Luce Publications is a children’s literature imprint of the James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation, under the umbrella of Luce Family Charities, dedicated to producing values-driven books that emphasize empathy, inclusion, emotional literacy, and global citizenship. The imprint consolidates more than twenty titles originally published through The Stewardship Report, with expanded paperback distribution beginning in 2025.
Luce Publications was established to address gaps in children’s literature related to disability, cultural difference, fear, and belonging without relying on overt moral instruction. Instead, its editorial philosophy centers on repetition, familiarity, and narrative consistency as mechanisms for shaping early values.
The catalog spans multiple thematic series, including global travel stories, social-emotional learning narratives, and books addressing disability and family circumstance. Rather than presenting difference as exceptional, the books normalize diversity as an ordinary feature of daily life.
Flagship series include the “And It’s Okay” books by Dr. William M. Bauer and the Clover, the Magic Flying Dog travel stories by Jim Luce. Together, these works address topics ranging from autism, hearing loss, and foster care to bullying, migration, and global geography.
A defining feature of Luce Publications is its unified visual identity. Illustrations are rendered in soft watercolor realism with gentle linework, avoiding identifiable likenesses in favor of composite characters. Each book includes a small red heart near the page number, serving as a visual signature across the imprint.
Many titles also include a subtle shih tzu illustration as a recurring motif, reinforcing continuity and offering attentive readers a familiar visual anchor.
The imprint is widely used in educational and nonprofit settings. Teachers and counselors report that the books function as effective conversation starters, enabling children to ask questions about difference, fear, and kindness in a non-threatening context. Libraries and literacy organizations value the series format for its curricular continuity.
From a philanthropic perspective, Luce Publications supports scalable literacy initiatives, translation projects, and donor-sponsored book distributions, particularly in underserved communities.
Luce Publications aligns closely with the stewardship philosophy of its parent foundation, framing childhood as a formative period for cultivating global awareness and moral imagination. The imprint’s long-term objective is to build a coherent, humane body of work rather than isolated bestsellers.