Tag Archives: Children’s Books
Apple TV+ to adapt Where the Wild Things Are and other works for kids’ series and specials
The Copyrights Group lays plans for Paddington in Benelux with License Connection partnership
Brand development agency, The Copyrights Group has appointed License Connection as its Benelux licensing agent for Paddington Bear. The outfit will represent the popular IP across classic, baby, movie, and TV for a broad range of products in the region.
Written by Michael Bond and first in print in 1958 in the volume titled A Bear Called Paddington, Paddington has become a literary icon that has gone on to sell 35 million copies worldwide. The series has since been translated in to over 40 different languages.
The Paddington movies produced by Studiocanal, with Harry Potter’s David Heyman have become the most successful independent family movie franchise ever, with more than $500m at the box-office.
This year will see a brand-new Paddington TV series designed for a pre-school audience launch worldwide on Nickelodeon. The Adventures of Paddington features a young Paddington and reaches out to a whole new generation of fans.
Franca Bernatavicius, senior international licensing manager, The Copyrights Group, said: “We are very pleased to be working with License Connection on Paddington Bear in the Benelux. This is a very exciting time for Paddington, with the rich publishing heritage and the success of the films now paving the way for the upcoming TV series and a new generation of fans across the Benelux.”
Daphne Kellerman of License Connection, added: “We are delighted that The Copyrights Group has appointed License Connection as the Benelux Licensing Agent for Paddington. We see great potential for the brand in the territory because of its heritage and the new adventures that are about to come.
“It is a well-known brand already globally and we look forward to add partners to create new products, so kids and parents can go on their own journey with Paddington.”
Scholastic Entertainment to co-produce and develop Animorphs feature film with PictureStart
The popular ’90s book series, Animorphs has landed its first live-action motion picture deal, thanks to a new partnership between Scholastic Entertainment and PictureStart that will bring the 54 book series to a new generation of fans.
Written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, the Animorphs book series has sold more than 35 million copies in its lifetime. The new feature film venture will be jointly produced and developed by Scholastic Entertainment’s president and chief strategy officer, Iole Lucchese, and SVP and general manager Caitlin Friedman, and PictureStart’s founder and CEO, Erik Feig and EVP, production, Lucy Kitada.
Overseeing script development will be Scholastic Entertainment’s Friedman with PictureStart’s creative executive Royce Reeves Darby.
“The central themes of Animorphs have resonated strongly with kids for more than two decades, and the time is right for a feature film that takes this captivating sci-fi adventure to another level for audiences today,” said Lucchese. “PictureStart has an incredible track record of success, and Erik and his team are the perfect partners to help bring this exciting new series based on the adventure-packed books to movie screens.”
Feig added: “We couldn’t be more excited to work with Scholastic to adapt Animorphs, an iconic book series with a wildly unique combination of exciting, witty, outlandish and grounded elements that feel all too relevant for our times.
“We know these books have a deservedly deep bench of passionate fans – ourselves included – and we hope to make Katherine Applegate and her co-author, Michael Grant, proud as we bring Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias to life for a new generation.”
In addition to the film, Scholastic will launch a graphic novel adaptation of the Animorphs series via its Scholastic Graphix imprint on October 6.
Scholastic will also introduce a Retro Box Tin this fall, featuring the first six books in the Animorphs series, all in their original ‘90s covers. The titles in the collectable tin will include: The Invasion, The Visitor, The Encounter, The Message, The Predator, and The Capture.
Animorphs was a seminal read for millennials going through adolescence in the ‘90s, with many readers identifying with the intense and gritty themes of the sci-fi war stories. The main plot revolves around five teens – Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias – who can each morph into any animal they touch in order to fight a secret alien invasion. Each adventure deftly balances humour and fun with much heavier questions about mortality, war, and sacrifice.
Animorphs was published by Scholastic from 1996 to 2001 and then partly re-issued between 2011 and 2012 with lenticular versions of the memorable covers featuring the main characters gradually morphing into animals or insects.
