WORDS AND IMAGES : Reward for Quality : Adventure for Kids in Ventura wins a prestigious award for excellence in bookselling.
Totally surprised and thrilled. That’s how Jody Fickes and her staff at Adventures for Kids in Ventura reacted when it became the first children’s bookstore ever to receive the prestigious Charles S. Haslam Award for Excellence in Bookselling.
A plaque and $1,000 were presented at a book and author breakfast attended by about 1,000 members of the publishing and bookselling community during the American Booksellers Assn. convention in Anaheim. “We don’t even know who nominated us,” said Fickes, who closed the store during the ABA event so she and eight staff members could attend.
The annual award is presented to a bookseller who most exemplifies innovative business practices combined with social responsibility and involvement in the community. Fickes opened Adventures for Kids in 1979.
The store, at 3457 Telegraph Road, will begin a story time for preschoolers in July.
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