Three Quarto Titles have been selected as part of the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2017 in the US. This annual cooperative project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council aims to gather “an annual reading list of exceptional books for use in social studies classrooms, selected by social studies educators.”
The selection committee looks for books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme or a fresh slant on a traditional topic, are easily readable and of high literary quality, and have a pleasing format and, when appropriate, illustrations that enrich the text.
We are very proud to have the following three titles selected on the list:
A preview of the Notable Social Studies list is available on the CBC site.
Quarto had four titles selected in the 2016 list.
Author of Unseen London and London Uncovered published by Frances Lincoln, an imprint of The Quarto Group, Peter Dazeley has been awarded The British Empire Medal in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for his services to photography and charity.
The British Empire Medal is described by gov.uk as “Awarded for a ‘hands-on’ service to the local community. This could be a long-term charitable or voluntary activity, or innovative work of a relatively short duration (3 to 4 years) that has made a significant difference.” And is part of the Queen’s Honours system.
The system recognises people who have, made achievements in public life, committed themselves to serving and helping Britain. They’ll usually have made life better for other people or be outstanding at what they do.
From Dazeley’s success as a photographer he was able to give back to communities by donating his time as a photographer, to a variety of different charities. In his career he has guided and inspired the young through his mentoring in photography and has also donated his skills to charities in support of their campaigns. Described as ‘the working class gong’ the British Empire Medal prize trophies long term commitment to charities.
Now at the age of 68, Dazeley is still working hard and can look back with great satisfaction at what he has achieved. He will be meeting the Queen later on this year to receive his award.
The figures are enough to make every publisher envious: a business that's 70% backlist, writes Liz Thomson. "That's a good position to be in," agrees Marcus Leaver, CEO of the Quarto Group. "As we look for growth both in our existing business and with any potential digital way forward, it makes life slightly easier knowing we have that solid foundation."
...In both the UK and US, the "tidying up" has seen the Aurum Publishing Group and Quayside Publishing Group names dispensed with in favour of the Quarto Publishing Group UK and USA, respectively. Together, those "traditional" publishing businesses represent 48% of Quarto turnover-a surprise to the many who think of Quarto merely as "the world's biggest packager".
...The continual re-invention of Quarto is key to Leaver in this dynamic and changing publishing environment. "Ken Fund who leads the US business has done an excellent job bringing about a re-bound in 2013 after a disappointing 2012. He re-conceived the entire business and has built an excellent senior team." He and his colleagues look for talent in both obvious and less obvious places-at Walter Foster, one key figure began her career at the LAPD! "We're not sitting at the Ivy looking to agents for the next book, so we need diversity because we need to come up with a lot of ideas.
...Quarto's ideal book is All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, a Long Island retiree. "It was first published in 1981 and still it did over three-quarters of a million dollars last year." A second edition was published last month and Leaver is touching wood that Quarto has hit pay-dirt again with Straw Bale Gardens by Joel Karsten.
See the entire story, along with an org chart of Quarto imprints here.
