Friday Feel Good News

It's Friday, and in my books, that means it's time to feel good. Let's set aside the doom-and-gloom stories for a moment and focus on some good news!

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This week I kept putting off preparing this Friday Feel Good News post because so many happy stories came my way that it was hard to decide which to tell you about. I'm savouring this experience because it will no doubt be short-lived! So without further delay, let's learn about the sustainable vision behind Squishy Press publishing company.

As every parent knows, babies like chewing on books! Parents Allison Reeve Manley and Rob Coleman decided they wanted to do something about that - they knew they couldn't prevent their son from putting books in his mouth, but they wanted to make sure he wasn't being harmed in the process. Think about all of the products on the market for children these days that are available in safe and non-toxic varieties, from organic cotton clothing to BPA-free bottles. What's missing? Books without harsh chemicals in the binding, ink, and laminate.

It was an obvious move, then, for Manley and Coleman to use their design expertise to create safe books that contain significantly lower levels of toxins than the national requirement. The first title to be printed was Opposites, which teaches kids about antonyms such as happy vs. sad and wet vs. dry using images of children depicting those states (which is, in my humble opinion, brilliant), followed by Silly Faces, which as you can imagine is filled with photos of kids making silly faces! Manley is working on creating four more books along the same vein and expanding her company's merchandise line to include stacking blocks, puzzles, and memory games.

For those of you who care about all things green but don't have little ones in your life, how cool is it that Squishy Press produces its books at wind-powered facilities using recycled paper, with all materials manufactured in the US? There's lots to love about this publishing company that has already sold 4,000 books in one year. For more information, please visit the Squishy Press website or check out Manley's profile in the Washington University in St. Louis magazine, which is where I read about this great story after my WUSTL alumni friend sent me the link! Thanks Angini and happy Feel Good News Friday to all!


Photo of baby chewing book used under Creative Commons from Jody Morris (JodyDigger/flickr).
Photo of wind farm used under Creative Commons from Jeff Kubina (flickr).