Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 61, No. 25 - June 20, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
School Board.......................3
Classifieds............................3
Community Briefs...............3
Hawthorne Happenings......2
Lawndale..............................4
Legals............................. 4,6,7
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Burnett Gets a Surprise Visitor
The kids at Peter Burnett Elementary School received a pleasant surprise recently when Hawthorne PD K-9 Scottie paid a visit to his pen pals at the campus. Photo: Hawthorne PD
Book Tariff Is Summer Bummer
for Young Kids and Librarians
By Rob McCarthy
The top-selling illustrated children’s book
this week in America is Oh, the Places You’ll
Go by Dr. Seuss. It’s filled with wit and
wisdom for graduates who may feel small as
they leave the cocoon of their familiar childhood
routines. The book’s theme boils down
to this: leave the nest, see what’s out there.
And, expect some hard times. That’s life.
Parents and librarians who buy children’s
books in the hopes of turning youngsters
into lifelong readers could be facing hard
times of their own soon because of the tariff
dispute with China. Publishers appeared
this week at trade hearings in Washington,
D.C., where they made their case for why
books -- including children’s illustrated titles
-- should be excluded from the 25 percent
tariff, slapped on Chinese goods in May.
With summer reading programs under way
at South Bay public libraries, publishers and
booksellers traveled to the nation’s capital
to testify before U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer and his staff. Workman
Publishing, Publishers Clearing House and
The Association of American Publishers sent
representatives, who argued that raising the
import tax on books makes it harder for
families, schools and local libraries to afford
new books and replace old favorites.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go would increase
from its list price of $17.99 for a graduation
gift copy this month to $22.50 for the class
of 2020, if the tariff sticks. The average price
of a children’s illustrated book is about $20,
according to Publisher’s Weekly. The U.S.-
China tariff war would add five bucks to the
$20 average price of a children’s illustrated
book, according to an industry op-ed piece
that appeared days before Tuesday’s start
of the tariff exclusion hearings. They are
scheduled to end from June 24 to June 25.
Books imported from China include various
categories, and a large percentage were
illustrated books for children up to age 14,
said the opinion piece posted June 14 at Publishers
Weekly. The trade journal’s editorial
director and a Fordham University professor
with expertise in the U.S. book business (including
adult fiction and non-fiction) argued
that making children’s books more expensive
would keep them off library shelves.
“They will drive up the prices of all books
and have unintended consequences adversely
impacting millions of children, parents, public
and school libraries, and the livelihoods of
book retailers,” wrote Fordham marketing
professor Albert Greco and Publishers Weekly
editorial chief Jim Milliot.
Passing on the cost of a 25 percent import
tariff would make it difficult, if not impossible,
for many libraries to purchase new
books or buy replacement copies of books
that are damaged or lost, the authors said.
Sixty-one million American children are between
the ages of one and 14, and research
has demonstrated that reading fosters learning
skills in young children even before they can
read themselves, the industry advocates said.
For that reason, the spokesmen for the
publisher urged the president and his trade
representative to give children’s books that
come from China cover from the escalation
of trade tensions and tariffs between America
and its leading trade partner, Beijing. “The
Trump administration should exclude all
books imported from China from proposed
tariffs because tariffs would have a detrimental
impact on American readers and, in
particular, would restrict children’s access to
books,” the authors said.
Libraries already are stretched paper thin,
as are booksellers that operate on small profit
margins. The majority of brick-and-mortar
book stores are independent and compete
against Barnes & Noble and the online
retailers Amazon and Wal-Mart.
“And will you succeed? Yes! You will,
indeed! 98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed,” Dr.
Seuss promises in his 1990 classic title Oh,
the Places You’ll Go. The publishers’ representatives
can hope he’s right about their
chances with the president’s point man on
the Chinese trade negotiations. Lighthizer
plans to take seven days of testimony from
industry representatives for consumer and
industrial products that made the Chinese
import tariff list.
The higher 25 percent import tariff on
incoming goods from China took effect on
June 15. It upped the 10 percent tariff that
had been imposed on Beijing last year as the
Trump administration pressured the Chinese
government to pursue free market-oriented
policies and become a “more responsible
member” of the World Trade Organization.
Information about children’s summer
reading programs for South Bay cities is
available online. The Inglewood Public Library’s
program runs through August 10. A
list of activities and upcoming special events
is detailed at https://www.cityofinglewood.
org/1118/Childrens-Services. Hawthorne and
Lawndale residents can find children’s reading
services at a library branch nearest them at
https://lacountylibrary.org/hawthorne-library/.
See Book Tariff, page 5