We received this book, Elmo in Grouchland. After my son's bedtime recently, I snuck this book from his room. I dislike the songs, and was ready to get rid of the book.
My grip slipped on the electronic green pad. The adhesive glue loosened, and the electronic pad fell off. The last page of the Elmo book was mounted to the cardboard cover. Behind the Elmo electronic pad, appeared to be a children's Bible story book. Definitely, the book was recycled.
I called Publications International, Ltd. to register my complaint. I spoke with someone who handles customer inquiries, and asked if their company recycles books. The representative was surprised. He assured me they did not. I explained all that had happened. He put me on a hold, and offered to send me a new book when he came back on the line. I didn't want a new book. I asked to speak with someone who handles product discrepancies or consumer relations. Bottom line: Why was this book made from a recycled Bible story book? Finally, the representative forwarded my complaint to the corporate office, and supposedly they will contact me within 24 hours. I will keep you posted. In the meantime, check your children's books published by Publications International, Ltd. If you find problems with your books please contact their corporate office at 847-676-3470.
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How strange is that? Just curious, what was wrong with the songs? Was it the lyrics or did you just think the music was annoying? Are these the Costco books?
ReplyDeleteThe songs and lyrics are annoying. They may sell them at Costco, but ours was a gift.
ReplyDeletehmmmmmm. very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with LL hmmmm very Interesting and strange! Keep us posted I will check the books we have. I know we have some like that with music...and I am not a fan of a book where I have to replace batteries. I love books....but not one's that require Batteries....but that is just MEEEE!
ReplyDeleteVery Very Interesting!!!!
I work as a cookbook editor, and while the content of my company's books differ from these, the way in which both kinds of books are physically made are very similar. For example, the book pictured on your site appears to have at least one hard cardboard cover, much as the 3-ring binder-style books my company publishes.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of cover is typically assembled out of three separate pieces: a piece of raw unprinted cardboard stock, a wrapper (usually scrap paper of some sort), and a printed glossy cover.
The cardboard is too rough to bond with the kind of glue you need to use with the sort of super-calendared (meaning extra glossy, extra strong and extra smooth) paper the glossy cover is printed on without ruining the cover. So the standard work-around solution is to first glue a piece of scrap to the cardboard, then glue the actual cover to the scrap.
As you might imagine, at most printing plants the most readily available scrap paper has already been printed on. It may be part of the overrun from another project, or it might have misprints or be otherwised flawed. This is especially true of covers -- I can't tell you the number of times our production managers (who are always on-site when our job is being printed) call to complain that the plant began printing our coves on the wrong stock, or the printers started printing with the wrong inkes, or the press managers are taking too long to adjust the cover to our specifications, etc., all of which result in (mis)printed materials that won't be bound into books unless they are used as scrap as I've suggested above.
The long and short of it is that there is absolutely no reason to believe that ANY Bible-story books were somehow "recycled" and used to create your Elmo book.
Out of curiosity, though, what bothers you about finding the Bible-related material "hidden" under the cover/sound-device of the Elmo book? Are ou upset because you believe a Bible-story book was destroyed to make the Elmo book? Or so you take offense at the Bible-material layered under the otherwise secular content?
Anonymous...
ReplyDeleteThanks for leaving the detailed explanation of manufacturing. I spoke with the corporate folks at Publications International, Ltd. when I called them again this morning. They explained to me that all materials that compose the book should be brand new, and no scrap material is used. They were going to speak to the manufacturing folks and call me back. The book is published in China. Are your books published in China?
In response to your question...
I searched the copy of the book for any text that suggests the book is not made from all new material. I found none. When I buy/receive a new book, I expect it to be new. I will liken it to the homebuilding where I live. When some of our new construction homes in my neighborhood (upper middle class) were found to be using scrap wood for new construction, a law suit was filed, and the homeowners won. When buying/receiving a product new, I expect it to be just that.
Second, in response to your questions,(didn't edit the misspelling for you)
"Are ou upset because you believe a Bible-story book was destroyed to make the Elmo book? Or so you take offense at the Bible-material layered under the otherwise secular content?"
Again, I am irritated that the book was sold new and not completely new, meaning that scrap (also considered reused or recycled, such as aluminum or other scrap metal is reused or recycled) material was not disclosed. We literally have a few hundred children's books in our home. The overwhelming majority of our books are secular. However, if I knew a book company was destroying Bible story books to make other books, that would definitely bother me. I don't think that this company is destroying books. However, they are recycling material and not disclosing that to the consumer.
Hi, it's me again.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the misspellings in my previous post. I was hurrying to finish what I thought was an exceptionally long post; I didn't want to monopolize the discussion on your blog, especially because I am not inclined to sign these posts. I hope, too, that you don't interpret anything I wrote as argumentative or accusatory; I was (and am) sincere in wanting to understand what upset you about finding the Bible-related images under the sound device.
In any case, yes our books are printed in China, although I have no idea if we use the same printer(s) as the publisher of your Elmo book.
I guess I'm still a little unclear on why finding the image upset you so much. I understand the analogy to homebuilding but I'm not convinced it is a particularly relevant one: reused construction materials may not be structurally sound, leading to pretty serious consequences for buildings and the people within them. The consequences in case of the Elmo book are much less dire. I don't see how revealing the image beneath the sound device harms you or places you in jeopardy. That said, I assume the sound device was never supposed to come off, and if I were the publisher of the Elmo book I'd be pretty ticked about that.
If I can impose on you for further explanation, what part of the book wasn't new? It's true that the lining under the glue-down pages was printed upon, but it's not like it was used material. It had simply been printed upon, and, since it wasn't needed for the original use, it was used to line the cardboard forms before attaching the cover.
I'm assuming this last bit, since I obviously wasn't there, but the economics of the printing trade make it highly unlikely that bound books were deconstructed and then some how reassembled into this Elmo book. Nobody took apart one book to make another, since it costs so much more money to take a book apart gently enough to reuse its pieces than to simply use other unbound material.
On another, related note. I hope you won't take offense at the reuse of the printed material. Printers and publishers are all becoming incredibly sensitive to the environmental impact of the business. This means that we are actively instructing our printers to reuse or recycle scrap and misprinted material in exactly the way I describe above. We're doing what we can to reduce the volume of misprinted and unusable material, but current printing technology means there will always be some waste paper like this. If we can't find a way to reuse or recycle it, it will wind up in landfill, which I don't think anybody wants.
I'm all for recycling, but I think the issue at hand is that if they are gonna use misprinted scrap paper in the formation of "new" books there should at least be some sort of label on the book that states as much. It's all about being upfront and honest with the consumer.
ReplyDelete