Their Mums didn’t read to them………

This is a different sort of post – not a review or a specific topic, but simply prompted by wanting to share with you what happened to our warehouse a couple of months ago. Late in August, a bunch of kids went on a rampage around the downtown area of Aurora, Ontario, where our national warehouse is located. We know they were kids as they were caught on security video, but they were wearing hoodies so they couldn’t be identified. They vandalized a number of businesses and also tried to set some buildings alight, and they broke into our warehouse which we share with a number of other publishing companies. Their aim wasn’t to steal – it was simply mindless destruction, and having failed to set the books alight they went around with fire extinguishers and sprayed them all over the ‘picking’ area of the warehouse where the books are stacked on open shelving ready for picking and packing orders. All the books on the shelves were damaged – either smoke damage and/or residue from the fire extinguishers.

Because there were a number of different insurers involved (different for each publisher, for the warehouse people and for the building owners) it took about 3 weeks of wrangling for them to come to an agreement on whether the books were salvageable. In the end it was decided to destroy the damaged books and pay to replace them. By the time that had been done, then the facility thoroughly cleaned (including shelving, floors, ceilings and ductwork), then fresh, undamaged stock brought in and got ready on the shelving, we were unable to ship for about 6 weeks.

As we twiddled our thumbs waiting to get back to work, my colleagues and I mused over the fact that the kids didn’t try to steal anything – they just got a kick out of destruction, and in particular in destroying books. We were united in one thought – these kids’ parents can’t have read to them when they were little or they wouldn’t have been out there indulging in mindless vandalism. I was put in mind of a comment I once read from a police detective – he noted that never, in his long career, had he been called to a scene of domestic violence in a home that was filled with books. Books and ideas are great civilizing influences and I remain utterly committed to spreading a love of literature, one book at a time.

In terms of impact for our company, we’ve lost 6 weeks of sales but our insurance covered the lost stock. Because we didn’t carry huge quantities of our French and Spanish stock, most of it was out on the shelves rather than with our bulk stocks (which were in another part of the warehouse and survived), so our French range is greatly reduced, at least for the time being. However, our Spanish stock was wiped out so other than what I currently have in my personal stocks we no longer have any Spanish titles.

I just wanted to share this with all you fellow book-lovers – I’m sure you’ll share my dismay at this mindless destruction. The vandals almost certainly didn’t spare a minute’s thought or empathy for all the loss and damage caused to other people – ranging from layoffs and lost hours for the warehouse staff, the lost business for all the book companies (who don’t work on a high profit margin to start with) and right down to lost income for lots of hard-working individual booksellers who were unable to earn anything for six weeks.

Anyway, we’re up and running again, our English titles are almost fully re-stocked and the warehouse is nearly caught up with the backlog of orders, so we’re pretty much back to normal. I approach our busy season with a renewed determination to bring books, ideas and a love of learning into children’s lives.

Surviving the Summer – Activities for long journeys and rainy days

This time of year many parents’ thoughts turn to buying books to keep developing their children’s reading skills over the summer (see my posting below from Aug 2011, on Summer Reading).

The other things that always appeal over the summer are books and activities to help keep children amused on long journeys, rainy days and just those occasions when boredom has set in and you need some inspiration.  The obvious suggestiong to fill this niche are our wonderful sticker books, which are a perennial favourites – they’re light and easy to pack in a backpack, with no need for pens, paper, or any other paraphernalia – they can keep a child happily amused for hours.   As well as our classic sticker dressing books we also recently came out with a couple of adorable series for very young children – the ‘Make Your Own Picture’ series and the ‘That’s Not My Sticker Book’ series, which give little ones the chance to place stickers to match pictures (wonderful for visual discrimination and coordination) and to make up their own pictures.

This summer we also have some super new ‘doodling and colouring’ books – this series has been phenomenally popular, and knowing when they’re on to a winner, Usborne are adding new titles all the time.   In May we saw the new Doodle Pad for Boys and Doodle Pad for Girls, each including a wide variety of drawing and colouring activities.  In June we’ll be releasing 1000 Doodles, a Big Doodling Book, 1000 Stickers for Boys, 1000 Stickers for Girls and a Holiday Activity Book which is just packed with puzzles, doodles and activities for all ages.

