The paper as an important carrier of children's book. Selecting the suitable printing paper will help you save much cost in publishing children's book.

In recent years, since strict environmental protection policies, stricter pollution discharge permits, and various cost increases for paper-making companies, etc. The superposition of various factors has caused paper prices to continue to rise. The impact of rising paper prices on people's lives has begun to appear. Children's books publishing occupying a large share in the publishing industry. How to deal with the soaring price of paper has become an urgent problem for children's publishing houses to solve.

1. Choosing the right paper is key for printing children's book

China has an idiom, a rising tide raises all boats. The most direct impact of rising paper prices on children's books is the increase in cost, which leads to an increase in pricing. Driven by various national reading activities, readers have higher and higher recognition of good books. Meanwhile, they have a certain ability to bear the price of books. At present, most parents of children's book readers are the young generation born in the 1975s to the 1990s. They have higher education level and social class. The increase in book prices will not affect the choice of this group. What will really affect them will be the book quality. Content quality, binding design, reading experience and other aspects of book quality. Paper is the most intuitive expression carrier of books. Correctly selecting paper and improving paper quality are the primary strategies for improving book quality and coping with the soaring paper prices.

At present, the paper used in children's books mainly includes coated paper, offset paper, white cardboard, recycled paper, etc. The children's book, according to different reader age group and different content. Children's books can be divided into children's enlightenment book (such as cognitive books and toy books), popular science encyclopedia books, game puzzle books, picture story books, and children's literature books according to the different ages and contents of young readers. Different categories of children's books require different paper quality and binding design.

2. Selecting children's book printing paper based on reading age

For children's enlightenment books age to 0-3. Such as board book, flip book, etc, play an important role in the development and enlightenment of children's early reading and writing skills. This type of book has a dynamic shape, bright colors, and supervisual impact. It combines the content of the book with the features of the toy, to make the book is no longer a carrier of culture and reading. Such of books incorporate more interactive elements. And become the carrier of cultural enlightenment education in line to meet children's love to move, touch, listen and experience, so that children can't put it down. Such of children's books to achieve the three-dimensionality and visual impact. Often printed with thicker coated one side paper, cardboard, etc. Besides, such of books have less content and heavy weight.
For popular science encyclopedia books age to 4-7. Such as game puzzle books, picture story books. To stand out the content, highly restored the picture color, usually used coated paper. Because its surface is smooth, high whiteness and good ink absorption. Coated paper is suitable for printing large area pictures and colorful content. But glossy coated paper is too bright. When reading under the light, it will be reflective and reading experience is not good. The paper is dense, and the surface is smooth, and it is not easy to write.

For children's literature books aged 7-9 and 9-14 years old. Such as comic book, story book, etc. Often used coated paper and special paper to print the cover. And offset paper to print inner pages, since offset paper small elasticity and high surface strength.

3. From book types and reading experience to select paper

For children's books, such as children's literature book with a lot of texts. Low-cost, eye-friendly, and eco-friendly recycled paper is used for the content, rather than high-cost special paper.
For children's enlightenment books, using recycled cardboard instead of white cardboard, thick cardboard, and thick coated paper. Which can reduce costs and weight, killing two birds with one stone.

From the view of reading experience, we look at popular science encyclopedia books, games puzzle books, and picture story books. Offset paper has been widely used in some countries to replace coated paper. It has become more popular in Nordic countries that value environmental protection. This is not only because the offset paper is non-reflective and eye-protecting. But also because there is more blank space in this type of book format. Allowing children to create on the offset paper according to their own preferences and use their personal imagination. It is very important for cultivating children's imagination, creativity and hands-on skills go a long way.

At present, books in the United States, the United Kingdom, etc., whether for children or adults, mostly use a small 32-format design and recycled paper as the text. Penguin Group, COLLINS, SCHOLASTIC, these large publishing groups are mostly like this, without exception.

4. Selecting recycled paper to print children’s textbook

Recycled paper is made from waste paper, which is crushed, decolorized and pulped through multiple processes. Because it does not add any chemicals, such as whitening agents and fluorescent agents. Thus, the recycled paper is slightly yellowed, old and non-reflective. Showing the beauty of the original color of the paper, which is conducive to protecting the health of eyesight. 80% of its raw materials come from recycled waste paper. So it is known as an environmentally friendly paper with low energy consumption and light pollution. Today, when the concept of environmental protection is increasingly advocated all over the world. Using recycled paper to print children's book is a popular option.

According to statistics, 1 ton of waste paper can produce 850 kg of good-quality recycled paper, saving 3 cubic meters of wood (equivalent to 26 3-4-year-old trees), 300 kg of chemical raw materials, 1.2 tons of coal, and 600 degrees of electricity, can also reduce 35% of water pollution, and can reduce a lot of waste. But, about 20 trees aged 20 to 40 years need to be felled to produce 1 ton of paper. According to Greenpeace calculations, using 1 ton of 100% recycled paper can reduce 11.37 tons of carbon dioxide emissions compared to using 1 ton of all-wood pulp paper.

Besides, the cost of recycled paper is cheaper than offset paper. So most of the textbooks are printed with recycled paper.