World Ahead profiled on L.A. Times front page

The L.A. Times has a page-one profile of World Ahead in today's print edition. The reporter, Stephanie Simon, visited our office several weeks ago and set in for an entire day's worth of meetings as we planned our own book to counter Scholastic's upcoming global warming kid's book. Here's an excerpt of the article:

Publisher aims to teach kids right from left

A Torrance executive says he sees too many children's books with liberal
views. His titles aim to tilt the shelves the other way.

PUBLISHING executive Eric Jackson's first foray into children's books was a cartoon tale of two brothers and a lemonade stand.

Hoping to earn money for a swing set, young Tommy and Lou squeeze lemons until their little hands ache. But they are thwarted by broccoli-pushing, camera-hogging, Jesus-hating liberals who pile on taxes and regulations and drive the boys out of business.

The book, "Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!," came out two years ago. Jackson said it sold nearly 30,000 copies, which in the publishing world made it a bona fide hit. That success reinforced Jackson's view that the nation's bookshelves had tilted way too far left and that a correction was in order.

Kindergartners these days can leaf through a picture book promoting the virtues of medical marijuana. They can read a fairy tale about two princes who get married — to each other.

But where are the children's books denouncing affirmative action? The fairy tales promoting gun rights?

"You don't hear a lot of umbrage out there about conservative books being foisted onto kids," Jackson said. "There's a need in the market for books that show the other side of the equation."...

Now, World Ahead is expanding into more sober-minded children's books — and is going head-to-head with Scholastic, the powerhouse of children's publishing.

Scholastic will be coming out in September with "The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming," a 176-page call to action aimed at children ages 8 and up. World Ahead will counter with its own book intended to debunk global warming and discourage environmental activism...

Click here to read the rest of the article.

By the way, I've never thought of myself as "spiky-haired and baby-faced," but subsequent to this article coming out I've had several people tell me that this description is dead-on. :-)