About Us

“At a certain crossroads in Indiana, in 1938, there was a schoolhouse which had an eloquent inscription over its doorway. It was not in Latin, or Greek, or even in oratorical English, three simple words had been used to describe the purpose of the schoolhouse: FOR OUR CHILDREN.

Perhaps the school is no longer there. Where the cross-roads lay, there may now be a turnpike cloverleaf, and the school district there probably has built an efficient, consolidated institution. But surely no one who is engaged in working with and for children has ever improved on that 1938 inscription.”

Ada Campbell Rose

Founding editor of Jack and Jill magazine

Our humble publishing company in the heart of Indiana espouses the same sentiments first penned by Ada Campbell Rose in 1958. A strong opponent of the stern and heavily moral children’s reading material of her time, Ada Campbell Rose argued that positive, enjoyable reading would inspire happy, creative kids. Following in her footsteps, our mission is to bring laugh-out-loud, fast-paced stories to the most reluctant group of readers--modern middle schoolers.

Despite a proliferation of entertaining children’s literature since Campbell Rose’s day, modern kids face a new struggle – a lack of time. Middle schoolers today are involved in a line-up of sports, clubs, theatrical performances, and musical endeavors in addition to schoolwork that families of the early 20th century could never have imagined. Many kids don’t have time for family let alone reading for pleasure. Yet, studies have repeatedly shown that kids who read for pleasure (books and topics of their choosing) have a stronger sense of self, in addition to better vocabularies, reading comprehension, and verbal frequency skills. Pleasure readers also go on to have more productive and informed lives as adults.

Like Ada Campbell Rose, we at First Circle Press, want what’s best for kids. By providing entertaining, easy-to-read materials that cover diverse topics and won’t weigh down kids already stressed by school expectations and extra-curricular commitments, we hope to encourage reading for pleasure.

In other words, we aim to provide positive, enjoyable reading FOR OUR CHILDREN.