Innovation

Little Bee Books, founded in 2014 and based in New York City, is transforming the children’s publishing industry with one clear and impactful mission: to create progressive, inclusive, and socially responsible literature for young minds. Although the children’s publishing industry has been around for many years, CEO Shimul Tolia recognized a significant gap due to a lack of diversity and purpose in children’s books. Tolia’s invention fills that gap by publishing books that feature a wide range of cultures and perspectives, helping young readers to see themselves and others in the stories they read. 

The company’s innovative approach aligns closely with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education. Although their books are entertaining, they are specifically centered around tools for education and awareness. Little Bee Books believes that education does not only begin in the classroom, it starts at home and in the environments young children grow up in. These books provide children, educators, librarians, and parents with the resources they need to spark meaningful conversations with younger individuals. Tolia emphasizes the importance of introducing inclusive literature early to combat ignorance and foster a greater sense of understanding at a young age. 

This innovation is not just about storytelling, it’s about purposeful publishing. Their work encourages empathy, promotes acceptance, and shapes a new generation of readers who are more compassionate, informed, and curious about the world that surrounds them. 

Inspiration

Many aspects inspired the leader to come up with this innovation. Firstly, Tolia mentioned that she felt like there was a lack of purposefully published books. She mentioned that “there was a gap in the market for creating these kinds of purposeful publishing activism-bent books.” Seeing such a lack of these types of children’s books in the market inspired her to start this publishing business. Another aspect that inspired Tolia was the fact that a lot of the publishing industry didn’t contain children’s books, which introduced more recent topics that were happening in the world. She specifically mentioned that “we have amazing classics and English literature in this country, but there are also a lot of books that don’t touch on so many things that have happened in more recent times, and we wanted to create these books.” This shows that she was passionate about creating children’s books which not only educate children about history-related topics, but also topics which are more recent and important for them to keep in mind for the future. She saw there being a lack of such kinds of books in the market, which is what inspired her to create a business that can create children’s books that can educate them about these topics. 

Overall impact

Since its founding in 2014, Little Bee Books has created a strong impact through its innovative approach to children’s publishing. In the short term, the company’s books gained attention for its inclusive and bold content, sometimes leading to controversy. Several of their books have been banned in libraries because of their progressive themes. This reaction made it clear that Little Bee Books was addressing certain issues that needed to be talked about. As a result, the company became a trusted source for parents, educators, and librarians to get literature that was inclusive and had socially relevant content. 

In the long term, Little Bee Books is working to shape a more compassionate, inclusive, and educated society. Their goal is to help children grow up with a better understanding of themselves and others by promoting empathy, diversity, and awareness through literature. Evidence of this impact can be found in the growing community of readers who have reached out to express their gratitude. Children are finally able to see themselves represented in the books they read, which is a very important thing to have in order to have more inclusivity. The company’s commitment to environmental issues is also evident in some of their books focused on climate change and sustainability, further aligning with the global efforts to educate the next generation. Through these efforts, Little Bee Books continues to prove that inclusive stories can change the world. 

Business benefit

Due to the business’s innovation of creating purposeful picture books that teach children about important topics, the business has flourished. After hearing more about the importance of the work that the business does, more and more people have been wanting to work for the business because they believe that the work has a lot of meaning and purpose to it. This has allowed the business to expand in employees and overall become bigger.

In addition, because people have seen the value of the work done by this business in the children’s book space, it has a positive reputation. This positive reputation is good to have and benefits the business since it puts a good name out there for the business. This will help the business in further increasing the popularity of their books as well.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation benefits society in several ways. The first way it benefits society is that it can create diversity within the publishing space. As a result of this business, a lot more children’s books come from culturally diverse backgrounds. Tolia brought up the concept during the interview known as “Mirrors and Windows.” She used this concept to explain their mission in trying to create diversity in their books. She mentioned that when a child looks into a mirror, they should be able to see themselves in their books. Furthermore, when the child looks out the window and sees their neighbor, their neighbor should also be in the book. The point that was trying to be made is that the books which the business makes promote high levels of diversity, which benefits society since it helps children to understand the idea that everyone is different in their way. This is an important concept.

 In addition, another impact that these books have is that they help parents bring up difficult conversations that they want to have with their kids. Parents sometimes struggle to do this, but these children’s books make bringing up these topics easier since they are integrated within the books. Since they are connected with the books, parents find it easier to talk more about the topic. This helps in creating more awareness for children and makes the job of parents a lot easier. 

 In terms of environmental benefits, this innovation has one major benefit for the environment. Some of the books that are published include topics about the environment, like climate change. These topics help educate younger children about the environment and bring them more awareness about some of the issues that we are facing. With that knowledge being instilled at an early age, children will be more aware that not everything on our planet is unlimited.

Interview

Shimul Tolia, CEO