And of course there are always the wonderful Puzzle Packs, including wipe-clean markers to work right on the cards.  There are wipe-clean doodle packs, Word Puzzles, Picture Puzzles, Logic Puzzles, Secret Codes and much more.  They’re compact, light and self-contained and can be tucked in a purse or a backpack to be produced in your hour of need!

I’ll be hosting an Open House on June 12th where I should have stock of all these great summer survival titles available – if you’re within range of Calgary, drop in and take a look!  Of course I can always mail orders too.  Plan ahead and with a bit of luck you’ll have peace and quiet from the back seat of the car this summer, instead of the time-honoured chorus of ‘Are we there yet?’

Story of the Second World War

This book is a wonderful reminder for me of why I fell in love with Usborne’s information books in the first place.  I’ve remarked in many reviews that boys just love to read anything about warfare, but although from a bookseller’s point of view I rejoice in having titles which appeal so much to boys, there’s always a part of me which regrets that this type of subject attracts them.    There’s a seductiveness about tales of heroism and battle-lust which can make the military seem appealing, so I think it’s terribly important that books about war should be carefully written to show war as it is, warts and all.  I want my kids to learn about history, but in no way do I want them caught up in jingoism or be left with impressions of glorious victories and enemies defeated without them also having some understanding of the suffering caused on both sides, and the true impact of war on ordinary people.  It can be particularly difficult to hit the right note when writing about the Second World War, because it’s one of the very rare conflicts which can be described as a ‘just war’ – Hitler and the Nazis were truly the face of evil, and the Allies entered the fight as a matter of survival and to oppose barbarism.  I trust Usborne to handle this type of topic responsibly and in a balanced manner.

Another reason why I like Usborne’s information books is that they never ‘write down’ to kids or patronize them.  They don’t hang back from using ‘big words’ if they’re words that the kids ought or need to know – they help comprehension in part by providing a glossary of more complex or technical terms.  They choose writers who are able to write and explain in clear, engaging language.  Paul Dowswell, who wrote this particular book, has written several other very successful titles for Usborne, including many of the True Stories series (including Heroes, Escape, Spies, Second World War), The Newspaper Histories (one of my favourite series!) several of the First Encyclopedias and also ‘World Wars’.  I am officially a fan.

So, I’m going to quote the first paragraph in this book, because it really caught my breath and reminded me about what’s so good about Usborne books.

“ The Second World War was the greatest conflict in history.  Even set against the carnage of the First World War, it was the most catastrophic event of the 20^th Century.  At least 50 million people were killed, and lives were shattered on a scale that can scarcely be imagined.  Even today, the shadow of the war still fuels tensions, crises and tragedies of international politics.”

With an opening like that, you know that this book can be trusted not to give a sugar-coated panegyric to the Allied victory, that it’s well-written and that the true cost of the war will be made clear.

This new title looks at the full picture of the Second World War, including PearlHarbourand the war in the Pacific, so I think it will have international appeal.  They’ve taken care to give credit to other countries – Canada is specifically mentioned in the bit about D-Day and not lumped in as part of the Commonwealth – a significant point as Canadian soldiers, uniquely among Commonwealth troops, formed their own Division in that battle.

Books kids choose for themselves – top sellers at bookfairs

I do a lot of school bookfairs throughout the year, and it’s always interesting to see which books are popular with the children.  At home parties you sell the books which parents think their kids would like or which they think they ought to read: at school bookfairs you see which books the kids select for themselves.  You also get to be a fly on the wall as the inevitable negotiations take place betwen parents and their children, and they reach a compromise on what they’re going to buy.  I’d like to share some of my bookfair top sellers with you, as it can be really helpful in selecting books for gifts and getting a feel for what children would really like to receive.  My data is mainly drawn from bookfairs at Elementary schools.

There’s a definite divide between the top sellers and top themes for girls and those for boys.  I say that without any sort of judgement – I’d encourage both genders to read widely and not succumb to gender stereotyping, but I’m just reporting on the statistics as I see them!  For girls, the Sticker Dolly Dressing Series dominates the top sellers list - no particular individual best-seller – usually it’s the latest title which sells best, and the two latest titles in the series are Fancy Dress and Dream Jobs.  There’s an equivalent series for boys, and one title stands out as being a favourite - Sticker Dressing Knights, where you have lively scenes of knights in their medieval underwear, and you need to use the sticker clothing to get them properly dressed for battle, feasts and so on.  Girls also love anything about animals, and they also love the new Historical House chapter books.

