Sandra's Reading Center - Book Sellers and Publishers

This section is courtesy of David K. Brown from The Children's Literature Web Guide who has granted permission to reproduce his page for non-profit educational purposes.

Children's Booksellers on the Internet

This is a selective and highly subjective list of online bookstores. I haven't purchased from many of these firms; my recommendations are based solely on the quality of information about children's books that is available on their web sites. In preparing this list, I was looking online bookstores that offer recommendations, reviews, and background information we can use to promote children's books, whether or not we actually buy anything. In cases where I list a general interest bookstore, the link has been made (wherever possible) to the "Children's Department."

indicates an Internet resource that in my opinion is particularly valuable.

U.S. Booksellers

Amazon Kids

The services and features at Amazon's web site are utterly remarkable. Most recent books feature reviews, some written by Amazon staff, some from reputable journals (the children's book section often features reviews from The Horn Book, Booklist and Kirkus Reviews), and some contributed by readers. The children's section (and the Young Adult section) include high-quality recommendations for various age levels and genres, as well as features about individual books and writers. Buy or just browse. You can't lose.

Barnes and Noble

This is the online version of the well-known chain. Like Amazon.com, the selection of titles is huge, the recommendations are good (though perhaps with a greater emphasis on commercial series books), and many titles feature reviews. There may not be quite as many extra services for those of us who browse (rather that buy from) the web site, but perhaps it's just a case of personal preference.

Canadian Booksellers

ChaptersGLOBE.com

This joint effort of Chapters Books (Canada's largest bookstore chain) and the Globe & Mail newspaper, provides access to Canadian and international titles, reviews from the Globe, interviews from the CBC, and a database of authors.

National Book Service

A Canadian wholesaler serving schools and libraries, with some useful online lists and searchable catalogues.

Woozles: a place for and about Children

A children's bookstore in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

U.K. Booksellers

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com has crossed the Atlantic. This site takes over from the former Bookpages, and follows the basic US Amazon format.

The Bookpl@ce

Access to information and recommendations for children's books through BookEnds, an online "magazine" that provides a Monthly Focus, as well as News and Features.

OKUKBooks

"The Home of British Children's Books."

Book Clubs

Scholastic Book Clubs

Scholastic provides online information about their various school book clubs.

Planet Troll

The online home of Troll Book Clubs.

Troll Canada

A separate company serving the Canadian market.

General Guides to Online Booksellers

If you don't find what you're looking for in the highly selective and incomplete listings above, check one of these more general directories.

American Booksellers Association BookWeb

Includes a directory of ABA-member bookstores, and news about books and the book industry that will be of interest to booksellers and consumers.

Australian Booksellers Online

The BookWire Index to Booksellers

Children's Publishers on the Internet
Bantam Doubleday Dell Teacher's Resource Centre
An excellent source for teaching guides and biographical information. BDD's Books for Young Readers pages include information about more commercial titles and series books.
DK Publishing
Information about Dorling Kindersley's books and multimedia products. The graphics and design on the website are as eyecatching as the books would lead you to expect.

HarperCollins Books for Children
Called The Big Busy House, this is a fun and different approach to a publisher's site, and is well worth a look. For Young Adult books, take a look at YA-zine.
Heinemann (U.K.)
There is useful information on this site, though it requires a free registration before you can enter some sections. Imprints include Heinemann Educational, Rigby, and Ginn.
Houghton Mifflin Children's Trade Books
Imprints include Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Ticknor & Fields Books for Young Readers, and Clarion Books. Houghton Mifflin Educational features seasonal activities at the Kids' After School Clubhouse. This site includes something that I get asked for a lot: Graded reading lists.
Little, Brown Books for Children and Young Adults
Another new location for this site, with more information about.
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division
Information about the company's textbooks and teaching materials, along with some teaching ideas.
North-South Books
Biographies of authors and illustrators, guides for parents and teachers, news, reviews, and great graphics.
Oxford University Press USA
Recent children's releases are listed in the online catalogues. Oxford University Press UK has a brief page about their Educational and Children's Books division, and information about the Oxford Reading Tree series.
Pan Asian Publications
Pan Asian Publications is a distributor of Asian materials, and a publisher of bilingual (English/Chinese, English/Vietnamese, etc.) books for children.
Penguin USA Children's Books
Biographies of authors and illustrators and information about current releases. Additional information on the Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Rabbit books. Secondary School teachers (and others) may be interested in the Teacher's Guides to Penguin Authors that are available through Penguin's Academic Division. Guides are available for titles such as The Odyssey, Much Ado about Nothing, James Joyce's The Dubliners, and the selected short stories of Stephen King.
Prufrock Press
A publisher of books and journals in gifted education.
Puffin Books (U.K.)
"The Puffin House" includes excerpts from novels, information about authors, contests, and more.

Reed Educational Publishing (New Zealand)
Excellent teaching resources as well as information about publications. Imprints include Rigby and Heinemann.
Scholastic Canada
Information about the publisher's Canadian books and writers, as well as links to the parent company.
Scholastic Central
This has become more of a promotion for the company's fee-based online service, than a source of information about Scholastic Books, but there is still some stuff here, including links to pages for the Magic School Bus, and Goosebumps products.
Simon Says Kids
Simon & Schuster's website for children's books. There are resources available for parents, teachers and, of course, kids. Among other things, there are useful biographies for a number of authors published by S&S and related children's imprints including Atheneum, Bradbury, Macmillan, and Margaret K. McElderry.

Looking for More Publishers?
There are so many publishers (particularly small publishers) who now have Web sites, that it has become impossible for me to list them all. What you will find here is a subjective list of publishers whose Web sites seem to me to be useful, interesting, or at least promising.
If you don't find the publisher you're looking for here, check some of these pages:
Children's Book Council Members List
Addresses of all US publishers who are members of the Children's Book Council, with links to their Web pages where available. This is as good a directory of US Juvenile Publishers as we are likely to get, and is an excellent resource for prospective writers.
Canadian Publishers' Council
Addresses of member publishers, with links to websites where they exist (usually the link is to the US website), and an excellent Webguide for Publishers featuring links that provide a huge amount of information about how publishers can get on the Web, and why they should!
Small Presses Owned and Operated by People of Color: Publishers of Children's Books
Compiled by the Cooperative Children's Book Center.

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