Penguin Random House | London, 08/03/2022

DK Acquires British Specialist Publisher Phonic Books

Subject: Society
Country: Great Britain
Category: Project

Publisher DK has acquired Phonic Books, a British specialist publisher. Founded in 2006, the Malmesbury-based publisher specializes in educational books that help primary school students learn to read using phonics. The Phonic Books catalog includes close to 300 titles, which are available in more than 40 countries.

Global publisher DK has acquired Phonic Books, a British specialist publisher. Phonic Books was founded in 2006 by Wendy Tweedie, Tami Reis-Frankfort and Clair Wilson, three special needs teachers passionate about teaching all children to read. Using their collective expertise they set about developing the phonic reading books that, as teachers, they found were lacking. From an initial ten titles the range has expanded to nearly 300 today, available in more than 40 countries, with the company enjoying particularly strong growth in the U.K., U.S. and Australian markets.

Paul Kelly, Co-CEO of DK, said: “We are excited about Phonic Books joining the DK family, its reputation in the teaching community is testament to the hard work of the founders and team. They have established themselves as a quality publisher of decodable content that supports the reading development of all children.

Clair Wilson, one of the three founders of Phonic Books, said: “Reading is a process, and it takes time, practice and a willingness to fail and keep on trying. Phonics is the power that gives children the scaffolding and the toolbox they need to decode text.” The stories and illustrations in DK’s books are designed to help them love what they’re doing so that they’ll want to keep on learning how to do it.” Also, books by Phonic books are the most effective if they really follow the instructions. According to the publisher, the books are especially well-suited for children who are just learning to read or are having trouble with it.

The acquisition of Phonic Books follows DK's entry into the education market with the launch of DK Learning in April this year. DK Learning offers educators a wide range of resources, including curriculum-oriented books from the publisher's extensive catalog covering all subject areas.