With boys I guess it’s predictable that they favour non-fiction, and the most popular topics are anything to do with war or machines.  The new Beginners Plus series was a huge hit, because it combined those two themes with titles such as Submarines, Tanks and Fighter Planes.  Other favourites were ‘The Second World War’ and ‘The First World War’ – both from the Young Reading Series and from the History of Britain series – and somewhat surprisingly the big ‘World Wars’ combined volume was also a big seller, despite it’s price of $32.95.  Anything about sharks, or other creatures with too many teeth, is also a big hit.

Both boys and girls love the new doodling  books – particularly Drawing, Doodling and Colouring and Pocket Doodling.  The activity card packs are also very popular – Optical Illusions, Logic Puzzles, Brain Puzzles etc – and they’re particularly useful for keeping children occupied on journeys or in waiting rooms.

We also sell lots and lots of the Young Reading series and various chapter books, but there are hundreds of them and the sales are generally spread out over many different titles.  Perennial favourites are ‘Titanic’, ‘Anne Frank’ and the various adaptations of classic fairy stories and novels.  I’ve had wonderful feedback on the ‘Historical House’ series – girls who’ve bought one tend to get back in touch looking for the rest of the series.

And finally, perennial best-sellers inlude Famous Paintings, the Science Encyclopedia, World History Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Math – it’s always really heartening to see the older kids showing an interest in meatier topics such as these.

 

Why your child deserves real books – E-books just won’t do!

I was recently asked if I was concerned that my business would be impacted by the rise of the e-book and my immediate and instinctive answer was ‘no’.  I then had to stop and analyze why I was so sure of this, and it turned out to be a very thought-provoking topic.

The obvious answer is that currently e-books simply haven’t reached the point of allowing colourful illustrations – and even if some colourful books already exist for platforms like the iPad, would you seriously leave your toddler alone with your iPad?  Little children are also exploring all their senses, and they love tactile books: you’re never going to get a touchy-feely or lift-the-flap e-book.  In addition, your child can work in a dot-to-dot, colouring or activity book and develop their fine motor control and pencil skills – there’s just no substitute for ‘dead tree’ books to my mind.  I must confess that as a reader I’m a confirmed ‘dead tree’ fan – I recognize that if you’re travelling it’s great to have a whole library contained in the small space of a Kindle – but by preference I’ll always go for a book I can hold in my hand, take into the bath and read on the beach without worries about destroying it on contact with water, sand or whatever (well, that may happen of course – but it’s going to cost me $10 for a paperback rather than the hundreds of dollars to replace an iPad!).

However – when I started talking about this with a colleague who is also an Early Childhood educator, currently working in a program for children with speech and language deficits, the topic became very thought-provoking.  She told me that every year, teachers are seeing a larger and larger proportion of children starting school with speech and language problems that require intervention, and that the general concensus in the profession is that it’s because parents just aren’t reading with their children as much these days.  Reading with your child initiates conversations and interaction which help your child to develop their vocabulary, comprehension and conversation, along with a host of other skills.  We’re all overprogrammed and scrambling for time these days, and there’s a growing trend for busy parents to park their children in front of the TV, or with the best possible intentions to buy them educational electronic programs such as ‘Leapfrog’.  There’s nothing at all wrong with the ‘Leapfrog’ system – as long as it’s used in addition to sitting down with your child and reading, rather than instead of it!  There is simply no substitute for taking a few minutes out of your busy day to sit and read with your child, sharing a beautiful book and using it as a springboard for conversation and interaction.

Your child deserves your time, and they deserve real books to share with you.  There’s just no substitute.

Summer Reading

I have many happy memories from my youth, of curling up with a good book on a sunny summer day – there’s nothing like a really good read!  My mother was a voracious reader and I think the love of reading which she passed on to me was one of her greatest gifts – and thankfully it’s one which I’ve passed on to my own children.  Not only can reading be a great pleasure, but it also opens the mind to new worlds and new ideas, and I think the best books are the ones which can entertain and educate or provoke thought at the same time (even if you don’t realise you’re learning at the time!).  From a purely practical view, well-written books can help expand your vocabulary – I tried an entertaining vocabulary survey recently which you might enjoy yourself (http://testyourvocab.com)  – and it’s vitally important that children should read over the summer vacations so that their reading development and skills don’t stagnate over the summer.