HarperCollins to acquire Egmont Books UK for undisclosed sum
HarperCollins has detailed its intention to acquire Egmont Books UK for an undisclosed sum, alongside Egmont’s book businesses in Poland and Schneiderbuch Germany.
The transaction is set to complete on 30th April but will not include Egmont’s magazine publishing.
According to the Bookseller, on completion, Egmont Books UK will be run as a children’s division led by its current MD Cally Poplak. Poplak will join HarperCollins UK executive committee, and will report to CEO Charlie Redmayne.
The division “will maintain its publishing autonomy and will remain in its offices for the immediate future”, HarperCollins said.
It’s been reported that the deal will create what is likely to be the biggest UK children’s publisher in terms of market share. Last year HCCB and Egmont had sales of £58.6m through BookScan in the UK, while Penguin Random House Children’s (not including DK) had sales of £57.1m.
Among Egmont’s bestsellers are its Minecraft licensed titles, including its Construction Handbook with sales of 621,014 copies, as well as Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse which sold 569,623 copies.
In Germany, Schneiderbuch will integrate into the children’s books group reporting to Carina Mathern, editorial director of HarperCollins Germany Children’s, who reports to Juergen Welte, MD of HarperCollins Germany. Egmont Books Poland will report through Agnieszka Baranska, MD of HarperCollins Poland.
Redmayne said: “The acquisition of Egmont will give us a huge opportunity to combine their existing profile and expertise in the UK and in Europe with the licensing experience and capability we already have in Suzanne Murphy’s HarperCollins US children’s business.
“This will enable us to unlock the potential of licensed publishing across the broadest international reach. We look forward to welcoming Cally and her team, and of course Egmont UK’s exceptional list, which includes iconic names such as Winnie-the-Pooh, Thomas the Tank Engine, Tintin and Mr Men, to HarperCollins UK where alongside Ann-Janine Murtagh’s record-breaking Children’s division we will continue to build an unbeatable children’s publishing proposition.”
Rasmussen added: “We have taken a strategic decision to exit the children’s book business in UK, Poland and Schneiderbuch in Germany, and we are pleased to announce that HarperCollins will be the future owner of the business in these countries. I want to thank employees in all three countries that have done fantastic work over the years developing books and content at an international standard.”
Horace & Co celebrates World Autism Awareness Week with BookrKids digital library
It’s World Autism Awareness Week, and to champion the recognition and understanding of the condition among children across the UK, Horace & Co, the popular publishing property from Flossy and Jim, has just partnered with the BookrKids digital library.
Created by Lynette Dare, the co-founder of Flossy and Jim, when she began writing her own stories for her autistic son, Horace & Co uses its stories to encourage children to try new foods, meet new friends and prepare to visit new places.
The books aim to help all children relate to everyday scenarios and understand how the world works, as they discover that everyone has qualities that are different.
The BookrKids App is an easy to use library application for children aged two to ten years old and features a vast library of interactive, educational stories. The library has been curated by a panel of children’s literature experts and each is enriched with animation, narration, and text highlighting.
BookrKids also features a number of games related to particular stories, as well as sound effects and music.
“It’s proven that using the application helps children improve reading skills and develop a good relationship with stories and quality literature, while thanks to the special features, the traditional books are presented to them in a form that they can easily find attractive,” read a statement from the firm.
Asterix comic book artist Albert Uderzo dies aged 92
The French comic book artist and scriptwriter, Albert Uderzo, known for his work on the popular Asterix title, has died at the age of 92, his family told the French news agency AFP this week.
The news outlet quoted Uderzo’s son-in-law, saying: “He died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly from a heart attack unrelated to the coronavirus. He had been very tired for several weeks.”
The artist, the son of Italian immigrants living in France had retired from drawing in late 2011. He will be fondly remembered for his work on Asterix, the comic book hero that has amassed a cult following across Europe and has become a major film franchise, both in animation and live action.
The Asterix property has spawned a number of cinematic adaptations, most notably 1999’s Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar, starring Gerard Depardieu and Roberto Benigni.
