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Bloomsbury Inks Deal With Zoological Society of London

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Bright Group International (BGI) and the Zoological Society of London’s London Zoo announced details of their joint publishing program today. The deal sees BGI’s Bloomsbury heading publishing for content related to the society’s cornerstones of conservation and education.

ZSL London Zoo’s history spans from the 19th century, with Bloomsbury planning to take full advantage of the organization’s brand power and familiarity. Planning to trasition the stories the zoo already tells its visitors into children’s books, Bloomsbury recently introduced Hallmark UK’s Country Companions franchise into the publishing realm.

Tags: Bloomsburry, Bright Group International, Country Companions, Hallmark, London Zoo, Zoological Society London
Posted in Brand Licensing, Kids Properties, Publishing | No Comments »

Chorion Celebrates Spot’s 30th Anniversary

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Chorion has announced a range of activities for preschool character Spot as he celebrates his 30^th anniversary year.

In the U.S., BBC America released Where’s Spot? on DVD in April, and will release Spot Goes to School in August and Spot’s Magical Christmas in October. New licensing deals have been inked with Andover Fabric, Starry Story Art, Meri Meri, and the Zoobies. The Spot Zoobie will be featured on QVC for Christmas in July. Master toy licensee Kids Preferred is expanding its Spot product line to include puzzles, backpacks, bath toys, and wooden toys for next year.

In the UK, Abbey Home Media launched a special edition 30^th anniversary DVD in March. The Spot TV series began broadcasting on CITV in April, with further episodes scheduled to air this month. Storytelling and in-store events supported the Spot exhibition at Selfridges in London over the May bank holiday weekend. The touring Spot art exhibition will be featured at the Chelsea Library in London, Foyles book store, and regional museums throughout the rest of this year. An exclusive birthday party is planned for August 5^th in London for parents and children. Master toy licensee Rainbow Designs will introduce an expanded range of products including puzzles and wooden toys for next year.

Additional book titles for Spot from Warne include a 30th anniversary special edition of Where’s Spot?, plus Spot’s Birthday Balloon, and Spot’s Little Library. New publishing formats, touch and feel books, book and plush sets, and an 18-button sound book are planned for the holiday season.

In Australia, Spot appeared in several high-profile events in March and April including Gardening Australia Expo in Adelaide and Brisbane, with further appearances scheduled for the same Expo in Sydney from August 22-24 and Melbourne from October 1-3. The events will include costume appearances, craft activities, and retail opportunities.

Spot plush, through Australian Master toy licensee Jasnor Pty., launched in Japan this year, and new licensing partner Skillman will be creating personalized product. Spot public reading events and retail fairs were held from March through May at Kinokuniya bookstore outlets throughout Japan to celebrate Spot’s 30^th anniversary. Further events are planned for the rest of this year.

Spot first appeared in Eric Hill’s original lift-the-flap book Where’s Spot? in 1980. To date, Spot has sold more than 50 million books and has a global licensing program that includes toys, apparel, gifts and DVD. The official Spot website features activities for parents and children, competitions, games, and information about the brand and author.

Tags: Abbey Home Media, Andover Fabric, BBC America, Chorion, Eric Hill, Jansor Pty., Kids Preferred, Meri Meri, Rainbow Designs, Spot, Starry Story Art, Warne, Zoobies
Posted in Anniversary, International, Kids Properties, New Deals, Promotions, Publishing | No Comments »

Scholastic and HandsOn Team to Make a BIG Difference

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Scholastic Media and volunteer organization HandsOn Network are working together in celebration of National Volunteer Week to inspire youth engagement in service through the BE BIG campaign. Children and families can visit the Scholastic or HandsOn websites to find opportunities to get involved with on the local level by volunteering at one of the many HandsOn Network projects across the country. In addition to the Greater DC Cares’ “Servathon” in Washington DC, large-scale service opportunities will take place in Minneapolis, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Toledo.

Kids, parents, teachers, and community leaders are also invited to take action during National Volunteer Week and enter their BIG ideas in the second annual Be Big In Your Community contest. It invites people to submit a BIG idea that demonstrates Clifford’s BIG Ideas (Share, Play Fair, Have Respect, Work Together, Be Responsible, Be A Good Friend, Help Others, Be Truthful, Be Kind, and Believe In Yourself) for a chance to win $75,000 in community grants.

