{"id":20914,"date":"2017-03-31T07:35:04","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=20914"},"modified":"2017-03-31T07:35:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T11:35:04","slug":"new-board-book-series-debunk-bed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=20914","title":{"rendered":"Hungry Hungry Pensioner: A New Board Book Line"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nThe past few years have seen a veritable explosion of board books introducing sophisticated concepts to babies and toddlers. We’ve seen Shakespeare and Jane Austen, quantam physics, quarks, aerospace engineering, relativity, and much more, all pared down for tiny tot consumption. Just consider these series: BabyLit<\/a>, Charlesbridge’s\u00a0Baby Loves<\/a>, Chronicle’s\u00a0Cozy Classics<\/a>, Little Simon’s Baby Loves To<\/a>, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky’s Baby University<\/a> and Young Historians<\/a>, among others.
\nNow there’s a new line. <\/em>Produced by a newcomer publisher, Debunk Bed, these new board books will have an unabashedly political agenda. “We want babies to think ‘right’ from the very beginning,” said publisher and CEO Mark Whitemun, adding, “We’re proudly creating our content \u2014 even our facts \u2014 from scratch. And we’re extremely well-funded.”
\nDebunk Bed will debut five titles in its inaugural 2017 line:
\n
\n\"\"
\nHeads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes: The Only Body Parts Baby Needs to Know.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>“We think pointing out anything more personal\u00a0than an elbow just doesn’t belong in a board book,” says editor-in-chief Tammy Blank. “Parents can rest assured that this is a safe choice for their tots.”
\n\"\"
\nTheir second title, Polar<\/strong> Bears Don’t Need Ice: The Myth of Climate Change,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Blank says, “reassures toddlers that warmer weather and higher seas mean that the Universe is smiling on us with pleasantness.”
\n\"\"
\nBoth Whitemun and Blank are particularly proud of Quack, Quack, Frack!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>which educates toddlers “about the overblown reports of earthquakes and pollution as a result of fracking, and about the importance of shale gas. We think even young children are capable of making up their own minds about these issues, given guidance. For instance, sure, they like nature, but how will they get to\u00a0Disney World if there isn’t enough fuel for cars and planes?”
\n\"\"
\nJimmy and the Ginormous Profits: A GMO Story\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is planned as a fall\u00a0release.\u00a0Whitemun says, “We like to tuck these books into their appropriate ‘crib,’ as you might say, and fourth\u00a0quarter is the profit driver. You’ll notice this book has a special ‘tall’ board book format, because it\u00a0literally gives\u00a0tiny agri-preneurs a mindset for\u00a0big business. After all, you’re never too young to start thinking about the bottom line. Someday, one of those babies may grow up to cross a nectarine with beluga whale DNA;\u00a0a whole village could dine out on\u00a0fruit salad from one peach. Think of that!”
\n\"\"
\nHungry Hungry Pensioner: No More Meals on Wheels.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0This book, says Blank,\u00a0“is a lighthearted look at\u00a0the dangers of handouts and entitlements. It’s a cumulative tale in reverse: the food disappears piece by piece, until there’s nothing left.\u00a0Our philosophy is that a forewarned infant is a forearmed infant; the sooner they wean themselves off of dependency on others now, the better prepared they’ll be\u00a0for their\u00a0future.”
\nPublisher Whitemun says these books are\u00a0just the beginning. Debunk Bed has 12 titles slated for 2018, one of which will be the first in a new series Whitemun says is “aimed across the diaper aisle, as it were.”
\nHe continues,\u00a0“We wanted to provide\u00a0left-leaning babies with books\u00a0to make this regime transition a little easier, and we think\u00a0Good Night, Rights<\/strong><\/em> is the perfect place to start.”
\n\"\"
\nGood night, indeed.
\n***
\nHappy April Fool’s Day, ShelfTalker readers. For more ‘news,’ read Kenny’s post about the brand-new apps<\/a> designed to make reading involve\u00a0less dangerous cognitive engagement.
\n***
\nCollaborators:
\nThanks to Laura Heaberlin, Emily Copeland, and Liza Woodruff for title brainstorming, to brilliant artists Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter, Liza Woodruff, Jennifer Pulver Goldfinger, and Ruth McNally Barshaw for the cover art and spreads, and to Sue Schmidt for the perfect title and text for\u00a0Good Night, Rights<\/em>.
\nArt credits:
\nHeads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes<\/em> and Quack, Quack, Frack!<\/em> covers: Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter
\nPolar Bears Don’t Need Ice<\/em> cover: Jennifer Pulver Goldfinger
\nJimmy and the Ginormous Profits<\/em> cover: Liza Woodruff Wright
\nThe Hungry Hungry Pensioner<\/em>\u00a0cover and Good Night, Rights<\/em>\u00a0art: Ruth McNally Barshaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why shouldn’t babies encounter complex issues in their laptime reading?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20914\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}