Peters Bookselling Services
Peters Books & Furniture is a wholly owned subsidiary of J S Peters & Son Ltd., a family-run business established in 1935 and based in Birmingham, England. Peters is the UK’s leading supplier of books andfurniture to nurseries, schools, academies, and public libraries.
History
J S Peters & Son Ltd. have been involved in library supply and general bookselling since 1935 with the opening of their first shop in Moor Street, Birmingham, by John Sheldon Peters. The company is still owned by the Peters family, being wholly owned by Malcolm Peters and his two sons. Malcolm retired in 2009 and his son Rhydian replaced him as chairman. In January 2011, Ray Dyer was appointed Managing Director of the business.
In 1992 a subsidiary, The Kit Shop, was launched to supply furniture to libraries and schools. In 2012 Peters Bookselling Services and The Kit Shop were rebranded as Peters Books & Furniture, with both aspects of the business brought under one roof at 120 Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham.
Services
Peters Books & Furniture have an unrivalled showroom of over 30,000 children’s books, including a one-of-a-kind Accelerated Reader showroom containing over 11,000 AR-quizzed books, as well as a furniture showroom. These showrooms are open for visits from schools and libraries.
Peters’ team of 10 qualified children’s librarians read and review every book held in stock in the showroom. They also offer a Personal Shopper service to help customers select books, as well as a range of book packs covering various topics across the curriculum and to support reading for pleasure for 0-18 year olds.
Peters also have a jacketing and labelling service for books for schools and libraries, including everything from plastic jackets to Book Band and Accelerated Reader labels.
Peters' Book of the Year
In 2010 Peters Books & Furniture launched the Peters Book of the Year award. Nominations are selected by Peters’ own in-house children’s librarians, with the criteria that the book be classed as a children’s book and have been published during the nomination year. Schools and libraries nationwide can get involved in shadowing the awards and the voting is done through several channels – in the showroom, online, and by post. The winner is announced the following year. In 2012 the awards grew to encompass best picture book and best fiction book, and in 2014 the fiction award was further split into junior and teen categories. Originally named to reflect the year in which the books were published, in 2014 the decision was made to name the award after the year in which the winners were announced, hence the 2014 award became the 2015 award.
2010
Winner: White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion Children’s Books)
2011
Winner: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (Walker Books)
2012
Picture book winner: Cinderelephant by Emma Dodd (Templar Publishing)
Fiction winner: A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton (Yearling)
2013
Picture book winner: The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Fiction winner: Demon Dentist by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
2015
Picture book winner: Smelly Louie by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children’s Books)
Junior fiction winner: A Room Full of Chocolate by Jane Elson (Hodder Children’s Books)
Teen fiction winner: A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond (Hodder Children’s Books)
2016
The shortlists will be announced in November 2015 (TBC), with the winners announced in March 2016 (TBC)
References
External links
- Peters Books & Furniture corporate site
- Peters Books & Furniture online bookshop
- Peters Books & Furniture online furniture shop
Coordinates: 52°28′21″N 1°53′52″W / 52.472575°N 1.897815°W