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Why shop at Letterbox Library?

  • All books are preselected by our advisory group.
  • We review books from the best publishers worldwide.
  • Our expert selection process means only books of the highest quality are chosen.
  • Every title you see is available and in stock.

Letterbox Library catalogue 98 front cover

Special Issue:

Girls & Boys:

Same Difference

 

Great Value Themed Book PacksGreat Value Themed Book Packs

If you would rather not order online:
Download our ORDER FORM to fax or post, or phone your order through - Tel. 020 7503 4801  Fax. 020 7503 4800

Barnaby Bennett Front CoverBook of the week - Barnaby Bennett

by Hannah Rainforth
illustrated by Ali Teo

The refreshingly flamboyant and style-conscious Barnaby wakes up one morning with an “epiphany”: he will only wear red. Can he be swayed? Funky multi-media illustrations. Age 4-8, American Import Paperback 29pp

Pearl Barley and Charley ParsleyOur theme for Autumn 2009 is:

Girls & Boys: Same Difference

Click here for more details.

Activity Books - With plenty of pop-ups and flaps to open these four books celebrate diversity and provide a wonderful way to explore different faiths, feelings, homes, identity and human physical diversity.
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All Kinds of BodiesAll Kinds of BabiesAll Kinds of BeliefsAll Kinds of FeelingsAll Kinds of Homes

After numerous requests, we are now providing preselected packs for Sure Starts, Nurseries & Children's Centres.
Nursery Starter Packs: £136 (Members Price) for 31 books.
Call, fax or email us for more details.

Sure Sarter Nursery Pack

Approvals Service

 All My FriendsBest Sellers -
1. The Spider Weaver
2. Animal Boogie
3. The Village That Vanished
4. But Martin
5. My Mothers Sari
6. Happy Birthday!: A Beginner's Book of Signs
7. All My Friends
8. Families
9. All Kinds of Feelings
10. Look at You!
Book pileOrdering & Buying
Click on the pic if you would like help searching for and ordering books.
Also information on how schools can register with us.



About Us
Letterbox Library is a non-profit driven workers co-operative. It was started twenty four years ago by two single mothers operating from home, who wished to provide multicultural and non-sexist books to children - offering essential topics and titles which were sadly neglected by mainstream booksellers. Over the years we have expanded but still hold firm to our co-operative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Our books can be found within educational institutions, libraries and homes throughout the UK and abroad. Customers come to us primarily for our unique book selection service.

Our Contact details: Letterbox Library, 71-73 Allen Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 8RY, UK.
Phone: 0207 503 4801 Fax: 0207 503 4800 Email: info@letterboxlibrary.com

Information for Teachers

Special Issue: Girls and Boys- Same Difference


"Letterbox has made such a difference to the look of so many school libraries and allowed so many more children to see themselves in the books they read. You find books that no one else finds and so reach children who are difficult to reach. The growth of Letterbox is a huge tribute to all who have worked there. Thanks for all you do and all good wishes for the next twenty five years". (Wendy Cooling, Bookstart founder and MBE for services to children's literature, July 2008).

As a subscriber to Letterbox Library, you may already know that we actually started out as an anti-sexist book club. Whilst we now pride ourselves on addressing inequalities across the board, we have also never lost our roots. Words such as 'feminist' and 'anti-sexist' are these days often seen as squeamishly old-fashioned, or indeed ugly, or, most often, irrelevant to our 'modern', supposedly gender-neutral world. And yet, it is remarkable how so many gender inequalities have still not changed or simply not changed enough.

In the field of education, if you mention the gender gap, then the assumption is you are referring to the underachievement of boys, compared to girls. And yet, whilst statistics do indeed show that girls have slowly but steadily overtaken boys overall in academic achievements, much of the existing research cautions against drawing any easy conclusions. For example:
116,000 girls and 153,000 boys did not gain 5+ A*-C GCSEs in 2006: "Tackling the scale of these numbers is arguably of greater priority…than the proportionate difference between boys and girls' attainment" The different subject choices made by boys and girls may have much "greater longer-term outcomes in terms of subsequent career choices than attainment differences". (Gender and Education, DFES, 2007)

Indeed, in terms of how girls and boys' educational qualifications translate into employment, a recent Women and Work Committee report (July 2009) has shown that, despite improvements, the workforce's gender pay gap has stubbornly persisted and has in fact widened since 2007. Yes, in our supposed 'post-feminist' world, women and men still do not have equal pay. The Committee has concluded that one of the government's priorities should be to break down gender stereotypes in schools and careers services.

We all share a common purpose in the education of our children- that every child should be able to reach their maximum potential. As you already know from your own professional work, tackling inequalities is fundamental to this task. Breaking down gender stereotypes is simply essential and crucially, it benefits both girls and boys. Girls do well academically but stereotypes of 'femininity' mean they frequently lack confidence and are also often steered into underpaid, low status professions. Meantime, boys do less well academically, partly due to a macho culture or stereotype of 'masculinity' which sees academic work and reading in particular, as somehow 'feminine'.

