Almost 2 months ago
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Stories from the Road

Posted by BreAnn Rumsch in Conferences, Free Resources, Graphic Novels, Product Highlights, Reading is a Superpower, Spotlight

Beyond School Hours, Marvel, Star Wars

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Part of a new recurring series. A guest post from our Director of Marketing, Kim Standley.
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Attending the MnSACA & Beyond School Hours Conferences
In February, we officially launched our Reading is a Superpower comic book program and attended the MnAEYC-MnSACA Annual State Conference in our home state of Minnesota as well as the Beyond School Hours conference, a national afterschool show, in Jacksonville, Florida.

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