If there is a theme to the books selected for Read This Next! June, it would be something about struggles and second chances. About found family and just how far we are willing to go for the people in our life that we love.

RTNX Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Graphic

What SIBA Booksellers have to say:

The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon, Janet Hong (trans.)
The Second Chance Convenience Store isn't just a story about a store; it's a tender tale of found family, second chances, and the quiet miracles that happen in the most unexpected places.
– Kimberly Todd, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

We Might Just Make It After All: My Best Friendship with Kate Spade by Elyce Arons
In this precious memoir her friend Elyce portrays Kate Spade from college through her life. It is real, it is raw. It is a book for anyone really, who is trying to get through life. It's a showstopper.
– Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
What can't S.A. Cosby write? When it comes to crime fiction loaded with action, Cosby is the man! Once again, Cosby takes the reader on a journey that one is not fully prepared for. King of Ashes begs the question of how far are you willing to go for the family you love?
– Kala Saxon, M Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
This is sure to be a break out hit this summer and the most talked about. Rob Franklin takes on so many big issues and the way they land in this complicated world that we live in. Well worth your time (and your book clubs!)
– Laura Taylor, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram
This story weaves together love, ambition and love — and how it can one day circle back to you, bringing up old secrets. This is the summer read you're waiting for, with explorations of resilience, lost love, and beautifully flawed characters.
– Leah Fallon, Birch Tree Bookstore in Leesburg, Virginia

Current Read This Next! books and what SIBA booksellers have to say about them can always be found at The Southern Bookseller Review.

About Read This Next!

Based on our booksellers' conviction that you can never have too many good books, Read This Next! is a list of books coming out next month that booksellers are especially excited about. Read This Next! Kids is a bimonthly list of forthcoming Children's and Young Adult Books receiving Southern indie bookseller love. Each list includes resources for booksellers, including an Edelweiss collection, downloadable flyer, and sharable graphic. All the included books are featured in The Southern Bookseller Review newsletter, and promoted as "Weekend Reads" on SIBA's social media channels, along with the bookstore which wrote the review.

Current Newsletter: Small But Mighty and So Very Important

Bookstores with reviews in this week's newsletter:

• Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Emily Liner, Friendly City Books in Columbus, Mississippi
• Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
• Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
• Julie Jarema from Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia
• Patience Allan-Glick, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop in Carrollton, Georgia
• Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi
• Bianca Eckhoff, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Mitchell Kaplan, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida
• Elizabeth Dowdy, Baldwin & Co. in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Jenna Lucas, 44th and 3rd Bookseller in Peachtree Corners, Georgia
• Keila Cone, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia
• Nyawira Nyota, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina
• Janisie Rodriguez, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida
• Tori Finklea, union ave books in Knoxville, Tennessee
• Amanda Grell, Pearl’s Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Jen Minor, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Book Buzz Feature: A Gardin Wedding by Rosey Lee
A Gardin Wedding allows readers to take an emotional journey with Martha—one where she drops her tough exterior and heals the hurt inside. While this heartwarming family and friendship drama with romantic elements is the second book in my Gardins of Edin series, it can also stand alone. I welcome readers who are familiar with the Gardin family because they enjoyed The Gardins of Edin as well as those who haven’t read it yet.

Rosey Lee is a pen name. I like to say that my “alter ego” is a physician. My commitment to empowering people with health information carries over to my creative life through the health themes in my stories. A Gardin Wedding highlights mental health, the connection between high blood pressure and dementia, and couple’s counseling. And because my “alter ego” works in community health, I know firsthand that it’s frequently easier for people to relate to physicians in community settings than it is in a hospital or doctor’s office. So, Martha, who is a physician, partners with a local library for a talk about high blood pressure, where she demonstrates how to use a blood pressure monitor, highlights the library’s blood pressure monitor lending program, and later joins the library patrons and staff on a community walk. I won’t spoil what happens at the events. I’ll only say that the attendees aren’t the only ones to learn something there. (Hint: Martha may have learned a little something too.)

― Rosey Lee, Letter to a Librarian

Decide For Yourself Banned Book Feature:
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
After two private school students are selected to be prefects, an anonymous bully starts sending text messages with revealing secrets about them to the rest of the student body. In this debut novel, suspense is expertly combined with interesting social commentary–perfect for fans of Courtney Summers, Maureen Johnson, or Karen McManus!
―Jen Minor, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

NEW REVIEWS | SUBSCRIBE | SUBMIT A REVIEW | FOR PUBLISHERS

1. By ordering now, you get to be part of the voting process to choose the Winter Catalog cover image. Be a part of the process! Voting opens next week.

2. By ordering now, you will spend a few minutes filling out a form, and a major marketing tool for your fourth quarter will be taken care of. You will have advance notice of the books publishers are promoting for the SIBA region, and can plan your ordering strategies accordingly. It will be the most productive and profitable ten minutes you will spend this year. (Yes, we timed how long it took to fill out an order.)

