I just discovered you because I was looking for more info on the Weekly Reader Book Club. It was one of my primary introductions to books as a child and, as I’ve been revisiting my old favorites recently, I had the same question you pose in your subtitle. I think I may even have to credit those books for my career. Thank you for this post. I, too, wish it were still around.
Thanks and welcome aboard! Children's books led me (indirectly) to create this Substack. I'm a lifelong reader and collector of vintage children's books, with more than 3,000 of them on my shelves, most published between 1875 and 1975. While leading a book club for 5th and 6th graders at my kids' school for several years, I was struck by the lack of older books (pre-2000) in the reading lists prepared by the teachers and librarian. They noted (a) the dearth of older books still in print and (b) the difficulty of getting students (typically boys) to read even the modern classics that remain available, let alone the older classics.
That experience motivated me to start a YouTube channel about 3.5 years ago focused on overlooked classics, old and new, that are at risk of being forgotten. I started out discussing children's books, but those videos struggled to find an audience, so my output over the past couple of years has focused on other genres that aren't penalized as much by YT's algorithm. I created this Substack recently to provide another outlet for my thoughts about books (including children's books) that don't fit the YT algorithm's somewhat narrow view of my channel.
I just discovered you because I was looking for more info on the Weekly Reader Book Club. It was one of my primary introductions to books as a child and, as I’ve been revisiting my old favorites recently, I had the same question you pose in your subtitle. I think I may even have to credit those books for my career. Thank you for this post. I, too, wish it were still around.
Thanks and welcome aboard! Children's books led me (indirectly) to create this Substack. I'm a lifelong reader and collector of vintage children's books, with more than 3,000 of them on my shelves, most published between 1875 and 1975. While leading a book club for 5th and 6th graders at my kids' school for several years, I was struck by the lack of older books (pre-2000) in the reading lists prepared by the teachers and librarian. They noted (a) the dearth of older books still in print and (b) the difficulty of getting students (typically boys) to read even the modern classics that remain available, let alone the older classics.
That experience motivated me to start a YouTube channel about 3.5 years ago focused on overlooked classics, old and new, that are at risk of being forgotten. I started out discussing children's books, but those videos struggled to find an audience, so my output over the past couple of years has focused on other genres that aren't penalized as much by YT's algorithm. I created this Substack recently to provide another outlet for my thoughts about books (including children's books) that don't fit the YT algorithm's somewhat narrow view of my channel.