I love the new ‘Historical House’ series, aimed at girls in approximately Grades 4-6, as it provides not only a really good story but each book also serves as an introduction to a different period in history and the issues of the times.  The stories are all set in the same house in London during different time periods, and follow the lives of the young girls who lived there.   As a general linking theme, the first three books all focus on girls who had ambitions to do something with their lives, and naturally faced obstacles as they tried to do something that was pushing the boundaries for females of their time.  As the reader roots for the independent-spirited girls in the books, she may take time to reflect on how different the expectations were for girls in former times, and give thought to the freedom of choices that girls have today.

The first book, Mary Ann and Miss Mozart, is set in the mid 18th Century, and features a girl who is inspired by watching a performance by the child prodigy Mozart and his sister Nannerl, to become an opera singer.  She has to struggle to overcome family circumstances to acheive her dream.  The second book, Lizzie’s Wish,  is set in early Victorian times (mid 19th Century) and has as its historical backdrop the Crimean war and Florence Nightingale’s work to establish and win respect for the profession of nursing.   The third book, Cecily’s Portrait, is set at the end of the Victorian era at the end of the 19th Century, and features a girl who wishes to become a photographer.

The icing on the cake with all these novels is that Usborne have used their Quicklinks feature to provide links to a number of carefully chosen websites which provide entertaining and fascinating background material to enhance the reading experience.  For instance, Mary Ann’s book gives links to hear music of the period, including folk songs that Mary Ann is described as singing.   Lizzie’s Wish links to material about Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War, and Cecily’s Portrait gives you a chance to learn about everyday life and artists of the time, as well as a page where you can design your own tiles in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ style of that period.

I highly reccomend these books – the stories are involving and interesting, and the Quicklinks open a whole new world of information to add depth to the reading experience.  I predict this series will become a favourite with girls, and as a mother I would be delighted to have my daughter hooked on a series with so much ‘meat’ to it.  Look out for three more titles to be released over the next few months – one set it suffragette times, one during the Second World War, and one in the late 1960s with the first moon landing at the theme.

Books for Preschoolers

 The preschool years are a vitally important stage in a young child’s development – not only are they learning social skills, but they’re building the foundation for their school years.  Many parents think that learning to read starts with learning the alphabet, but in fact there are lots of pre-reading skills which need to be acquired before that.  When you sit down and read with a young child they’re learning that the squiggles on a page convey information, that you open a book at the front and turn pages (gently!) to progress with the story, that you follow the lines from left to right and – most crucially – that books are fun and that reading is a pleasurable experience.   You can engage a child in a story, pointing out colours, shapes, discussing the storyline (what happens next?) and even examining behaviours and using the opportunity to teach values and ethics.  Doing activities such as ‘spot the difference’ and ‘odd one out’ will help to teach visual discrimination (and when you’re starting to read, it helps if you can see that ‘b’ and ‘d’ are different - but that they’re the same shape ‘flipped’).   A child who has attractive books at home will also learn to value them and treat them with respect.  In addition, by hearing rhyming stories and poems, your child’s ear will begin to ‘tune in’ to the sounds which make up the language – they’ll be developing ‘phonemic awareness’.  I hear from colleagues who teach early childhood that they get children turning up for Kindergarten who have never handled a book and lack skills that most of us would take for granted – and that those children rarely, if ever, catch up. 

Storytime and bedtime stories are a treasured part of the day in households that value literacy.  Read-aloud stories with attractive illustrations will turn a child on to the joy of reading, and Usborne excells in this field.  Then when a child is ready to start learning the basics of reading, there’s no better starting point than our highly acclaimed Very First Reading set which offers a very structured approach to building first phonics skills.

Don’t forget non-fiction – boys in particular love facts and photographs, and the ‘First Encyclopedia’ or ‘Beginners’ series will delight them.

As well as building reading skills a preschooler also needs to develop fine motor skills and pencil skills.  Arts and crafts can play a big role here, and also activities like colouring, dot to dot and doodling.  I’m particularly please with this month’s new title ‘Ready for Writing’ which has sturdy laminated pages with lots of drawing activities to build pen skills – and comes with a wipe-clean marker so it can be used over and over again.

