About Free Spirit
Whether at home, in school, or out in the world, all kids face challenges. No matter the choices, changes, and opportunities young people encounter, Free Spirit has had the same mission since 1983: to provide children and teens—and the adults who care for and about them—with the tools they need to think for themselves, overcome challenges, and make a difference in the world.
Today more than ever, young people need social and emotional guidance. We aim to meet all kids—babies, teens, and everyone in between—where they are (not where we wish they were) and to support them in developing their talents, building resiliency, and fostering a positive outlook on life so they can reach their full potential.
Our Self-Help for Kids® and Self-Help for Teens® books and other learning materials are practical, positive, pro-kid, and solution focused—not watered-down adult content.
You can use our books to tackle tough topics such as neurodiversity, anger and stress management, childhood and teenage depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and gender. And sometimes our sound advice includes a sense of humor.
Free Spirit Professional® books for educators complement our books for kids by providing educators with a complete offering of resources to improve teaching and learning. We offer a wide range of free resources too!
Our Story
A former classroom teacher and gifted-education specialist, Free Spirit founder Judy Galbraith searched in vain for kid-friendly information that addressed the real-life issues her students faced. In 1983, she decided to fill that void by starting Free Spirit to offer accessible, contemporary books that help young people develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually.
Free Spirit pushes boundaries on behalf of young people. For example, we pioneered the use of the term learning differences to replace learning disabilities, because we know that kids with LD are eager and able to learn—just in a different way.
Free Spirit is also a recognized leader in meeting the needs of another special population—gifted and talented kids. Judy Galbraith’s groundbreaking The Survival Guide for Gifted Kids: For Ages 10 & Under and The Gifted Teen Survival Guide, first published in 1984 and now with over 300,000 copies in print, have remained perennial best sellers through several updates and revisions.
We continue to publish bilingual editions of our classic titles from the Best Behavior® series, the Learning to Get Along® social skills series, and others. One of Free Spirit’s newest ventures is in story-based SEL picture books and books to build empathy and increase awareness of important issues, such as childhood depression and consent.
In 2021, Teacher Created Materials acquired Free Spirit. As an imprint of Teacher Created Materials, Free Spirit Publishing will continue to publish award-winning children's and professional books that people have loved for the past 40 years.
Accolades
Free Spirit has millions of books in circulation around the world and our titles have been translated into 32 languages, including Croatian, Japanese, and Icelandic. Our award-winning books have also received recognition from esteemed institutions including:
American Library Association
American Academy of Pediatrics
Youth Adult Library Services Association
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Mensa International
Autism National Committee
Chicago Public Library
Girl Scouts of the USA
Free Spirit's expert authors have been critically hailed on broadcast outlets including:
CNN
NPR
BBC
We have been featured in publications such as:
Education Week
School Library Journal
USA Today
The Washington Post
Strategic Partnerships
Free Spirit Publishing collaborates with other like-minded companies to better serve the needs of our customers.
Learner's Edge
Learners Edge Inc. is an international leader in developing self-paced online and print-based professional development and continuing education courses for educators. Select Free Spirit titles may be used to earn graduate credits or CEUs for teachers and school personnel seeking relicensure, recertification, or salary advancement.
Read How You Want
Read How You Want publishes books in accessible formats for young people with learning difficulties or visual impairments. Select Free Spirit titles are available in these formats: Braille, DAISY, large type, word patterns for easier tracking, eBook, and audio.
The We Need Diverse Books Internship Grant Program awards supplemental grants to applicants from diverse backgrounds to help further their goals of pursuing a career in children’s and adult publishing. Free Spirit partners with We Need Diverse Books for our annual summer publishing internship.
Peaceful Schools
Peaceful Schools Productions is the artistic division of Peaceful Schools, providing opportunities to school and community groups looking to bring in fantastic and educational theatrical productions.
Certified Woman-Owned Business
Free Spirit Publishing is an imprint of Teacher Created Materials, which is WBENC-certified Women’s Business Enterprise. This certification enables us to help our business partners foster diversity and continue to develop their diversity programs.