THE CANADIAN CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTRE
"The Canadian Children's Book Centre helps the creative talent of Canada - the writers, the illustrators - reach the people who count: the readers. An investment in The Canadian Children's Book Centre is an investment in your child's future as a Canadian."A national, non-profit organization, the Canadian Children's Book Centre was founded in 1976 to support the Canadian children's publishing industry. The CCBC's mandate is to promote and encourage the reading, writing and illustrating of Canadian children's books. The Centre is dedicated to the goal of introducing children to books and the pleasures of reading. The CCBC is recognized by federal and provincial funders as the essential source for information about Canadian children's books. The National Office is in Toronto with regional offices in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Members include nearly 300 Canadian publishers, bookstores, libraries and schools as well as over 1,000 individual members. Members benefit from the Centre's promotional work, its educational and awareness programs, the professional development opportunities it offers and from its research and resource facilities.Margaret Laurence
WHAT THEY DO
THE CCBC is for anyone who cares about children and the books they read. Just fifty English-language Canadian children's books were published in 1976; nearly 400 were published last year! The Centre has been a catalyst for the growth of the children's publishing industry for nearly two decades, contributing to increased production and sales by encouraging the use and purchase of Canadian books in homes, classrooms and libraries across the country. CCBC publications help parents, teachers, librarians to select the best Canadian children's books available and to introduce children to the wonderful world of Canadian children's books and the joys of reading. The Centre is committed to making Canadian books available to young people. A book that is set "at home" shows young Canadians that their stories are important and worth telling. And when children meet Canadian authors and illustrators, their enthusiasm for books and for their own culture soars. The CCBC provides educators and their students with information on Canadian authors and illustrators. They promote the authors and illustrators through special projects and events to bring recognition to Canadian books and the people who create them including the Canadian Children's Book Week tour which in 1996 gave 40,000 children across the country the opportunity to meet their favourite authors and illustrators. Their resource collections include a comprehensive reference library of contemporary Canadian children's books, and extensive information on Canadian children's authors, illustrators, book production and the publishing industry to members of the Centre. Knowledgeable staff at the Canadian Children's Book Centre can answer your questions in person or by phone, fax and mail.CCBC PROGRAMS AND PUBLICATIONS
Our Choice This the Children Book Centre's premiere publication - an annual guide to the best new Canadian children's books, magazines, audios, videos and CD-ROMs. Experts from across the country annually chose the very best new materials available. Over 8,000 copies of Our Choice were purchased by schools, libraries, bookstores and individuals in 1996. Canadian Children's Book Week This annual, nationwide celebration of Canadian children's books and reading has introduced nearly a million Canadian children to some of Canada's best authors and illustrators over the past twenty years. Each November, Book Week celebrates the wonderful children's books published in Canada. The Centre organizes a cross-Canada series of author and illustrator visits. Activities for Book Week include a National Launch, which in 1997 will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia; author and illustrator visits to schools, libraries and bookstores. The Centre produces a Book Week kit with theme-related booklists and activities to help Canadians from coast-to-coast take part in the single most important celebration of books and reading in the country. Children's Book News The Centre's newsmagazine keeps publishers, bookstores, schools, libraries and individual members up-to-date on what's happening in the Canadian children's book world. Book News includes author, illustrator and industry profiles, book reviews, key events taking place across the country in the children's book scene as well as news on the Book Centre's services, publications and events. Publications Specially produced by the Centre to meet the needs of teachers, librarians, parents and students, are a series of informative guides, bookmarks and pamphlets focusing on Canadian children's books that are filled with ideas for using Canadian children's books in classrooms, libraries, bookstores and at home. How? Schools use our publications for curriculum support; libraries rely on our publications as a selection tool; bookstores help their customers make informed choices about the best book to purchase using Centre publications. Authors and illustrators, established and aspiring alike, make use of our lists of publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts, children's bookstores across Canada and Canadian children's book awards. Our most popular publication, Writing Stories, Making Pictures: Biographies of 150 Canadian Children's Authors and Illustrators, is the largest and most comprehensive resource guide of its kind and is an invaluable resource for schools and libraries. In their own words, Canada's favourite authors and illustrators answer the questions most often asked by kids and "spill the beans" on their careers, working habits and creativity. Writing Stories, Making Pictures was created by the Canadian Children's Book Centre in response to requests from librarians, teachers and children across the country. We are currently working with SchoolNet to put Writing Stories on the World Wide Web.For more information about The Canadian Children's Book Centre and the work that we do, take a look at our web site at http://www.bookcentre.ca/. You can also write to us for more information at:
The Canadian Children's Book Centre
35 Spadina Rd.
Toronto, ON
M5R 2S9