Publishers Weekly

Posted by Valerie on March 19, 2009

Resellers of used children’s books are not required to test books or provide certification, but at the same time they cannot sell any books for children that are not safe, as defined by the Act. Most used booksellers continue to offer older books, even without proof that they’re safe, believing the risk is minimal and the harm from destroying children’s books outweighs any danger of lead exposure.

Staffers at Jacobsen Books in Clinton, Wis., used crime scene tape to express disapproval with CPSIA guidelines.

“I’m looking at it as a free speech issue,” says Valerie Jacobsen, owner of Jacobsen Books in Clinton, Wis., which sells 7,000 to 8,000 children’s books in its shop and online. She estimates 65% of her inventory for kids 8–12 and 35% for kids 3–8 was printed before 1986. “I just know that, from a moral position, I want to continue to sell them,” she says. “But it also makes me uncomfortable that someone could decide to make me a test case.”

Jacobsen surveyed used booksellers about their response to the CPSIA on her Yahoo Groups page. Of 79 who responded, 61% said they would continue to sell children’s books as they always have, 31% hadn’t decided what to do, 2% had removed all pre-1986 books from their shelves, and 3% said they removed some that seemed like they might be risky. None had tested any books.

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