Ending Book Hunger: Access to Print Across Barriers of Class and Culture

Every child has the right to read. Books make this right a reality. One billion kids lack access to books in their native languages. Forty percent of America’s children cannot afford to buy books. This is a crisis for education, because the best predictor of a child’s success in school is the number of books at home.   Ending Book Hunger highlights nonprofit strategies to reshape children’s publishing by creating more diverse books, lowering costs, overcoming language barriers, and promoting mobile reading through digital libraries.   Can such efforts expand to bring books to the next billion would-be readers? Lea Shaver reveals the powerful roles of copyright law and licensing, and encourages her readers to join the campaign to end childhood book hunger.   Whether you are a teacher, librarian, author, illustrator, bookseller, publisher, or any other kind of book lover, Ending Book Hunger will engage you, inspire you, and change the way you think about books.

About the Author :
Professor Lea Shaver teaches at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law. Her research on copyright and distributive justice has shaped international human rights law at the United Nations, where she has served as both presenter and expert consultant.

Review :
“Sheds light on the sad phenomenon of book hunger experienced by many undeserved and marginalised communities around the world”—Marc Kosciejew, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science “A timely call to solve an urgent problem. Shaver exposes book hunger as a problem of critical importance to education, opportunity, and the elimination of poverty... and offers solutions.”—Dave Wilkinson, former Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, and Executive Director of the Tobin Center for Economic Policy at Yale University   “Shaver gives critical attention to one of the pressing human rights challenges of our time: unequal access to books and educational materials for a majority of the world.”—Madhavi Sunder, author ofFrom Goods to a Good Life: Intellectual Property and Global Justice “Ending Book Hunger is fresh and exciting, and the perspective of a human rights and IP lawyer is original. Shaver comprehensively addresses the problem of global book scarcity and proposes solutions in a readable and engaging manner.”—Jessica M. Silbey, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law and author of The Eureka Myth: Creators, Innovators and Intellectual Property “In graceful and compelling prose, Lea Shaver emphasizes the fact that too many across the world lack access to books. Shining a light on this critical aspect of access to knowledge, Shaver offers necessary concepts and models to achieve a world where every child has the books she needs to learn and grow.”—Anupam Chander, author of The Electronic Silk Road: How the Web Binds the World Together in Commerce   "I was deeply moved by Lea Shaver's engaging introduction to the problem of book hunger around the world. It's also a powerful call to action, as Shaver explores how we can bring about a world where every person is served by publishing models that prioritize inclusion and accessibility."—John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars