STORY BY MAUREEN TRAXLER
PHOTO BY CHRISTINE CONNIFF SHEAHAN

Eight years ago entrepreneur Diane F. Kessenich, founder and CEO of Winslow House International (WHI), formerly Winslow Press, realized her vision. It hit at the very core of a critical need for children in today’s society - to connect the magic of a book with the wonder of the World Wide Web through her Web site www.ReadandClick.com. Her patented method - which applies to any book, any age - not only awakens the imaginations of young readers, but resolves the publishing problem of connecting books to the Internet. Recognizing that the education process starts when the child reads a book, Kessenich’s Web site enables one to expand on that experience by clicking onto interactive www.readandclick.com. There, the child can explore further the theme of the book just read through activities, games and links worldwide.

Read&Click.com creates a historic partnership Ð the printed word and the Internet - not only for the consumer - but for the educational marketplace as well. ”Read&Click.com creates an historic partnership - the printed word and the Internet. . .” Each of its titles is not only published with its own Web site at Read&Click.com, but also with a Teacher’s Guide that was developed according to New York State’s Language Arts Standards.

Kessenich is developing these guides into a full blown interactive curriculum for use by the classroom teacher or the home schooler.

On the Web site there is an online community comprised of child, parent, teacher and librarian that builds a meaningful interaction among them. This community of readers and thinkers, appeals not only to children or the readers of the books the site explores, but also to parents by providing synopses of the books, to teachers by offering classroom specific content, and to librarians for easy access for book reviews, signings and more. A Keen Interest in Education

A graduate of Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Kessenich recently told Networking magazine that she’s a “champion of interdisciplinary studies,” having earned a degree in speech and drama with a special concentration in television production, and a minor in art. Following college, she worked as a network television producer, both live and tape, for J. Walter Thompson in New York, when videotape production was as new and exciting to society as the Internet is today. It was during her years there that she became concerned about how emerging technology would infiltrate people’s lives and began to realize the need for society to preserve the creative thought process in individuals.
Before her divorce after 27 years of marriage, Kessenich juggled career demands as the wife of a key executive in the investment banking industry, while raising their three children. She remained clearly dedicated to education as seen from her history of work in these areas.

Kessenich currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Marywood University, her alma mater, and the advisory board of Partners in Reading of The Loose Leaf Foundation, which recently received the Best Culture & Arts Award at the International Public Radio Programming Award Ceremony in New York for their weekly radio show on children’s literature. She was awarded the first chairman Emeritus status from The Forman School’s Board of Trustees in Litchfield, Connecticut, and also completed the Management Institute for Independent School Leaders at Harvard University Graduate School of Education and the National Association of Independent Schools. She was recently presented the prestigious John N. Forman Award in New York which recognizes an outstanding individual whose life has made a significant contribution in business and civic affairs.

Prior to founding WHI and its Read&Click division, she started and ran an agency that represented authors and illustrators. An artist herself, Diane has shown her botanical watercolors locally. The Brave New Publishing Idea

Eventually, Winslow moved from their original home in Delray, Florida, to offices on East 23rd Street in Manhattan, where Kessenich assembled a first class team of professionals from the design, editorial, marketing, educational and technology worlds. Her publishing philosophy is that “All involved in the production of a title be present and contribute to the decision to publish that work. Each book should be treated individually Ð no cookie-cutter style - and a Web site to reflect that.”

Kessenich’s resolve, from the beginning, was to make the finest quality children’s books with features that readers could touch, study and explore. The books boast things like padded covers, foil-stamped paper, fluorescent colors, laminates, odd dimensions and even linen bindings. Industry Recognition

From the first, Kessenich was successful in having her books reviewed by the most influential reviewers in children’s publishing, and the books won rave reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal, Booklist and The Horn Book Guide. Several were award-winners. Eventually, Winslow would publish a 41-book list, ranging from picture books to chapter books and young adult novels. Each of the young adult novels would be named “Best Book of the Year” by the American Library Association. They were distributed nationally to the big chains and independent book sellers, becoming their distributor’s No. 1 children’s book publisher.

As Publishers Weekly wrote in an article Ð “The Next, Next Big Thing? Ð Some publishers and librarians are already looking well beyond what we know today as e-books, believing that some future technology will be the one to win substantial following Winslow Press is considered a leader in integrating p-books (print books) and computer technology”

As Kessenich’s Web site developed, unique things happened. For example, in “The Dear Mr. President’s Series” and “The Hourglass Adventures Series,” the young reader (8-12) experienced for the first time interactive footnotes with their Web component at www.readandclick.com. The Read&Click Web site is also designed to be a safer surfing experience for children, and even though they glide through the Internet to places around the world, they can easily click the home button and return to Read&Click’s home page. Each book contains the URL that will take children into a world of discovery and challenge. Dark Days and a Glimmer of Hope

But as in most fairy tales and fables, the entrepreneur, like the hero or heroine, faces the struggle of getting through some dark times. After the tragedy of 9/11, all deals that were on the table were frozen including private investment funds and serious corporate and industry interests. Kessenich filed for and was granted Chapter 11 status to reorganize and protect the company assets.

So, Kessenich cut her staff of nearly 30 down to a part-time controller and moved to smaller quarters in New York. As a savvy businesswoman overseeing all aspects of the business, she has taken her inventory back from an uncooperative distributor and is now the sole distributor, except for Schooltime, Inc., which distributes all of her books that are NYC Board of Education approved to the NYC school market. Kessenich’s Entrepreneurship Story

Before Winslow House International went into Chapter 11, the Read&Click site was receiving a million hits a month. Today, 2-1/2 years later and without advertising, marketing or an active publishing house, the site averages half-a-million hits per month. Kessenich says that her backlist is still generating big orders. “The Web site has kept us alive, proving that a good book published with its own Web enhancement can generate an extended life of that title. We are keeping a backlist alive Ð a first in publishing.”

And, Kessenich is keeping her dream alive. This past summer, she was invited to present her curriculum to the dean of the college of education, the chair of instructional curriculum and the head of the technology department at Marywood University.

There, the ongoing development of her interactive curriculum on all levels designed for the classroom teacher was validated. For the teacher it is easy to implement and needs no personal resource money or long outside hours to prepare. She is negotiating with the education boards and organizations of major cities to use her interactive curriculum for classroom teachers or as an enrichment program in literacy and technology. She was asked by SCOPE to exhibit Read&Click for Long Island Literacy Day at Family Reading Fun Fest this past October.

In describing her ability to inspire young minds through Read&Click.com, Kessenich says, “We’re getting kids to look at fruits and vegetables and think it’s ice cream and cake.” Her vision connects the magic of a book with the wonder of the Web to place, not replace, the book in the 21st century.