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Children’s Books and the CPSIA

| kirsti

I’m currently following the story on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that comes into effect on February 10 ’09 to see if it will impact children’s books or not:

From Publishers Weekly:

CPSIA FAQs

• The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect February 10 and requires third-party testing of all products for children 12 and under, including books, audiobooks and sidelines. This includes older products on-shelf as well as books shipped after the deadline.

• AAP and other industry trade groups are lobbying to have print-on-paper and print-on-board books exempted. They also are looking for clarification on testing protocols and other specifics.

• If the Act stands as currently written and interpreted, significant costs and longer production times will negatively affect publishers and retailers, potentially putting some out of business and causing books to be removed from stores, libraries and schools.

• The industry is struggling to comply with the Act in time for the deadline, even as it waits for resolution and interpretation from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

For the latest updates and clarifications, go to www.cpsc.gov/about/Cpsia/cpsia.html.

-Industry Scrambling to Comply with Child Safety Act
By Karen Raugust — Publishers Weekly

UPDATES:

Jan 15, ’09 article on Publishers Weekly.

February 7th ’09 article on Publishers Weekly

February 9th ’09 article on Publishers Weekly

Authors & Illustrators Talk Kid’s Books Online

| kirsti

There are lots of conversations going on about children’s books on the internet these days.  Here are a few places to listen, read or join in:

On the CWILL BC blog, there’s a new series called Tuesday Tell-All, where authors and illustrators can answer the question of the week. Join the conversation over there in the comments section, or suggest a question for a future Tuesday.

On Bubble Stampede, two authors carry on a nine month conversation about promotion. The conversation touches on everything from the dreaded author photo to social networking to book signings.

And as always, Just One More Book!!! is going strong with interviews with writers, illustrators, editors, publishers etc etc. (there’s a new interview on the site about children’s book illustration gallery shows that looks interesting).