Curriculum

Friday Update: Publishing News, Awards, and Announcements

By Catherine A. Cardno — April 20, 2012 2 min read
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A lot of great K-12 publishing and book information passes my desk during a week. As such, I give you a new series of posts: the Friday Update. Enjoy, and have a great weekend.

Reading is Fundamental has released a new awareness campaign and public service announcement, “Book People Unite,” the company announced this week. The company is the largest literacy nonprofit dedicated to children in the United States. The campaign aims to spotlight children’s literacy nationwide in hopes of sparking a movement to give books to children who otherwise would not have access to reading material. The superstars of the picture book world—Curious George, Clifford, Madeline, Raggedy Ann, and Babar (among others)—are showcased in the PSA. If you’re interested in reading more about the campaign, The New York Times covered Reading is Fundamental and the new PSA in some depth on Monday.

Nominations for the Carol D. Reiser Children’s Book Awards are open until May 31. The national award—a a $1,000 honorarium donated to the charity of the author’s choice—was established by the Corporate Volunteer Council of Atlanta to honor Reiser’s lifelong dedication to volunteering, providing for the disadvantaged, and caring for needy children in the metro Atlanta area. Works of fiction, poetry, folklore, nonfiction, and anthologies that were published in the United States in 2011 and have been designated by their publisher as a K-5 children’s book are eligible.

ASCD’s catalogue of more than 300 education e-books is now available on the Barnes & Noble NOOK, the company announced on Thursday. The books, which make up ASCD‘s professional development catalogue, include those written by a range of authors such as Wade Boykin, Charlotte Danielson, Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Robyn R. Jackson, Robert J. Marzano, Jay McTighe, Pedro Noguera, Mike Schmoker, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Grant Wiggins, and Ronald A. Wolk.

Rourke Publishing is changing its name to Rourke Education Media, the company announced on Tuesday. The company has been publishing preK-8 books and classroom materials for 30 years and in the last decade has adapted its offerings to include new developments in technology and retail. The company’s well-known brands—Rourke Library, Rourke Classroom, Little Birdie Books, and Treasure Chest Book Distributors—will continue as before, but as the publisher said, the new logo will be “popping up everywhere.”

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A version of this news article first appeared in the BookMarks blog.