Ijapa Books is a trading name of Mary Joel Limited. Our goal is to produce good quality, informative, and accessible books for children and young people with an emphasis on minority ethnic history, culture, characters, and themes, using illustrators and graphic designers from similar backgrounds.

Did you know that out of 5383 eligible children’s books published in the UK in 2021, despite the year-on-year increase since 2017, only 20% featured a minority ethnic character even though 33.9% of children originate from a minority ethnic background?

We believe this issue is not isolated to the UK, and our vision is for all children to see themselves reflected in books because this has a powerful impact on their motivation, inspiration, attainment, and achievement. We also believe that it is important for children to have access to books written and illustrated by people from similar backgrounds. This is crucial to help all children understand and embrace who they are, and to appreciate their own and each other’s cultural heritage so that they can grow into confident, positive, culturally-minded members of society!