PJ Library Partners With Marshall Cavendish to Launch Jewish Children's Book Line
(Press Release) SPRINGFIELD, Mass.—While publishers are feeling the weight of the Kindle, Nook, and e-books, one Massachusetts-based non-profit, The PJ Library, is helping boost publishing sales, build family libraries, and enhance the tradition of reading with children at bedtime. The PJ Library and publisher, Marshall Cavendish, are teaming up to launch a new line of books to tap into a niche market.
The PJ Library is an international Jewish-literacy program that partners with philanthropists, Jewish Federations, Jewish Community Centers, and other Jewish non-profit organizations, to bring high-quality books and music to children at no cost to the families, regardless of income. Currently, The PJ Library sends out approximately 65,000 books a month to families in more than 130 communities in the United States and Canada. The organization's mission is to strengthen the identities of Jewish families and their relationship to the local Jewish community.
Marshall Cavendish, a leading North American publisher of nonfiction series, children's books, illustrated encyclopedias, and digital resources, has seen a need for more Jewish children's titles in the major chain book stores. To meet the demands of buyers, Marshall Cavendish called upon the experts in Jewish children's literature at The PJ Library to select and endorse a line of books expected to hit Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon in September 2011. The first titles set to be released are: The Golem's Latkes, Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah, Many Days, and One Shabbat.
"For a long time, I've wanted to start a line of Judaica picture books, but because they'd sell into a niche market, I could never make the numbers work," says Margery Cuyler, publisher of Marshall Cavendish Children's Books. "I'm so glad that The PJ Library came along, because with their support, we can now develop an exciting program of children's books that reflect Jewish values and identity."
