Diversity in children's books: colouring in required

There are growing calls for young people's reading to broaden its picture of society from what is currently a depressingly monochrome viewRead Tanya Byrne's top 10 black characters in children's booksAfter a study in the US showed that of 3,200 children's books published in 2013, just 93 were about black people, experts have said that the issue is a "huge problem" in the UK as well.The acclaimed American children's author Walter Dean Myers, who was until recently the US's National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, highlighted the statistic that less than 3% of children's books last year featured black people in an article for the New York Times at the weekend. "Books transmit values. They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?" he asked. "Where are black children going to get a sense of who they are and what they can be? … I'm told that black children, and boys in particular, don't read. Small wonder. There is work to be done."Myers was pointing to research done by the Cooperative Children's Book Centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has counted the number of children's books featuring people of colour since 1985. Ten years ago, of 3,200 books received by the centre, 171 were about black people, 95 about American Indians, 78 about Asians and 63 about Latinos. Last year, these numbers had fallen, with 93 of 3,200 books about black people, 34 about American Indians, 69 about Asians and... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Name that book: emoji special answers

Did you try our emoji book quiz? Take a look at the answers and let us know how many you got right. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Germany, Exchange Your Unwanted Xmas Presents for Books!

In Germany, publisher Bastei Lübbe and bookseller Hugendubel offer vending machines where you can donate unwanted gifts in exchange for new books. The post In Germany, Exchange Your Unwanted Xmas Presents for Books! appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Keeps Firm Grip on E-book Market, Even as the Format Loses Market Share

With sales of ebooks slipping and print books enjoying a mild rebound, ebooks’ share of consumer spending on books has declined over the past two years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling Books of 2015

Harper Lee, Marie Kondo, and Jeff Kinney topped the print bestseller lists in 2015 for adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and juvenile books, respectively. Here are the 20 bestselling books of the year in each of those categories. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Not bound by history, L.A.'s Caravan Book Store continues to turn pages

A shuffling step carries Leonard Bernstein onto Grand Avenue. The pilasters and garlands of the PacMutual Building rise above him. Nearly 70, a balding man with a gray cattle-catcher mustache, he finds his keys and stoops to the lock in the threshold. Two bells tied to a red ribbon jingle as the... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Postcapitalism, Tolkien and Harper Lee: the big books news of 2015

Our annual review of the site’s most popular book stories puts Paul Mason’s utopian futurology ahead of perenially popular authorsThe living room carpet is covered in needles, the potato salad covered in mould: as we heave ourselves up out of the year that’s gone and prepare to belly-flop our... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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DOJ Urges Supreme Court to Deny Apple’s E-book Appeal

In an opposition brief filed on December 23, the U.S. Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court not to hear Apple’s appeal in the long-running ebook price-fixing case. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trade pledges aid for flood-hit Book Case Hebden

Publishers including Phaidon, Galley Beggar Press, HarperCollins and And Other Stories have pledged to help West Yorkshire indie Book Case Hebden, which has lost all its stock to flood damage.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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VIDEO: E-book boss on "unconscious bias"

Michael Tamblyn, chief executive of Kobo, offers the business advice he wishes he had been given when he started out, as part of the BBC News series, CEO Secrets. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2015-12-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Barnes & Noble adding booze to books?

For literary lovers, there's not much more exciting than browsing a well-stocked bookstore. But one Barnes & Noble location might be trying to make book shopping even more fun by adding alcohol to the equation. A Barnes & Noble store in New Hartford, N.Y., has applied for a beer and wine... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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2015 in books news: tragedies and triumphs

Harper Lee returned, Marlon James took the Booker and Terry Pratchett made his final bow. The year also saw literature drawn into shocking violence in Paris, fierce arguments over diversity … and a colouring-book frenzyThe year opened in tragedy, as two masked gunmen opened fire at an editorial... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones reveals New Year Book Club titles

Two Weidenfeld & Nicolson titles and the Desmond Elliott Prize winner are among the eight novels to have made it onto the Waterstones New Year Book Club, commencing in January. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling books 2015: Fifty Shades still on top

Books by women make up seven of the top 10 most bought this year, while colouring-in is more popular than TV tie-insAfter a 2014 that saw books for kids – led by John Green and David Walliams novels – ruling the annual sales chart, 2015 was the year of the women. Female authors, including Harper... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Books Having Good Finish to Solid Year

The book business looks ready to mark a second consecutive year of unit growth of print books. With one week to go in the year, unit sales of print books were up 2.8% compared to the same period in 2014. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'The Affair' and the Top Five Hollywood Takes on Book Publishing

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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German machine vends books in exchange for unwanted presents

German trade publisher Bastei Lübbe and book retailer Hugendubel have come up with an unusual idea to get rid of unwanted Christmas presents. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ladybird book pastiches become stocking-filler hit of 2015

Spoof titles with vintage artwork strike a chord with Christmas shoppers, selling more than 600,000 copies in less than two monthsNostalgia for the days of learning to read with Peter and Jane appears to have made Ladybird’s series of spoof titles for grownups a must-buy this Christmas, with... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book-related product preview in The Bookseller

The Bookseller is to feature a ‘book-related products’ preview within the weekly magazine for the first time in its history. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publishers on the books they enjoyed and envied in 2015

The yearly Guardian’s Hits and Misses feature makes me curious about what my friends and colleagues in the world of smaller presses might say - whether they’d feel envious about the same books, and what kind of regrets and successes they might have had in their year of publishing. I put the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Happy Holidays! Christmas Carols for the Book Industry

As our parting gift to you for 2015, Publishing Perspectives re-imagines several popular Christmas carols through the prism of the book business. The post Happy Holidays! Christmas Carols for the Book Industry appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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