Primary school teacher launches online children’s bookshop

A primary school teacher in Kent has launched an online children’s bookshop to promote little-known titles for primary school-aged readers.

Briony Dixon, who is based near Dover in Kent, told The Bookseller she created Pages of Joy because she wanted to sell the beautiful books that don’t always make it to the shelves of high street retailers.

“There are so many wonderful books that I don’t see when I go into Waterstones. Yes you can buy them on Amazon but customers need to find out about these books first, which you can’t do on Amazon,” she said.

“I’m a teacher and my favourite part of the job has always been reading with the children and choosing books I love and know they will love.”

Pages of Joy sells books in five different categories - board books, story books, older readers, on-fiction and activity - and Dixon hand-picks the books from publishers around the world.

“I’m very excited by the illustrated non-fiction that is out there at the moment because non-fiction in schools tends to be really outdated and full of photos from the 1980s,” she said. “One of my favourite publishers at the moment is the German company Little Gestalten, which publishes The Mystery of the Golden Wonderflower. I also love The Atlas of Architecture by Alexandre Verhille (Die Gestalten Verlag) and The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer (Thames and Hudson).”

Dixon, who is still working two days a week in education, is also planning on running book fairs, where schools can earn rewards every time a parent buys a book, and by selling book boxes. That means schools will be able to order a box of, for example, 20 books that fit their curriculum for a reduced rate, she said.