The American Booksellers Association (ABA) has revealed the winners of the 2012 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards, books that show “the spirit of independent bookstores.” Below, we’ve linked to free samples of all the winners.

In an odd turn of events, brother and sister authors Maile Meloy and Colin Meloy tied for the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award this year.

ABA CEO Oren Teicher had this statement: “After a month of voting by the owners and staff at independent bookstores across the country, we have an outstanding list of winners that reflects the types of books independent bookstores champion best … We look forward to saluting the winners and honor recipients at the Celebration of Bookselling Author Awards Luncheon on June 5 at BEA.”

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The new video for “Calamity Song” by The Decemberists reenacts a scene from David Foster Wallace‘s masterpiece, Infinite Jest. We’ve embedded the video above–what do you think?

In the video, a group of teenagers play Wallace’s imaginary Eschaton game, a combination of tennis match and computer simulation for nuclear war. Follow this link if you want to play the game in real life. Singer and novelist Colin Meloy told NPR he had just finished reading Infinite Jest and wanted the video to be a tribute to the late novelist.

Check it out: “I had this funny idea that a good video for the song would be a re-creation of the Enfield Tennis Academy’s round of Eschaton — basically, a global thermonuclear crisis re-created on a tennis court — that’s played about a third of the way into the book. Thankfully, after having a good many people balk at the idea, I found a kindred spirit in Michael Schur, a man with an even greater enthusiasm for Wallace’s work than my own. With much adoration and respect to this seminal, genius book, this is what we’ve come up with. I can only hope DFW would be proud.”

Colin Meloy–the lead singer and songwriter behind the critically acclaimed indie rock band The Decemberists–has sold a children’s series to HarperCollins after a five-publisher auction. Entitled Wildwood, the first book will be illustrated by Carson Ellis.

The three-book middle-grade series sold to Donna Bray, the co-publisher of the HarperCollins imprint Balzer & Bray. The deal was negotiated by Steven Malk of Writers House. Described as “a classic tale of adventure, magic, and danger, set in an alternate version of modern-day Portland, Oregon,” publication is set for fall 2011.

Meloy (pictured, via) had this statement: “The germ of this series goes back a long way … For me, this is the culmination of a long-term collaboration with Carson, matching words and art. I grew up on a steady diet of Lloyd Alexander, Roald Dahl, and Tolkien; this is our humble paean to that grand tradition of epic adventure stories.”