During this unusual time, many schools are partially closed and have a large number of pupils learning from home. I know one thing that I am going to miss is the daily reading to the children in my class. I (along with many others) have had the idea of recording ourselves reading stories on a video to share with our children.
Many schools have done this before and we have always shied away from it due to the legal difficulties. However, being partially closed has given me a bit more impetus to ask for the permissions needed.
Firstly, it is not the author that gives permission but the publisher. I tried phoning a range of publishers and didn’t get through to anyone. I guess they are all working from home. I pinged a few emails off and below, I have included contact details of the people that have replied so far.
If you email them, they will then be able to give you permission to share the stories with your children too. The main stipulations seem to be that the video must be shared on a private platform and not publically. They should also be removed after a certain date or when we return to normal. The replies I have had have also asked me to email them the books that we do share so that they can keep track of them.
So, have a look through the list below and send me a tweet or an email if you manage to speak to any other publishers so that we can build up a bigger list.
**EDIT: There is now a HUGE list of publishers and their permissions http://teenlibrarian.co.uk/2020/03/20/publisher-permission-details-for-virtual-story-times-during-the-coronavirus-crisis/ which makes most of these blog post null and void!**
Publishers
Anderson Press: https://www.andersenpress.co.uk/about-us/temporary-permissions/
Scholastic – pwatts@scholastic.co.uk
Books include: Julia Donaldson –
Quarto (encompassing Aurum Press, Frances Lincoln, Jacqui Small, Wide-Eyed Editions) – katie.cotton@quarto.co.uk
Books include: David Litchfield – Lights on Cotton Rock, Grandad’s Secret Giant, The Bear and The Piano and The Bear, The Piano, The Dog and The Fiddle
Zoe Tucker: Great and the Giants
Chicken House Publishing – elinor@chickenhousebooks.com
Books include: Who Let the Gods Out by Maz Evans
Bloomsbury – https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/company/permissions
Hatchette (details provided in the image below)
Books include: The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Rauf
JK Rowling – https://www.jkrowling.com/j-k-rowling-grants-open-licence-for-teachers-during-covid-19-outbreak/
Authors online
There are also some authors that are reading their own stories to share with schools. These are the ones that I have seen so far:
Mr Gum and The Biscuit Billionaire read by Andy Stanton
A selection of authors reading books online
Oliver Jeffers reads his books online
Cressida Cowell reads How to Train Your Dragon on her YouTube channel
Benji Davies reads The Storm Whale (Instagram)
