Usborne Publishing

Congratulations to Independent Usborne Partner Catherine Acton, who has helped St John's C of E Primary School in Totnes to receive over £2,000 worth of brand new Usborne books in a single academic year, without spending a single penny of their reading budget - WOW! Catherine says: "It has been an absolute pleasure to work with this school, which is committed to supporting reading, and proactive in organising book events for their pupils. The events that we planned together focused on the importance of reading for pleasure and after each event, our relationship grew. It is a wholesome feeling to be recognised by the children there, who now stop me to say hello to talk about books. The school held an incredible Sponsored Read, received a very special visit from author Jenny Pearson that captivated students and staff alike, and finished the year with a fabulous book fair. From the assembly where pupils were hypnotised when I read out extracts from 'Anisha: Accidental Detective' by Serena Patel, to the book fair where I introduced a wide range of new books to all year groups, it has been a wonderful year of celebrating reading. I can't wait to see what we can do together in this new academic year." The school's Reading Lead, Louise Wright says: “We worked with our local Independent Usborne Partner Catherine Acton to create a brilliant Sponsored Read. The money that our pupils raised, plus the additional 60% in free books provided by Usborne Publishing, totalled an astounding £1.6k, which bought us more than 350 new books - from just one event! Huge thanks to Catherine for facilitating these fabulous opportunities for our children - I can't wait to share the next exciting event (a book fair) with her, to continue to celebrate and encourage a lifelong love of reading in our children and their families!” 👏👏👏 Well done Catherine! 👏👏👏 If you work in a school and would like to speak to your local Independent Usborne Partner, connect with them here: https://bit.ly/3T9gAxW #schools #teachers #freebooks #childrensbooks #Totnes #Devon #indepedentusbornepartner

🥇🥇🥇 Huge congratulations to our Metadata team who have been awarded a GOLD Metadata Excellence Award by Book Industry Communication Ltd for our Metadata Accreditation! 🥇🥇🥇 Helen Blount and Frederick Alldritt, led by Eloise Boon, have done fantastic work to make sure our metadata is of the highest standard, communicating with colleagues across the business and enriching our data feeds with to make our brilliant books more discoverable by trade customers and consumers alike. #booksupplychain #BIC #bookindustry #publishing #metadata

🌳 In 2023, the European Union took a fundamental step towards protecting the world’s forests by introducing the 'European Union Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products'. This legislation controls products that might contribute to deforestation or forest degradation going in and out of Europe. Regulated products include cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, rubber, and - of course - wood, paper and cardboard. 💪 This new regulation aims to instil long-lasting, responsible practices across the supply chain, protect human rights (specifically the rights of indigenous people) and local communities, and create a wider consumer awareness of deforestation. ✔ We are working with all of our suppliers to make sure we have robust processes and data collection in place to ensure that we comply with this new regulation. 🌳 In 2023, we completed our move to printing all of our books on FSC-certified paper. All of the printers we work with hold 'chain of custody certification' from The Forest Stewardship Council, the world’s most trusted forest certification organization. That means that all the materials we use can be traced and tracked from tree to book, and are compliant with core labour requirements, including a zero-tolerance approach to child or forced labour. 📚 We also continue to work with the Book Chain Project to monitor updates to legislation in this area, and make sure that everyone in our supply chain is ready to adopt new rules and procedures as they come in. Find out more about what we're doing to protect people and planet here: https://bit.ly/3Q0Ecoj #childrensbooks #sustainability #environment #lookingafterourplanet

A big Usborne welcome to three new members of staff who've joined us over the last few months: 💛 Anika Haque who joined as Marketing and Publicity Assistant working with carol farley, Fritha Lindqvist and their teams 💛 Nathan Kendall who joined as Marketing Assistant in Hollie Hargood's team at Usborne Community Partnerships 💛 Maisie George who joined as Junior Digital Marketing Assistant in Laurence Breux's team working in our Foreign Language Publishing division If you're interested in working in publishing, find out about the different roles and teams here: https://bit.ly/3GZbwVu #newjob #newstarter #publishing #jobsinbooks #welcome

With The Week Junior Book Awards 2024 fast approaching let's take a look at the shortlist for our new award category – Children’s Book of the Year: Hobbies and interests. The title that wins will engage, inform and inspire readers to discover and do something different. Congratulations to all the brilliant books shortlisted. UCLan Publishing Firefly Press Noodle Juice Ltd Walker Books Magic Cat Publishing Usborne Publishing Interests#TheWeekJuniorBookAwards #ChildrensLiterature #EducationForAll #InspiringYoungMinds #ChildrensPublishing #TWJBookAwards #ReadingForPleasure

We're getting ready for #Halloween with our new books launched today! Including: 👻 Don't Tickle the Ghost by Sam Taplin, illustrated by Ana Martin Larranaga 🧙♀️ First Sticker Book Halloween by Alice Beecham, illustrated by Katya Longhi 🎃 That's not my pumpkin... by Fiona Watt, illustrated by Rachel Wells 💀 Spooky Stories by Russell Punter, Sam Baer, Andy Prentice and Jonathan Weil, llustrated by Lia Visirin #childrensbooks #publishing #kidsbooks #newbooks #books

