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How Writing Has Spread Across the World, from 3000 BCE to This Year: Today in Books

National Literacy Trust and Enterprise Give 25,000 Copies of Henry’s First Novel to Children 

As part of Enterprise’s Road Forward, a $55 million fund from the philanthropic Enterprise Holdings Foundation to support social and racial equity projects across the world, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the National Literacy Trust are giving away 25,000 copies of Sir Lenny Henry’s first novel, The Boy With Wings, to 5th and 6th graders across the UK. The books will arrive at the beginning of UK’s Black History Month in October, and the partnership hopes this effort boosts rates of reading for pleasure as well as offer representation for Black kids with important messages about race, inclusion, and diversity.

How Writing Has Spread Across the World, from 3000 BCE to This Year: An Animated Map

Historical map animator Ollie Bye, created a map which shows the spread of writing across the world from the oldest known writing systems in Mesopotamia, between 3400 and 3100 BCE, and Egypt, around 3250 BCE through today. The map illustrates all known writing systems over the whole of the past five millennia, not just those used today.

Andrews McMeel Publishing Teams up With the Academy of American Poets to Release 100 Poems That Matter

In partnership with the Academy of American Poets, Andrews McMeel Publishing will release 100 Poems That Matter on December 6, 2022. The anthology will examine universal themes of love, loss, and the experiences that define us. 100 Poems That Matter aims to encourages us to bring a deeper sense of honesty into our lives, invite readers into poetry, and prompt reflection. 

Who “Parental Rights” Groups Leave Out

Although groups like “Moms for Liberty” say that they are fighting for “parents’ rights” by trying to remove books from schools and claim to speak for all parents, less than 1% of Florida parents chose to opt their children out of access to their choice of school library books.