Back to the world of books! Do turn over for our selection of some of the strongest titles we have found for breaking down traditional ideas of gender. It has been a hard search. In these millennium years, where popular culture tells us boys and girls are now equal, at Letterbox Library we often feel swamped by children's books which have reverted to an oddly conservative view of the world. The glut of mass-market fairy and princess books would have our girls growing up forever primping, looking in a mirror and waiting for something to happen to them. Meantime, reluctant boy readers are being encouraged to read through books which celebrate all those stereotypical forms of 'masculinity' - violence, laddishness, sexism- which made boys suspicious of reading in the first place. And they say feminism is old-fashioned!

SMASHING GENDER BOOKS

From Pages 4-5

Man's/Woman's Work
: early years must-haves for challenging gendered occupations. Man's Work (one of your favourites!), All Change Jobs/Party and Digger/Dumper. Through to KS1, see What Will I Be? and Choices, Choices…
Princess Antidotes: for savvy, wised-up princesses with attitude. Princess Grace, The Paper-Bag Princess, Princess Smartypants and Princess Pigsty.
Boys With Character: boys get to be emotionally intelligent and 3-dimensional! The wonderful Boy in a Dress, Weslandia, How To Heal A Broken Wing, Alfie's Angels and When The Bees Fly Home.
Women Who Changed The World:Amazons; Girls Are Best (also Sea Queens on p.30).
A Visual Treat:Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley- a simply beautiful book about a friendship between a rather special boy and rather special girl.

MORE BOOK HIGHLIGHTS

Traveller Representations: see First Time: Nursery (p.8), Death in a Nut (p.16) and Toffee & Pie (p.27).
Eastern European Narratives: apart from our dual language books in Polish, Czech and Albanian, see: Ever Clever Eva, King Popiel and the Mouse Army, Nail Soup -all on pages 16-17; Marek and Alice's Christmas (p.25); Roar, Bull, Roar/Falcon's Fury (p.31). >br> Disability Titles: 48 titles in this catalogue include disability representations- look out for the Blue "D". A special mention must go to First Time: Nursery on p.8 which effortless incorporates a wide range of disabilities.
Seasonal Delights: Finally, a Santa with dreadlocks in The Night Before Christmas (p.13)! See also Amadi's Snowman (p.13), Divali Rose (p.13), Joy To The World (p.16), Faith (p.18) and Marek and Alice's Christmas (p.25).
Great Lives/Historical Resources: our new section on page 30!
Barack Obama: No, we can't get enough. Spot the new Obama title by the brilliant children's publisher, Tamarind, on page 30

Another resource is our links page.

Making A Purchase
Making a purchase could not be easier. Just browse our Catalog, click on any items that you wish to buy and put them into the shopping cart. After you have finished your selection, click on "Order" and you will be asked for a few details that we need to be able to satisfy the order.
We accept credit card payment. If you are shopping from North America or anywhere else, place your order and your credit card company will convert the transaction to US Dollars or your own currency.
We accept Visa and Mastercard. You may send your credit card information via phone, fax, snail mail or over the Internet.
Delivery Schedule We deliver your order right away. We will normally send your order to you in 4 business days . International orders are generally received in under 14 days.
Back Orders If your item is not in stock, we will back order for you. You will always be emailed with the option to cancel your order if you would rather not wait.
Credit Card Security All credit card numbers are encrypted in the software when the order is placed using 128 bit encryption. They are only decrypted after they reach our computer. They are not held in clear text on any web site.
Reaching Us
If you need to reach us, please email us on info@letterboxlibrary.com. Alternatively, you can call on International +44 207 503 4801 or fax us on 207 503 4800 or write to us at 71-73 Allen Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 8RY UK
Privacy Policy Letterbox Library do not disclose buyers' information to third parties. Cookies are used on this shopping site to keep track of the contents of your shopping cart once you have selected an item, to store delivery addresses if the address book is used and to store your details if you select the 'Remember Me' Option.
Returns Policy
If for any reason you are unhappy with any or all of the goods received, you can return any of them to Letterbox Library for an exchange or refund, providing each is returned to Letterbox Library within 7 working days from the day after you receive the goods. You shall be responsible for the cost of returning goods for refund or exchange, except in cases of faulty, damaged or wrongly supplied goods. Returned goods must be unused and in the condition they were supplied including the original packaging where applicable. Please return goods to us at:
Letterbox Library, 71-73 Allen Road, London, N16 8RY
Refugee & MigrationBeginner ReadersChildminderSure Starter NurseryFaiths, Feasts & FestivalsEarly Years ConceptsA Unique ChildStories from a Range of Cultures and SettingsPSHE & CitizenshipDisabilityChapter BooksBlack HistoryBullying
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