Top 5 Wednesday: Best Books on Favorite Publishers

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme within the book community that was created by Lainey of GingerReadsLainey, but is now hosted by Sam of Thoughts on Tomes.  If you’re interested in participating, find out more on the Goodreads group!

This week’s topic is about our Favorite Publishers!  This is a great way to examine what we read and what publishers put out that we consider our favorite books!  Take a look at your shelves and figure out which books come from which publishers.  You’ll probably be surprised at how many end up coming from the same publishing house!  This is also a chance to introduce others to some of your favorite small presses or imprints.  We talk a lot about the contents of books, but rarely do we talk about the people behind those books that bring them together.

Want to know who my favorite publishers are?
Here are my selections in no particular order:

1.  Barefoot Books is an independent children’s book publisher with a large number of books that include songs and videos.  This publisher is an MLM (multilevel marketing) program similar to Usborne Books, where you can host events and sell them yourself; however, I only came across their books through the library and on YouTube.  And I can honestly say that these books really are inclusive, diverse, and inspiring, offering beautiful illustrations and thought-provoking stories for children of all ages.  If you happen to know someone who is selling them, then by all means help them out, otherwise check out your local library, used bookstore, or even Amazon because you nor your children will be disappointed!

2.  Tiger Tales is an independent publisher of children’s books largely for ages seven and under.  Without even knowing it, you’ve probably seen lots of their board and padded books at bookstores, grocery stores, and libraries, but their picture books are just as captivating and specialize in educating as well as entertaining little ones.  The illustrations are very sweet and warm, largely featuring anthropomorphic animals.  When I see their logo, I reach for it because you can never go wrong!

3.  Penguin imprints (Roc, Ace, Razorbill, Berkley, Bantam, Broadway) predominantly feature most of my favorite authors!

4.  Simon and Schuster imprints (Gallery, Scribner, Ballantine) also features my favorite cookbook publisher (Victory Belt) as well as many of my favorite authors!

5.  And finally Scholastic because this is the publisher that a lot of us grew up with and made us into the readers we are today!  Book fairs and Weekly Reader…those were the days!

So those are my picks for this week’s Top 5 Wednesday!  Do you have any favorite publishers?  Let me know in the comments!