Clifford’s Big Ideas came out of the curriculum developed for the animated television series, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary on PBS KIDS this year. Newly repackaged Clifford classic stories by Clifford creator Norman Bridwell will be released in May from Scholastic.

Tags: Clifford, HandsOn, National Volunteer Week, Scolastic
Posted in Around the Industry, Character Licensing, Kids Properties, Promotions, Publishing | No Comments »

Discovery Communications Partners with Bonnier for Animal Planet Books

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Discovery Communications announced today that it has entered into a global licensing agreement with Bonnier Publishing. Through the deal, Bonnier will develop an extensive line of Animal Planet-branded books, which will launch at retail in spring 2011.

Capturing the theme of Animal Planet, the new book program will include a wide variety of books appealing to children from 3-13 including novelty, reference, and activity book formats featuring both domestic and wild animals.

Three different companies within the Bonnier Publishing group will create the book products simultaneously on two continents: Templar Publishing (UK), Weldon Owen (Australia), and Five Mile Press (Australia).
In the U.S., the deal was brokered on behalf of Animal Planet by its licensing agent, the Joester Loria Group (JLG).

Tags: Animal Planet, Bonnier Publishing, Discovery Communications, Five Mile Press, Templar Publishing, Weldon Owen
Posted in Brand Licensing, New Deals, Publishing | No Comments »

Angelina Ballerina Dances To Fisher-Price

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

HIT Entertainment has selected Fisher-Price, Inc. as the global master toy licensee for Angelina Ballerina, it was announced today.

The toy line will be based on the all-new CG animated series, Angelina Ballerina The Next Steps that sees the aspiring prima ballerina at a school for the performing arts where she is exposed to diverse styles of music and dance. The series, which launched in September 2009, currently airs in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and France, and is slated to launch in 30 more countries in 2010.

Fisher-Price, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc., plans to develop, manufacture and market a variety of toys, dolls and role play items for girls 4 to 7 years old for figures and dolls; playsets, dollhouses, and vehicles; plush toys; and preschool toys including electronic learning and developmental toys.

The line will be produced under the Mattel brand name, with the first items scheduled to launch in the US in fall 2010 exclusively at Target and Target.com. Fisher-Price will debut its Angelina Ballerina line at mass retailers in the rest of the world starting in 2011.

Tags: Angelina Ballerina, fisher-price, HIT Entertainment, mattel, target
Posted in Publishing, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Scholastic Launches Summer Reading Challenge

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Scholastic, together with Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and the National Summer Learning Association, is challenging kids to Read for the World Record, to help keep kids reading and learning all summer long.

Launching on April 30, the Scholastic Summer Challenge is a global summer reading program with a robust online community for kids—plus expert advice, engaging activities on Facebook, and summer book lists for parents, and resources for librarians and educators—all for free. The Scholastic Summer Challenge kicks off with a live webcast with bestselling authors Christopher Paul Curtis, Gordon Korman, R.L. Stine, and Lisa Yee as they go head-to-head in a book trivia game show on April 30 at 1 p.m. EST. Kids everywhere will test their book knowledge against these bestselling authors.

In conjunction with the Summer Challenge, Governors’ Spouses from across the nation are signing up to serve as “Reading Ambassadors” to help spread the important message about reading books over the summer in their respective states. This is the second year the Spouses are supporting this cause. Scholastic will donate 500 books to a school selected by each First Spouse, to ensure that children have books to take home to read over the summer vacation.

Tags: National Summer Learning Association, Reading is Fundamental, Scholastic
Posted in Around the Industry, Promotions, Publishing | No Comments »

Two New Kids’ Books from Simon & Schuster

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Earlier this week Simon & Schuster announced the publication of two new children’s publishing properties.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers announced Wednesday that in April 2011, it will publish The Last Chemical Garden, the first teen novel in a trilogy written by twenty-five-year old, first time author Lauren DeStefano. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Senior Editor Alexandra Cooper negotiated the six-figure deal with agent Barbara Poelle from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, which includes first serial domestic and merchandising rights. International rights have already been sold in Taiwan, France, and to S&S UK in the United Kingdom.

Also on Wednesday, it was announced that Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, will publish the last Olivia title from Ian Falconer, Olivia Goes to Venice. Simon & Schuster holds audio as well as translation rights for all languages, and the book is currently slated to be released in Fall 2010 with a 500,000 first printing.