3. By ordering now you are investing in a program that underwrites many of the benefits you enjoy as members of SIBA. Revenue from the catalogs funds the scholarships you have been applying for. It underwrites the cost of events so that prices are kept low. It helps to pay for the education SIBA offers and the resources it creates for its members.

SIBA member stores can receive up to 5000 catalogs free of charge, and more at cost. Your orders demonstrate to publishers that SIBA bookstores are a market worth investing in.

Get it done. Order now.

Today is the deadline to apply for most of the scholarships for attending the NVNR conference, including the BIPOC Bookseller Scholarship, the George Keating Scholarship, and the Janet Geddis Scholarship. The deadline to apply for NVNR Travel Grants is tomorrow.

There are still two scholarships open and accepting applications:

The Macmillan Professional Development Scholarship
Application deadline is May 31 at 5:00 PM ET

Managed by Binc in partnership with Macmillan, this scholarship provides $750 to booksellers traditionally underrepresented within the industry to attend their region’s fall trade show.

The Wanda Jewell Scholarship
Application deadline is June 1st.

The Wanda Jewell Scholarship, created in honor of our much-beloved former Executive Director and funded by authors, provides financial support for bookseller professional development through education and networking at in-person SIBA-sponsored events. 

More infomation and application links are available on sibaweb.com.

SOUTHERN INDIE BESTSELLER LIST
For the week ending 5/4/2025

Edelweiss Collections:
(sort by "Catalog Order" to see each list according to rating)

Hardcover Fiction | Hardcover Nonfiction | Trade Paperback Fiction | Trade Paperback Nonfiction | Mass Market | Children's Illustrated | Children's Interest | Children's Series

SIBA Board Nominations close 5/15. Self nominations are encouraged. Nominate here.

Scholarships Application Deadlines:
5/15: BIPOC Booksellers Development Scholarship
5/15: George Keating Memorial Scholarship
5/15: NVNR Travel Grant Applications Close
5/15: Janet Geddis Scholarship
5/20: Macmillan Professional Development Scholarship
6/1: Wanda Jewell Scholarship

See the Scholarships List

New Voices New Rooms 2025 shines a light on the ongoing fight against censorship and book banning, an issue impacting every level of the book industry.

On Sunday, August 3 at 8:30 PM NVNR will host a special screening of the the award-winning documentary, Banned Together. The film follows three students from Beaufort, South Carolina, who joined forces as members of Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO), and worked with their adult allies to reinstate 97 books suddenly pulled from their school libraries. As the students evolve from local to national activists–meeting with bestselling/banned authors, politicians, constitutional experts, DAYLO itself becomes a model for youth-led advocacy for literacy.

Monday's opening breakfast, at 8:30 AM on August 4, is Heroes on the Front Lines of Book Banning. Attendees will hear from authors, booksellers, and community organizers as they share their work and passionate advocacy during a time of ongoing challenges.

Emcee is Philomena Polefrone, PhD, Associate Director, American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), the free expression initiative of the American Booksellers Association. 

Silas House, former Poet Laureate of Kentucky and author of the upcoming poetry collection All These Ghosts, will open the event with a poem.

Author speakers are Angie Thomas, author of Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Book of Anansi and Nic Stone, author of Boom Town. Both authors’ previous books are among the most frequently challenged and banned in schools and libraries across the country. 

Bookseller speakers are Cristina Nosti, Director of Events and Programming at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida (SIBA) and Alison Rudolph, co-owner of Rudolph Girls in Westminster, PA (NAIBA). Nosti will share how Books & Books, located in the state leading the nation in book bans, works through their literacy foundation to provide free books to children, connect authors with schools, and defend freedom of speech and free expression. Rudolph will share how Rudolph Girls promotes the voices of women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community through their inventory and social justice advocacy. 

Community Organizer Speakers from the Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO) are Brea Parker, a rising senior at Beaufort High School in Beaufort, SC and Kate Selvitelli, a rising senior at Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, SC. Parker and Selvitelli will share their passion and activism defending the freedom to read for their communities and their fellow students.

Register for NVNR 2025

Right now bookstores who participated in the 2025 Indie Summer Reading Guide program are receiving their catalog orders and making plans to use them to bring in new customers and energize sales.

Get ready, because event though the summer catalogs have just landed, orders for the 2025 WINTER catalog are now open!

The window to place orders is several weeks shorter this year. Don't miss out on this major SIBA benefit and key tool in making your 4th quarter a success.

The Winter Catalogs land in stores the first week of October. They are 16-page, professionally designed, full-color pieces with 100+ books featured. They are created to be easy to slip into customers' bags and include as newspaper inserts. SIBA member booksellers receive the first 5000 catalogs absolutely free of charge, with the option to order more at cost.

