Lerner Publishing Group, based in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

state of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

since its founding in 1959, is one of the largest independently owned

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. With more than 5,000 titles in print, Lerner Publishing Group offers

nonfiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to present topics objectively ...

and

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

books for grades

K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...

History

Lerner was founded in 1959 by Harry Lerner. The company started as a one-room office in the old Lumber Exchange Building in downtown Minneapolis. Lerner's sister-in-law, Marguerite Rush Lerner, M.D., asked him to publish her stories about childhood diseases. These became the Medical Books for Children series (1959). The company has expanded to encompass four offices: the main Lerner building, Lerner Distribution Center, and Muscle Bound Bindery, all located in Minneapolis, and a New York office located in the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

. In 1963, Lerner was the first publisher to print original art featuring multi-racial children, and has continued a tradition of innovation.

Imprints

Lerner Publications

Lerner Publications is intended for K-5 students, publishing 130 books annually in photo-driven series for schools and libraries.

Millbrook Press

Millbrook was a

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

-based publisher founded in 1989 by the French publisher

Groupe de la Cite A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches o ...

. Millbrook was sold to a group led by management in 1994. Lerner acquired Millbrook Press in 2004. Millbrook publishes under three sub-imprints: Millbrook, Copper Beech, and Twenty-First Century. Millbrook prints books for both the

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

and school market

Millbrook's trade imprint, Roaring Brook Press, was sold separately to Macmillan Publishers, Holtzbrinck Publishers.

Carolrhoda Books

Carolrhoda Books was begun in 1969, named after Carolrhoda Locketz, a close friend of Sharon Lerner who died after serving in the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

. Carolrhoda publishes about 20 titles annually:

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

, and single-title

for trade and library editions.

Graphic Universe

Graphic Universe was launched in 2006 and prints books in

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

format. The imprint has two main series: Twisted Journeys and Graphic Myths and Legends. The imprint is notable for using well-known artists from the

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

genre.

Twenty-First Century Books

Twenty-First Century Books was acquired along with Millbrook Press in 2004. This imprint focuses on books for grades 6+, usually photo-driven.

Ediciones Lerner

Ediciones Lerner prints

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

translations of popular nonfiction titles for

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

students.

LernerClassroom

LernerClassroom, launched in 2000, is specifically geared towards educational titles, including resources for teachers. Some titles are from the Group's list, and others are specially developed. The imprint works mostly with nonfiction, but some fiction.

Kar-Ben Publishing

Kar-Ben Publishing was acquired in 2001, for artwork- and photo-driven fiction and nonfiction titles geared for the children's Judaica market.

Cloverleaf Books

Created for K-2 grades, they contain bright, eye-catching art and picture book designs to grab the attention of young readers.

Searchlight Books

Designed for grades 3–5, these books are simple, straightforward nonfiction texts that build children's reading skills.

Darby Creek Publishing

Darby Creek Publishing, which will continue as an imprint, was acquired by the Lerner Publishing Group in 2010. Established in 2002, Darby Creek, is in Columbus, Ohio and publishes

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported sch ...

fiction and nonfiction titles for the school and public library markets, and the trade bookstore market. Its authors include Lurlene McDaniel, David Lubar, and Joseph Bruchac. Lerner had been distributing Darby Creek titles since 2003.

Zest Books

Zest Books, a young adult nonfiction publisher, was founded in 2006 and acquired by Lerner in 2018.

The Sharon Lerner Scholarship

The Sharon Lerner Scholarship is a four-week scholarship, begun in 1983, to honor Sharon Lerner, art director and founder of Carolrhoda Books. The scholarship is intended to promote understanding and cooperation between international publishers of children's book

References

* * Business.com
"Millbrook Press Inc. (the) Information."
Business.com. Accessed on July 22, 2008.

External links

{{Authority control Companies based in Minneapolis Book publishing companies based in Minnesota Privately held companies based in Minnesota Publishing companies established in 1959 1959 establishments in Minnesota