Do I need permission to read children's books online?

Since spring, with schools closed due to the new Coronavirus, teachers and librarians have taken to story time by remote. And my in-box has been filled with requests from around the country for permission to read my books, including The Jazz Fly musical books, online. Thank you, everyone, for your ingenuity and interest! For reference, this post will describe situations in which my publishing company, Tortuga Press, grants such permissions. (Feel free to share it with colleagues voicing concern!) I will also include some basics about “fair use” and a link to more detailed information about copyrights.

Permission to share with your learning community: Can you share my books with your students or library patrons by remote via Class Dojo, Google Classroom, etc.? The answer is ZA-ba-ZEE! (That is how The Jazz Fly would say “YES!”) Playing the audio and turning the pages, or reading my books in your own voice, is fine. Tortuga Press sees this as an extension of story time in your classroom or library—and as a way to share books safely in the Covid19 era. If you do share my books, please send me a link as I know that would brighten my day. At some point, I may even be able to coordinate with you for a follow-up author talk by remote!

When it comes to social media: Like most publishers, Tortuga Press needs to grant permission when it comes to reading entire books publicly on social media. At issue with sharing books on social media is the intended audience: say, under 100 children within a school or library online community vs. a much more diffuse audience worldwide. The latter could lead, effectively, to the publisher’s losing control of digital rights. Remember, publishers need to be able to earn something on their books to pay authors and illustrators and cover their many production costs! So if you’d like to publicly share one of my entire books on social media, please ask permission first by sending an email info@tortugapress.com. Note that no permission is required for quoting or reading a small portion of a book on social media, as this is considered fair use. (More about fair use below.)

When it comes to dramatic rights: Another situation warranting permission from publishers is called “dramatic rights” or the OK to put on a play or film based on their book. Publishers almost always grant an enthusiastic yes, though they may charge a licensing fee if, say, you are a theater organization. When schools ask about creating plays based on my books, Tortuga Press may even provide slides and audio files to help the school put on a better show!

What is “fair use”? According to attorney Richard Stim in his book Getting Permission (Nolo), “fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work.” So if you quote an author in your research paper, written review or video blog, etc., that’s fair use provided you cite your source. My quotation of Mr. Stim just now was fair use. I quoted a small portion of his work to share knowledge, and I certainly didn’t claim his words as my own. (It’s always a good idea to credit the author and illustrator when presenting or quoting from a picture book!)

For a more detailed and authoritative discussion for teachers concerning copyright, fair use and primary sources, click here.

Conclusion: Sharing my books with a limited online community such as your library, school, or private reading group, is fine by Tortuga Press. (Other publishers, however, may feel differently about their books.) But before sharing anyone’s entire book publicly on social media, or producing a dramatic play based on their book, you should first obtain written permission from the publisher. Children’s publishers like Tortuga Press can be especially enthusiastic. So when in doubt about copyrighted material, just reach out!

On June 30, 2020

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Many teachers & librarians are reaching out to authors and illustrators to ask about permissions for sharing online read-alouds, either live or recorded, for students who are currently learning at home. While we may be able to say “Sure, that’s fine with me,” we actually can’t give you legal permission. That has to come from publishers, and many have begun to issue statements and guidelines to help out. Please note that some are sharing policies publicly, while others are asking teachers & librarians to request those guidelines via email. You can either email the publisher or the author of the book you’d like to read, as many of us have those guidelines and have been told it’s fine to share them with you via email.  Here’s what I have so far. Publishers, authors, & illustrators – please email me if you have more official updates, and I’ll add as soon as I can.

From Penguin Random House 

Penguin Random House has extended its open license for online story time and classroom read alouds and live events, through December 31, 2020.  Details are here. This covers my History Smashers series.

From Chronicle Books:

Chronicle Books will be updating their guidelines soon to extend story time permissions through March 31, 2021. I’ll post specific guidelines soon, but you can plan on being able to use these books through early Spring.

Chronicle’s policy covers nearly all of my picture books, so read away!

From Scholastic:

Scholastic has also extended its guidelines for online read-alouds through December 31, 2020. Details are here.

This policy covers my Marty McGuire series, my Ranger in Time historical adventure chapter book series, and my Silver Jaguar Society mysteries.

From Bloomsbury Kids:

Additional resources:
Advantages of Flip Top Caps with Silicone Valves
The Magic of Spirit Glass Bottles: Enhancing the Drinking Experience
Unveiling the Elegance: Spirit Glass Bottles for Discerning Connoisseurs
Exploring LPG Cylinder Regulations: Compliance and Safety Standards
Unveiling the Ultimate Convenience: The Flip Top Bottle Cap
Benefits of Using Sublimation Paper
How to Choose Custom Linen Covers Hardcover Book Printing Services

Bloomsbury Kids has extended permissions through December 31, 2020, allowing both live-streaming (not recorded) and password-protected, private read-alouds of entire works, as well as publicly shared read-alouds of excerpts (no more than 20%), all through the end of the school year. Bloomsbury is asking that you contact the publisher or the author of the work for more information on those guidelines. Note: Bloomsbury is working on an updated policy to allow read-alouds through the fall – stay tuned!

This policy applies to most of my stand-alone novels, including these frequent classroom read-alouds!

There’s a wonderful and extensive teaching & discussion guide for CHIRP that you can download here. Thanks to educator/writer Melissa Guerrette for creating it!

From Candlewick:

The Candlewick guidelines above refer to my Fergus and Zeke easy readers.

From Lerner Books:

Lerner Books has extended online read-aloud permissions through March 31, 2021. Details are here. This covers my book TRACKING PYTHONS: THE QUEST TO CATCH AN INVASIVE PREDATOR AND SAVE AN ECOSYSTEM.

More fair use guidelines from publishers:

Little Brown Books for Young Readers has published this book sharing permission statement for educators. 

Here is the current Penguin Random House Open License for Online Storytime, Classroom Read-Alouds, and Live Events.

Boyds Mills & Kane released this list of guidelines for Online Reading During the Coronavirus.  

Lee & Low has shared these temporary guidelines for online read-alouds.

Simon & Schuster has extended its Online Book Reading Guidelines through December 31, 2020.

Here are MacMillan’s Content Use Guidelines for Teachers, Librarians, and Parents. 

And here is a temporary permissions statement from Abrams Children’s Books. 

HarperCollins has shared these guidelines for authors, illustrators, and educators regarding online read-alouds. 

Sourcebooks has shared these guidelines.

Here are guidelines from Charlesbridge, which is requesting that people email for permissions.

The Quarto Group’s guidelines for online read-alouds are here.

From Barefoot Books: Thank you for your permission request. We are happy to extend gratis permission for the [name of organization] to do virtual story times with any of our books, so long as you credit the author, illustrator and Barefoot Books as the publisher. We also ask that you provide a link to our website, www.barefootbooks.com, in any posts or captions along with the story time. This permission extends through December 31, 2020.

That’s the information I have for right now, but I’ll keep updating this page as I learn more. If any other publishers or authors have additional permissions statements or updates, please reach out via the contact form on my website to share, and I’ll be happy to add.

Teachers & librarians – Thank you so much for all of the work you’re doing to make learning and reading accessible for all during this time. You’re such heroes for our kids and families right now. We see you. And we appreciate you so much.