Tags: atheneum, ian falconer, lauren destefano, olivia, simon & schuster, the last chemical garden
Posted in Publishing | No Comments »

The Earth Book is Now on iPhone

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, following the recent publication of The Earth Book by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette Digital today announced the release of The Earth Book as a digital picture book that introduces the concept of “going green” to children. The Earth Book app features illustrations from the original picture book plus additional features.

The complete audiobook, read by Todd Parr, comes synced with the text and illustrations so children can listen as they read along. Readers can easily move along the story themselves by tapping on arrows, while Pinch & Zoom capabilities allow children to explore their favorite illustrations close up. And even beginning readers can jump easily from one part of the book to another by viewing the table of contents as a collection of visual representations of the story.

An intuitive recording interface makes personalizing the audio easy, so that kids, parents, or grandparents can record their own audiobook.

The Earth Book app is now available in the iTunes app store, where it joins more than 20 of Todd Parr’s bestselling children’s books as iPhone apps. Each book is sold as a separate app via ScrollMotion’s Iceberg Kids, and features the same interactive navigation system, which enables kids to read along with the audio narration by Todd Parr or even record their own voices.

Experience the digital world of Todd Parr online.

Tags: iPhone, ScrollMotion's Iceberg Kids, The Earth Book, Todd Parr
Posted in Kids Properties, Mobile Licensing, New Deals, Publishing | 1 Comment »

Discovery Communications Teams with Scholastic

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Discovery Communications continues to expand its publishing program through a North American-based publishing deal with Scholastic to launch two new children’s books, MythBusters Science Fair Book and Dogs 101, based on the series on Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, respectively. Does a clothed snowman melt faster than an unclothed snowman? Can cola shine a penny? In the MythBusters Science Fair Book, children can help bust or confirm myths much like the hosts of the Discovery Channel series. The 128-page, full-color book for children ages 10-14 will be available in spring 2011.

Dogs 101 will highlight different dog breeds and feature fun facts on each breed, including size and personality. The 64-page, full-color book features more than 150 images and will be available this summer for children ages 6-12 years.

This relationship with Scholastic follows on the heels of several other Discovery Communications publishing deals. Discovery previously partnered with Meredith Corporation to create a children’s book titled Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe: Get the Real Dirt Behind the World’s Dirtiest Jobs, which was released in January. Discovery Communications also recently penned a deal with Bendon Publishing International for a line of children’s color and activity books.

The deal was brokered on behalf of Discovery and Animal Planet by its licensing agent, the Joester Loria Group (JLG).

Tags: Discovery Communications, Mythbusters, Scholastic
Posted in New Deals, Publishing | No Comments »

2010 Pinkalicious Products and Licensees Announced

Friday, March 12th, 2010

The Joester Loria Group, exclusive licensing agency for Pinkalicious, will make 2010 a milestone year for the Pinkalicious brand with the expansion of the consumer products program and the launch of a whole new collection of Pinkalicious merchandise across multiple product categories.
Ceaco’s product line will include puzzles of all shapes and sizes, for ages 3 and up, including a 24-piece puzzle with glitter, a 24- or 36-piece puzzle with figurine, a 100-piece puzzle, a 24-piece floor puzzle, and a 36-piece puzzle and memory game.
JAKKS Pacific will debut a line of dolls, toys, and activity items inspired by the Pinkalicious book series.
Available at Walmart in fall 2010, the small doll assortment includes three cuddly dolls styled to portray key moments from each of the books in the series. The large doll portrays Pinkalicious in her fairy princess wings and crown; Pinkalicious‘s friend Goldie is brought to life with the Goldilicious plush unicorn; and Pinkalicious fans can be creative with the Pinkalicious Activity Easel, which includes pink paper, pink markers, pink glitter glue, and stickers.
From CDI, Part of the JAKKS group, roleplay items included dresses, tiaras, purses, gloves, and shoes will also be available.
Disguise will launch the Deluxe Pinkalicious Halloween costume, complete with pink dress, wand, and tiara.
Fundex will be launching games, including Pinkalicious Interactive card and board games, plus co-branded games such as Pinkalicious UNO and Pinkalicious Scrabble Jr.
Finally, Madame Alexander Pinkalicious dolls will be available at department and specialty retailers including FAO Schwarz, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Barnes & Noble.