Included in the catalog program:

• Free shipping to stores or drop shipping to newspapers
• Extra boxes of 500 catalogs available at cost
• Opt in store imprinting, at a discounted cost for SIBA Bookstores
• Opt in direct mailing to your chosen zip code/mail routes
• Free online digital catalog for store websites
• Professionally-designed digital and downloadable marketing asserts and store signage

Stores that place orders for the Winter Catalog also get to participate in the Catalog Cover Contest to select the 2025 catalog design. Previous years winners include designs by Caldecott-winner Doug Salati (Hot Dog) and Oleksandr Shatokhin (Little Hare Finds a Gift), an artist living and working in Ukraine.

Mark your calendars:

The deadline to participate in direct mail orders is June 1, and for all other orders is June 15th. Don't wait, Catalog Ordering is open now!

Ordering takes just a few minutes, If you have ordered any RAMP* catalogs in the past, your store account is already active. If not, creating an account takes just a few minutes: Click here

Visit RAMP for more detailed information, or to download the marketing kit.

*What's RAMP?
RAMP is a marketing consortium that includes the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA), the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA), the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA), and the California Independent Booksellers Alliance (CALIBA).

Sassafras on Sutton in downtown Black Mountain, North Carolina, is a bookstore, gift shop, and coffee bar with more than 5,000 new books in every genre, a vast selection of gifts, an adorable children’s area, and a full espresso bar with pastries. The shop opened in 2018 on the basement level of their building on Sutton Ave., and when a children’s store closed upstairs, Sassafras decided to expand in January 2020. Of course, COVID-19 derailed that expansion, but Sassafras was finally able to open the upstairs children’s section in May of 2020.

This past year has been especially challenging for western North Carolina after the devastating Hurricane Helene hit in 2024. After the storm, Sassafras hosted two pop-up shops while they were closed that included discount costumes for local children right before Halloween and free clothes, essentials, and toys given to those most in need. 

Every year, Sassafras works with multiple local nonprofits, giving donations and promoting annual events. Black Mountain Home for Children, which cares for roughly 170 children from various backgrounds and provides housing, education, and life skills to prepare them for their futures, is one of these partners. Sassafras donates toys and books from the wish lists of many of the children housed in their facility each year. They also work with Bounty & Soul, a local organization helping people and families struggling with food insecurity, and Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, who raises money to aid in heating the homes of families in the winter.

General Manager Kathleen Madden said their top priority for the year is to help maintain the spirit of the shop as a gathering place while the community continues to rebuild. They want to be a beacon of hope and endurance throughout the inevitable changes that are coming to the area.

Madden said her favorite benefit of SIBA is our annual conference, New Voices New Rooms. She said, “Pre-COVID, I was able to meet some of my literary heroes that I have been reading for years. The fangirl in me could not be contained.” Kathleen will be at New Voices New Rooms again in August!

You can follow Sassafras on Sutton at @sassafrasonsutton to keep up with their journey and visit their website at www.sassafraspost.com.

The theme for the early summer May/June Read This Next! Kids list is "Be Yourself!" Choose your own friends, make your own choices, stand up for what you think is right because you can make a difference just by being YOU.

RTNext! Kids Bookseller Resources:
Edelweiss Collection | Flyer | Flyer Graphic (image)

Read is why Southen indie booksellers love these books:

Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel
This story really makes you stop and think about what we are born into and how our beliefs are shaped by our exposures, and it makes you consider what YOU would do if one day you woke up in this strange new world.
– Mandy Martin, Novel, Memphis, TN

The Floating World by Axie Oh
What a ride. This book was a full blown adventure with high stakes and dire consequences. I was rooting for our characters from page one. I wanted them to succeed but even more I wanted them to find the happiness they deserved.
– Mekhala Villegas-Rogers, Tombolo Books, St. Petersburg, FL

Into the Rapids by Ann Braden
Into the Rapids will activate your adventurous side as Addy puts her outdoor survival skills to the test as she prepares for Survival Camp. Follow along as Addy realizes that it’s OK to stand on your own, but it’s never wrong to ask for help when you need it.
– Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, GA

J vs. K by Kwame Alexander, Jerry Craft, Jerry Craft (Illus.)
J and K’s pretend jabbing will leave you on the floor laughing. I know kids will love reading this because they will feel like they personally know these guys and they are on the inside joke.
– Suzanne Lucey, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC

The Day the Crayons Made Friends by Drew Daywalt, Oliver Jeffers (Illus.)
From living out dreams of being a firefighter to becoming a board game piece or even finding your long-lost twin, the crayons have again taken over my heart with the friends they just can’t wait to tell us about.
– Grace Sullivan, Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA

The Friendship Train by Debbie Levy, Boris Kulikov (Illus.)
A true story that will inspire children and adults alike, this book serves as a reminder that every one of us can make a difference, and no act of kindness is ever too small.
– Amanda Grell, Pearl’s Books, Fayetteville, AR

Current Read This Next! books and what SIBA booksellers have to say about them can always be found at The Southern Bookseller Review