I’m so excited to share this cover with
you! I simply love what author and designer Sarah Tregay created for the
latest Elephant’s Bookshelf Press anthology, Tales from the Bully Box, which launches our “Colors for Causes”
series. Sarah also has a story in the anthology.
Bully
Box, which was edited by the wonderful CatWoods, is a collection of anti-bullying stories for middle grade
readers. As Cat writes, "I wanted to share the work of amazing authors who
work hard to make this world a stronger, safer place for everyone regardless of
where they come from or what they look like. In the process, I chose ordinary
stories with ordinary characters, because bullying is an ordinary event that
happens to ordinary people."
The result is an extraordinary
collection.
The genesis of this project was a
teenager who wanted to stop the bullying she experienced in her school in
Minnesota. She created what is now called Building Relationships Against Violence
Everywhere (BRAVE). Cat, who in many ways was the catalyst behind my
establishing EBP, suggested we create an anti-bullying anthology for middle
grade readers. I’d never heard of such a thing before, but one of the
advantages of being a small publisher is we can – and I’d argue must – do things differently.
As many of you know, EBP is a for-profit
publishing company, but we have the soul of a nonprofit organization. We
endeavor to help developing writers achieve their goals of achieving
publication and developing an audience. At the same time, we have found
ourselves working with authors who want more than simply seeing their book
published: they aim to make a difference. For example, the proceeds from our
novel Battery Brothers by Steven
Carman (who also has a story in this collection) will go to the Sunshine
Foundation, which was the first wish-granting organization in the United
States.
Bully
Box is in production now and will be
available through all the usual vehicles within a few weeks. In the meantime,
feel free to share this cover and let people know what we’re doing. We aim to
get this collection in schools and work with educators to help them fight back
against bullying in their schools. I will discount prices for teachers who can
share the books with their students. And a healthy portion of what EBP brings
in from Bully Box will help
organizations working in this field.
Our next anthology will be published in
2015. It also will have a cause at its heart, and I’m looking forward to
sharing more about that soon.
