Bookstore Sales Post Another 27% Decline (publishersweekly.com)

The U.S. may be reopening, but Shutterfly, the personalized products company, wants the gratitude for essential workers to keep on flowing. It’s featuring children’s thank-you drawings in out-of-home installations in a new campaign, kicking off in New York City’s Times Square and Grand Central Station. Throughout the pandemic, Shutterfly has been encouraging users to make messages of gratitude with its “Create Thanks” campaign. People all over the U.S. have been touched by kids’ homemade “Thank you, essential workers” messages. Besides taping the drawings up in living room windows, making sidewalk chalk drawings or tacking them up on front porches, many uploaded their handiwork to the company's content hub, says Jim Hilt, president of Shutterfly’s consumer products divisions.

Meredith Corporation's PARENTS magazine's August "Raise a Reader" issue, available now, debuts its first-ever list of 100 Books to Inspire Your Kids covering a wide range of titles to help turn children of all ages into readers. To create the list, PARENTS asked celebrated authors to share the book that opened their or their children's eyes to the joy of reading. The issue's cover story features NBC's TODAY co-host Jenna Bush Hager, who shares how literacy has touched her life. Other features include tips on how to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read and the announcement of Raising the Future Book Club that will launch August 7. The Raising the Future Book Club launches with its first selection, Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi, Ph.D., who will lead a discussion of the book on PARENTS' Instagram on August 7 at 3:00 P.M.(ET). For details, visit http://parents.com/bookclub.

Kevin Mansell, Kohl's chairman, chief executive officer and president, said, “We are very pleased with our Holiday period sales, which were consistently strong through November and December. All lines of business and all regions reported positive comp sales. As expected, growth in digital demand accelerated significantly in the Holiday period from the year-to-date trend. In addition, we experienced positive sales in our stores driven by stronger traffic. I’d like to thank every Kohl’s associate across the organization for their commitment to delivering an outstanding Holiday experience for our customers.” Based on stronger than expected Holiday sales and expectations for fiscal January, the Company now expects its fiscal 2017 diluted earnings per share to be $4.10 to $4.20 versus its previous guidance of $3.72 to $3.92. Excluding the Company's previously disclosed fourth quarter tax settlement of $30 million, diluted earnings per share is expected to be $3.98 to $4.08, compared to its prior guidance of $3.60 to $3.80.