Sticker books may seem a bit frivolous, but kids need books to be fun too – and in a well-designed sticker book some thought will be needed to decide on appropriate sticker placement, and it will also involve fine motor control.  So preschoolers need a range of books to help develop the spectrum of skills they’ll need for success in school – and also to provide them with a source of lifelong pleasure – a love of reading.

The 39 Steps

Did you know that Usborne publish an extensive reading series with levels ranging from very first phonics up to a Grade 6 reading level?  The 39 Steps is part of the Young Reading Series Level 3, which is at about a Grade 4 reading level – but many of the titles in the series are popular with kids up into the Jr High grades.

The 39 Steps is a re-telling of the classic adventure story by John Buchan, which has been made into a Hollywood film at least 4 times.  The first and most famous version was by Alfred Hitchcock, who changed to plot somewhat in his adaptation.  The subsequent films followed Hitchcock’s story, but our version returns faithfully to the original plot from Buchan’s book.

Boys are often reluctant readers, but when I do school bookfairs I see them make a beeline for anything about war or adventure stories with spies and lots of action.  Often the secret of inspiring a reluctant reader is just to offer them materials that spark their interest, rather than books we think they ought to be reading.  In this Young Reading Series Level 3 there are a number of non-fiction and biographical titles and also some adaptations of classic stories.  At bookfairs I find the most popular titles with boys are Titanic, The First World War, Gladiators, Animals at War, Frankenstein, Dracula and The Three Musketeers.  Of course girls like lots of titles in this series too (particularly Anne Frank and Little Women) but I find that the non-fiction and adventure titles make them particularly popular with boys. 

I used to worry about giving kids simplified versions of classics – I want them to read the originals – but I’ve adapted my thinking a little over the years.  I think that reading the story in a version that’s easy to understand can actually inspire a child to go and read the original where they might not otherwise have done so.   Where classic stories are written in more formal and old-fashioned language, having a familarity with the storyline can give a child the confidence to persevere with the story.

I think that the stirring storyline with spies, pursuits by planes and a very up-to-date graphic novel style of illustration will really appeal to boys and make The 39 Steps a best-seller.

Lots of Things to Find and Colour

This is the very best sort of activity book – one which engages the mind and develops concepts as well as developing fine motor skills.  The lovely, detailed colouring pages involve lots of activities – spotting the difference, finding the odd one out, classifying objects, counting, matching, observation and lots more.  For example, there’s a double page full of ladybirds, all with differing numbers of spots.  The instructions ask you to find all the ladybirds with two spots and colour them red, all the ones with six spots and colour them yellow, and so on.  Other pages involve finishing off rows of similar faces then colouring them, finding the dogs hiding amongst a double page with lots and lots of cats, filling in the patterns on butterflies and lots more.  The book is printed on high-quality paper, so markers won’t bleed through.

This would make a super gift, packaged with a set of markers, and would be ideal to keep a child amused on a long trip, or on a rainy afternoon.  There are a couple of other related books aimed at slightly older children – Drawing, Doodling and Colouring, and Christmas Drawing, Doodling and Colouring – I think they’re all wonderful – they make me feel like picking up some pencils and starting colouring myself!

That’s Not My……

When I visited the Calgary Reads foundation the other day, one of the books I took with me was ‘That’s Not my Tiger’, the latest from this award-winning and much loved series of touchy-feely books from Usborne.  They loved it, and want lots of books from this series to use in a program they’re developing aimed at getting quality books into the hands of young Mums and their babies.  They have plenty of choice, as there are now over 30 titles in this ever-popular series.

I knew this book would be a winner.  Firstly, the tactile patches are ideal for a young baby who’s exploring their world using all of their senses, including touch.  Secondly, the repeated text – ‘That’s not my tiger….’ soon has young children joining in reciting the text from memory – and lastly the repeated text is ideal for beginning readers, for building up their confidence as they memorize frequently used vocabulary.  Actually, that’s not lastly – you can also chat about what’s happening in the pictures, search for the little mouse on each page and learn lots of interesting new vocabulary involving the textures……. I could go on and on.  Suffice to say that young children adore these books and they make the perfect gift for a little person for Christmas.  The newest title is released on November 1st - ’That’s not my Donkey’, and it has a Christmassy theme.