Candlewick Press has announced the launch of a dedicated Pinterest page in order to promote its Common Core resources to teachers, library media specialists, booksellers, and parents. The publisher has been working for the past year on creating “comprehensive” pin boards, and says it plans to further enhance the page in 2014. Candlewick aims for the page to be an accessible place to view its titles by curriculum theme, in line with the Common Core State Standards’ focus on deep reading, critical thinking, and discussion using complex texts, both fiction and nonfiction.
“Several recent studies on book sourcing have shown that social media and particularly Pinterest are already being used widely by teachers and librarians,” says Raquel Stecher, Candlewick’s online marketing manager. “Pinterest is a helpful tool for inspiration, to share and organize lesson plans, and a means to save ideas in a visual notebook of sorts, so it seemed like a natural place to provide information about our books and allow for it to be shared widely.”
The major goal of the page, according to the publisher, is to more easily facilitate the use of Candlewick Press books in the classroom as well as to provide supplementary materials— teacher guides, book trailers—that will engage reluctant students, and attract teachers and parents who are looking for entry points into independent reading for their young children.
“My hope is to engage Pinners in a dialogue to find out what would best help them select titles as they develop and grow their Common Core lesson plans, “ adds Kathleen Rourke, Candlewick’s director of school and library sales. “In the coming months, we’ll be offering free promotional materials for those who reply by email to generate feedback and ongoing dialogue with those educators and media specialists who are using our books in the field.”