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Recent Honors


NYC Big Book Awards:

• Two Winner awards for:

The Clever Wife: A Kyrgyz Folktale

• Two Distinguished Favorite Awards for:

Little Bear: An Inuit Folktale

• Two Winner Awards for:

Zen and the Ten Oxherding Pictures

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Sharing the wisdom and beauty of cultures from around the world
Home > About Us

About Us

Wisdom Tales is the name of the children’s book imprint of the award-winning publishing house, World Wisdom, which was founded in 1980. Wisdom Tales publishes both children’s and teen titles and was created for the purpose of sharing the wisdom, beauty, and values of traditional cultures and peoples from around the world with young readers and their families. The content, illustrations, and production quality of these books is intended to assure them a lasting value for children, parents, teachers, and librarians.

All of us at Wisdom Tales care deeply about the future of our children and grandchildren and are committed to providing qualitative reading material for children and teens. Publishing children’s books is a serious responsibility and Wisdom Tales strives to produce exceptional books which will spark the imagination, encourage the development of good character, and help facilitate cross-cultural understanding and awareness. Our books reflect our commitment to help others appreciate the beauty and sacred ways of diverse cultures and traditions.

World Wisdom has been publishing children’s books by Caldecott medal winner, Paul Goble, since 2005; since 2002 it has produced many acclaimed books that are well-suited for teens, especially those about the American Indians. The original idea for a separate children’s and teen book imprint, Wisdom Tales, started in 2008 when the principal owners of World Wisdom, award-winning authors and editors, Michael and Judith Fitzgerald, became grandparents for the first time. They began looking for qualitative children’s books and having found a noticeable absence of high quality books about various cultures, traditions, and religions, decided to start publishing their own titles. Paul Goble’s The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs (Pub date June 30, 2012) is the first official Wisdom Tales title.

The majority of our teen books are produced in both print and electronic formats. A number of titles have won prestigious awards, including the ForeWord Book of the Year, the Benjamin Franklin Book Award, the Midwest Independent Publishers Association Award, the James Madison Award, and the USA Book News Award.

WISDOM TALES PARTNERSHIPS

Dedicated to giving back to the community, Wisdom Tales joins its parent company, World Wisdom, in a commitment to supporting educational, cultural, and environmental initiatives for children, teens, and adults. With a long history of philanthropy, we partner with organizations which provide aid to various worthy causes; this includes providing support for traditional American Indian communities such as the Shoshone and Crow to continue their sacred practices, particularly the Sun Dance.

The principal owners, the Fitzgerald family, have been actively involved in children and teen causes for many years. They established the “Fitzgerald Hall of Natural Science” at Wonderlab (Bloomington’s Children’s Museum), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide opportunities for people of all ages, especially children, to experience the wonder and excitement of science through hands-on exhibits and programs that stimulate curiosity, encourage exploration, and foster lifelong learning.

They are also long-time supporters of the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation, while Michael Fitzgerald is the founding contributor of the “Lotus – Fitzgerald Endowment” for world music and education. Sunrise Greetings was a Presenting Sponsor of the annual Lotus Festival during the time it was owned by Fitzgerald. Deer Park Management is the lifetime Presenting Sponsor of the “Summer Night of Lotus” program.

The Fitzgeralds are involved with several American Indian charities. All royalties from their books on the American Indians are donated to various native charities that include: The Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, The American Indian College Fund, the purchase of books for schools on reservations, and the direct support of sacred tribal ceremonies. Michael is the director of the Trehero-Trosper Sun Dance, Inc, a Wyoming not-for-profit corporation for the benefit of preserving and perpetuating sacred aspects of the Shoshone culture and traditions. He has also contributed to the Lakota Language Consortium, a nonprofit organization made up of Native community leaders, linguists, and volunteers. Its primary mission is the complete revitalization of the Lakota language, one of only a small handful of Native American languages left that has a significant chance of survival.

In a commitment to the environment, the Fitzgerald family donated 342 acres of land in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Bloomington, Indiana into permanent conservation easements to prevent any future development. In addition, royalties from the Fitzgeralds’ award-winning book, The Sermon of All Creation: Christians on Nature, are donated to environmental charities, including the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center.

Other philanthropic activities include the endowment of “The Sunrise Box Office” at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre in Bloomington and Membership in the Community Foundation of Bloomington & Monroe County’s Donor Group, which offer grants to help provide a better quality of life for the people of Bloomington and Monroe County, Indiana. For additional information about the philanthropic donations, please see: http://www.bloomingpedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fitzgerald


The quote below is from Publishers Weekly, dated May 23, 2012, announcing the debut of the Wisdom Tales imprint:

“World Wisdom, the Bloomington, Ind.-based publisher of perennial philosophy books, is launching Wisdom Tales, a new imprint for children and young adults. The first title, The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs and Other Stories from Tipi by Caldecott Medalist Paul Goble, releases in June. Goble is the author of 30 books on Native Americans and their culture; Elk-Dogs tells the stories of how horses came to the Plains tribes.

“Also on the Wisdom Tales debut list are books that focus on classic Christian topics, such as Christmas and St. Francis of Assisi. The imprint’s second release is The Knight, The Princess and the Magic Rock: A Classic Persian Tale by Sara Azizi (July). There is an initial line-up of five books on Native American culture for teens. The Wisdom Tales Web site launches May 31.

“According to World Wisdom’s mission statement, perennial philosophy ‘is dedicated to the exposition of the timeless truth underlying the diverse religions….[that] finds its expression in the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great sages and the artistic creation of the traditional worlds.’ Wisdom Tales has the mission of ‘sharing the wisdom, beauty, and values of traditional cultures and peoples from around the world with young readers and their families.’”



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