FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Toronto (October 17, 2011) – They’ve been a year in the making and Annick Press is delighted to announce that interactive Book Talks are now available on the Annick website.

One of the challenges for publishers of children’s books is how to make the best use of new technologies in order to connect kids and books. An exciting development in classroom technology is the use of interactive white boards, which allow educators to present new material to a group of students while actively engaging them in the learning process. This board (aka Smart Board) is a cross between a traditional blackboard and a computer. By projecting images onto the board from a computer, students and teachers can manipulate the information with the touch of a finger.

Annick was first introduced to white boards by a very committed and enthusiastic school librarian who demonstrated how she used this tool effectively to present books to groups of students. White boards are becoming standard equipment in classrooms across North America, so educators are hungry for materials that are suitable for these boards.

With funding from the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Annick decided to create interactive book talks for selected titles aimed at students in grades 4 to 8. These ready-made book talks allow teachers and librarians to present titles in a highly visual, interactive way while providing background information, author profiles and short excerpts from the text. You can access the Annick Book Talks at www.annickpress.com/BookTalks.html. While these are best experienced on a white board, they can also be viewed on a computer.

Annick is backing this program up with extensive print and online advertising. These Book Talks are a cornerstone of their plan to make schools and libraries more aware of the Annick brand, to provide them with a teaching tool that cannot be found anywhere else at the moment, and to increase book sales.

For more information, please contact:

Brigitte Waisberg | Marketing Manager | Annick Press | T: 416.221.4802 ext. 17 | brigittew@annickpress.com