Penny Candy Books is an independent children’s book publishing company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 2015 by poets Alexis Orgera and Chad Reynolds, Penny Candy released its first title in the fall of 2016. Our imprint, Penelope Editions, released a coloring book in 2017 and will publish its first middle grade novel in 2020.
Small press. Big conversations. is our tagline because we think kids can handle big ideas. In fact, we think tackling sometimes uncomfortable and complex topics with kids is key to growing healthy, sensitive, multi-perspective-seeking adults who care about our planet and creatures who exist here. In addition, all kids should have a chance to see themselves in books. So, we have a twofold mission: to create conversations and to publish children's literature that reflects the diverse realities of the world we live in, both at home and abroad. This means seeking out books by and about people and subjects that speak to and from a broad range of human experience.
Just some of the love our books have received in our first 4 years:
Bookstagram Choice Award ° Tejas Star Reading List ° ALSC Notable Children’s Books ° Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books ° Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s Choice List ° Booklist Review of the Day ° Starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly ° Paterson Prize Honor Book ° Oddest Books of 2018, Betsy Bird/School Library Journal ° Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book ° Best of Middle Grade, Kirkus ° Best of Poetry, School Library Journal ° Cybils Finalst ° National Council of Teachers of English Notable Poetry ° Recommended lists from Bustle, In the Margins, Evanston Public Library, Denver Public Library, Here We Read, The Children’s Book Review, and Reader’s Digest ° International Youth Library’s White Ravens List °
