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The Children’s Bookcase was founded in the Year 2000 by sister and brother team, Dana Gluckstein and Mark Roberts. Our motivation, and inspiration, was the arrival of James our son/nephew. With James’ arrival, it soon became clear that buying children’s books was no easy business. It was difficult to find many bookshops with a comprehensive range across age groups and, when we did, we struggled to steer our way through the sea of titles to find a suitable book. With limited time to spend trawling bookshops or catalogues, frustration set in and the idea for The Children’s Bookcase was born.
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We set out to develop a concept which would allow customers to access easily a hand-picked selection of books which represented the best of children’s titles. Most importantly, we aimed to categorise the books and provide practical information to enable customers to find suitable books for the children for whom they were buying. Rather than buying in standardised reviews from external companies like most booksellers, we decided to read all the titles we offer and to develop our own reviews with the sort of information that people told us they would find helpful. By bringing the books to you via the Internet, we hope to make book shopping easy and convenient. We have worked with a range of adults to develop a site which is straightforward to use and which will offer help and advice when needed. We have tried to do a lot of the hard work for you by reading thousands of books and selecting only those which we, and the parents, teachers and children we have worked with, believe are special. We hope this selection will entertain, develop and even broaden the horizons of children and teenagers. Our reviewers have worked with us to categorise the books by age and then by subject type and format. We hope that this will help you to identify the right sort of book - even if you weren’t sure quite what you were looking for at the outset. Our unique reviews are also aimed at helping to make your choice easier. We have developed the site so that those of you who know what you are looking for can find it quickly using our search facility and those of you who are not so sure, can be guided by the age, category and review prompts to help you find the right book. |
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We hope that you enjoy shopping with the Children’s Bookcase and that the children for whom you are buying enjoy the fun and knowledge that books can bring. And now, a little more about the founders... |
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Dana Gluckstein Born and brought up in South Wales, Dana studied Law at Lincoln College, Oxford, before embarking upon a career in management consultancy with Ernst & Young. A series of strategy projects for Blue Chip clients across Europe preceded a move to Johnson & Johnson. Here, as a brand Manager, she managed a range of Baby Toiletry products, getting her first taste of just how demanding our infant customers can be. She then studied at INSEAD in France where she gained an MBA in 1993. Returning to the UK, she continued her career with Marakon Associates where she worked on a range of projects for international consumer goods companies. The arrival of James focussed the mind somewhat and the idea for the Children’s Bookcase was born of a desire to avoid hours searching bookshops for interesting books to entertain and develop him. Teaming up with her brother, Mark, they set out to develop a way of providing the sort of books that children want and need - easily. The result is The Children’s Bookcase. |
Mark Roberts Also born and brought up in South Wales, Mark struck a blow for independence at this point and studied French and History at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the University of London. Having studied for a year in France, Mark began his career as a Product Manager with L’Oréal. After several years in Marketing, Mark moved to Gemini Consulting where he worked on a range of strategy projects for international clients. He then moved to Andersen Consulting where he continued to work on strategy projects, focussing mainly on European markets for consumer goods companies. The arrival of his first nephew meant exposure to a mass of new "non-strategic" issues! Story-time was definitely preferable to nappy changing and he soon found his niche as family narrator. But having no previous experience of children, he found shopping for children’s books a difficult task. Surely it could be easier to find new and fun books for his baby nephew - a chat with Dana over coffee led to an idea, and a lot of work. Months later came the second arrival in the family - The Children’s Bookcase. |