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Sunday 24 May 2015

Penguin Platform and Little Black Classics

Penguin Books Little Black Classics

AD* | Penguin Platform is a new online community for 16 to 19-year-olds that aims to provide a place for young adults to share and discover the stories they love. It will feature insights from top YA titles as well as introducing crossover and adult books.

 Individual book-related content and experiences will be offered by Penguin Random House. The entire community has been shaped by the tastes and preferences of the teen audience, even being named by the readers themselves. The platform will include author interviews, Q&As, writing advice, playlists, and book recommendations.

This is a really cool idea, but it’s not the only thing Penguin are doing this year.

As you might have seen, Penguin have released 80 little black classic books this year to celebrate their birthday. Each book costs 80p, so they’re a brilliant way to get reluctant readers into some classic stories. I think it’s such a good idea that I couldn’t resist buying a few of the little black classics myself. I chose How a Ghastly Story was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher’s Dog by Johann Peter Hebel, The Great Fire of London by Samuel Pepys, and Caligula by Suetonius. Although I’ve only bought a couple, with 80 to choose from there’s such a variety that there’s definitely a story out there that will appeal to anyone.


Penguin recently ran a competition for students to create works of art using the little black classics as material, with the winners being displayed at Foyles in central London. The video interviews the artists about their creations as well as showing off their work.

Both of these are really interesting and show how Penguin is adapting for their teen audience as well as keeping classic stories current. It’s really good to see a new generation of readers interacting with the classics, and Penguin is doing a great job with the Penguin Platform community.

Keep up the good work, Penguin! 

* This is a collaborative post 

Have you bought any of the Little Black Classics? Let me know in the comments below!

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