Baker & Taylor is launching Paw Prints Publishing, a children's fiction and nonfiction imprint for ages 3 to 8. The first titles will appear on June 28; a total of 15 titles will be released this year.
Paw Prints books will feature and focus on underserved or underrepresented kids, centering social emotional learning and diversity, encouraging "young people to free their minds, bodies, and souls in order to become their most authentic and successful selves" and "inspire them to leave their own beautiful and diverse paw prints on this ever-evolving, glorious world."
B&T president and CEO Amandeep Kochar said, "With Paw Prints Publishing, Baker & Taylor returns to its roots as a book publisher. Our aim is to provide children, librarians, educators, and parents with original stories that inspire conversation and foster representation and empathy among young readers. Our intention is to operate at the intersection of DEI and SEL to give a purpose and a sense of belonging to the children who will find themselves in these books and the parents who will reflect on these books while reading to their children. We are thrilled to bring stories to market that are needed and vital to the experience of children today." Kochar himself will write some of the books.
The series and first titles are:
The Jeet and Fudge series (ages 5-7), featuring a young Sikh boy named Jeet and his sidekick chocolate labradoodle Fudge on their adventures in both volunteerism and play, launches with Forever Friends.
The Baker and Taylor series (ages 5-8) features library cats Baker and Taylor as they travel to different cities in search of knowledge, play and a good read. It launches with Mystery of the Library Cats.
The Celebrating Mr. Garcia's Class series (ages 3-7), picture books that teach children how to support and champion their differently abled classmates and friends, launches with Jeremy's Big Role. (This series is vetted by speech language pathologists and children's therapists and titles include backmatter.)
The Caring for Ourselves and the World Around Us series (ages 3-7) launches with A Smile in Your Pocket and A Not So Lonely Day, storybook primers to use as conversation starters for social emotional learning, including managing anxiety and loneliness, coping with topics like food insecurity and absentee caregivers. (These titles are vetted by children's therapists and include backmatter.)