What We're Reading this Week at Pinwheel Books
We are always scouring media to see what people in children's publishing are talking about. It's important to our 'market research' to explore bookstores and see what is trending in bookshelves, to connect with authors and illustrators via linkedin, and other network groups, and to read what children's book experts are blogging about. From moms, to industry members, to publisher's own blogs, there is never a dull moment.
This week, we had some time to catch up on things we may have missed that are going on right now in kidslit, and here are a few stories you might be interested in:
1. Parents know how hard it is to find quality apps for their kids in the app store. It's difficult when there are millions of apps, many of them that will turn your kids into zombies when they use them!
We like to talk about this conundrum with other small app developerws through a great resoure Moms With Apps (www.momswithapps.com)Mini stores within the app store give parents confience that their children will be given quality content to enjoy.
Magic Town is a new app that will house at least 70 stories from a variety of big publishers (Schiolastic, Harper Collins, etc) and is set to hit stores soon. Here's the article from Publishers Weekly:
For a great list of great new apps for kids, check out the Jellybean Tunes Reports here: http://momswithapps.com/2012/05/15/the-jellybean-tunes-app-report-volume-30/
2. Children's Book Week just came to an end, and Publisher's Weekly rounds up the highlights in this post. Our favorite part are these statstics:
93: The number of years that Children’s Book Week has been celebrated.
40: The record-breaking number of cities that hosted official events.
400: The number of authors and illustrators made appearances throughout the week.
10,000: The number of people who participated in official events (many others took part in local events).
This is just outstanding. We've always been big supporters of promoting the joy that picture books bring, and their extremely important role in society. This goes to show us that the market for kidslit is slowly but surely growing.
3. And finally, a nice way to round out the week at Pinwheel is always with a trip to the blog Delightful Children's Books. They are always roundiung up lists of great kidslit according to themes. From spring to rainy days, science and math books and more, no book is left out in these great reviews.
Best of all, you can trust they've been kid tested. They are written by mom-blogger of three kids.
The latest post? Books that encourage Pretend Play: Restaurant. This website is the perfect way to entertain and stimulate your child, expanding from book to play seamlessly! Check them out at www.delightfulchildrensbooks.com
Another great place to be inspired by kidslit? VintageKidsBooksMyKidsLove.com
Until then, happy reading!