Our founder Peter Usborne was passionate about languages, travel, and creating the best books for children all over the world, so he always loved seeing books in translation arriving in the Usborne office. Here are brand new copies of 'Step Inside Science: Germs' & 'Step Inside Science: Your Body' in: 💛 Chinese Mandarin (with complex characters) published by Holiu Creative in Taiwan 💛 Thai published by IDC Premier - both managed by Irene Olivo in our Rights team 💛 Romanian published by Univers Enciclopedic 💛 Croatian published by Forum - both managed by Annemarie Fearnley in our Rights team 'Step inside Science: Your Body' is by Lara Bryan, illustrated by Teresa Bellón - see it on our website here https://bit.ly/4dDtxZC 'Step inside Science: Germs' is by Sarah Hull, illustrated by Teresa Bellón - see it on our website here https://bit.ly/3X0ZC83 #childrensbooks #publishing #translation #childrensbookillustration

👨🚀 Who wanted to be an astronaut when they were little? 🙋♀️ What Do Astronauts Do? is written by Rob Lloyd Jones and Victoria Williams, illustrated by Geraldine Sy and Adam A., and published in association with the UK Space Agency. Explore different careers as you blast off into space with a crew of astronauts. Find out about their incredible jobs and the work of the huge teams who support them, from medics to technicians. Discover how astronauts are chosen and trained for space missions, what it's like in space, and what they do once they return to Earth - as well as the work of Mission Control and those on the ground. With missions planned to the Moon, Mars and beyond, this is a timely and fascinating read. You can also visit Usborne Quicklinks for links to kid-friendly websites where you can meet astronauts in training, watch a rocket blast off, and learn more about the missions to the Moon and Mars: https://bit.ly/3WKBwNv #childrensbooks #stem #spacejobs #stemjobs #careers

Today would have been the 87th birthday of our beloved founder and chairman, Peter Usborne. Peter was a big kid until the end, always full of life, and love for his family and his work. To celebrate his life, this year our MD (and Peter's daughter) Nicola Usborne gave every member of Usborne staff an additional day's leave: 'Peter's Day'. Some chose to challenge themselves: Designers Mike Hill and Laura Hammonds honoured Peter's thrill-seeking side by going on a 500ft-high zip line at ZipWorld, Bangor, whilst HR Director Katie White cycled around Lake Annecy in France. Jannina Broders from our German publishing team will be visiting a climbing forest with friends, as soon as the weather improves sufficiently... Some used their 'extra day' to do something they've always wanted to do: Writer/Editor Rob Jones has ordered a metal detector, and plans to spend the day with his two sons in the South Downs searching for treasure. With permission from the local farmer, they'll camp overnight to start their hunt early. Rob says "we'll be taking an optimistically large bag for finds, a wide variety of snacks to keep us going, and be disappointed with anything less than a hoard of Viking gold…" Writer/Editor Anna Milbourne visited the White House Farm Garden and Arboretum. She says "It's a man called Maurice Foster's passion, begun in the early 1970s, like Usborne Publishing. When it was set up, it was sparse and a lot of work to make things grow, but now there are all kinds of colourful things flourishing. As the gardens are about the same age as our company, and as the gentleman who set them up still very much involved, it felt like a fitting thing to do to celebrate Peter's Day." Performing was another theme: Writer/Editor Mairi Mackinnon rehearsed with her band, The Infamous Grouse Band, ahead of The Northern Meeting, an all-night Highland ball at Fort George near Inverness, Annemarie Fearnley from our Rights team played an al fresco concert at a care home in Enfield with her Community Ukulele Group, and Alice Gough was Snow White in her amateur dramatics group’s run of a Pantomime at the Palace Theatre, Southend. Others simply spent the day doing something they love: Writer/Editor Abi Wheatley made jewellery, Digital Editor Zoë Vicarage attended The Open Championship at Royal Troon, and Writer/Editor Holly Bathie travelled to see ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ in London. Several people remembered Peter through his love of aeroplanes: Zee Tahir from our IT team had a great time at Farnborough Airshow and Head of UK Marketing carol farley visited Duxford Air Museum (Peter was a keen amateur pilot and particularly adored Spitfires, seen at both venues). Frederick Alldritt in our Metadata team spent his Peter's Day flying to New Zealand - he says "the flying probably isn't too exciting, but the destination was!" ...and LOADS of people simply used the day to enjoy spending quality time with family and friends (with long lunches a common theme).

Camping with kids is great fun and can teach lots of valuable lessons, but it's not always possible to get away. So the Usborne Quicklinks Team have curated lots of ideas for fun things to do on a camping adventure - without even leaving home! Discover how to: ⛺ Set up a tent and camp out in your own garden 🌙 Spot shooting stars and look up at the moon 🕷 Make shadow animals on the side of your tent 🔥 Roast marshmallows over a camp fire (grown-up help required) 💭Tell your own stories - or make one up as a group 🔦 Play flashlight tag #summer2024 #activitieswithkids #camping