Asterix debuted in October 1959 in the French magazine PIlote, created by René Goscinny and Uderzo. Two years later, the first stand-alone effort, Astérix the Gaul, was released. Since then, the series has gone on to sell more than 380 million copies, translated into more than 100 languages internationally.
The duo collaborated on the comic until the death of Goscinny in 1977. Uderzo then took over the writing until 2009.
The comic book series centres around the titular Asterix, the bravest warrior in a small town in the middle of Roman-occupied Gaul in the year 50 B.C. With the help of a magic potion that gives him super-strength (and his best friend Obelix, who fell into a cauldron of the potion as a child), he spends each instalment fighting and defeating the Roman army and keeping his village safe from harm.
Last year, Astérix celebrated its 60th anniversary with US independent publisher Papercutz taking on the American licensed for the property this year. It does so with an ambitious publishing plan in place to bring Asterix to the US audience.
The Papercutz run will feature all-new English language translations, with a publishing schedule that features both a series of collected editions of historical material and hardcover editions of contemporary releases moving forward.
Since Uderzo’s retirement, the work on Astérix has been handled by writer Jean-Yves Ferri and artist Didier Conrad under a deal that allows Lagardere-owned publisher Hachette to continue producing the series. The most recent book, Astérix and the Chieftain’s Daughter, was released in October.
Acamar Films and HarperCollins celebrate strong start for Bing following World Book Day success
Acamar Films’ award-winning pre-school property Bing and its global publishing partner, HarperCollins Children’s Books, are celebrating a strong start to the year, thanks to the success of this year’s World Book Day.
The popular published title, Bing’s Splashy Story has now reached number three in the overall children’s book charts and is also the third bestselling World Book Day 2020 title. Bing was the only licensed character to have a title for World Book Day this year.
Following the popularity of its pre-school publishing range, Bing’s Splashy Story was created specifically for World Book Day to encourage parents and little ones to Share a Million Stories as reading together leads to long term benefits for early years literacy.
More than 15 million £1 National Book Tokens featuring Bing as a selected title were distributed in the UK and Ireland ahead of celebrations on March 5th this year.
Bing’s Splashy Story is currently available in leading retailers including Waterstones, WHSmith, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Amazon. The audiobook, narrated by British actress Anne-Marie Duff, is available through Audible, Google Audiobooks and Kobo.
Promotional activity included Bing meet and greets at Waterstones in Bluewater shopping centre and on Kensington High Street, along with special in-store live readings of Bing’s Splashy Story by CBeebies presenter Cat Sandion to a delighted crowd of Bingsters.
“Bing’s World Book Day success is a matter of great pride for us,” said Etta Saunders Bingham, senior publishing manager, at Acamar Films. “Reading to children is such a wonderful, shared experience and HarperCollins’ innovative list of Bing titles offers opportunities galore to engage with our preschool audience in a meaningful way.”
Juliet Matthews, publisher, media and brands, HarperCollins Children’s Books, added: “Bing’s Splashy Story is the perfect book for World Book Day as it highlights the joy of sharing stories for pre-schoolers in a delightfully entertaining story where Bing wants to read his favourite story in the bath.”
HarperCollins Children’s Books are the exclusive global publishing partner for Bing. They also recently released Bing My Reward Chart Book which rewards little ones with Bing stickers for completing everyday tasks such as tidying up, sharing, brushing their teeth and toilet training.
World Book Day: The Entertainer launches Big Book Rehoming with The Salvation Army
The high street toy retailer, The Entertainer is encouraging kids and families to read together this World Book Day with the launch of its Big Book Rehoming initiative, its charity drive that will aim to support the one in 11 children from disadvantaged homes in the UK who don’t own a book.
The appeal has been launched in partnership with the retailer’s long-time charity partner, The Salvation Army and will run across all of The Entertainer’s 172 stores from today (Thursday, March 5th), aligning with World Book Day.
The Entertainer is calling on families to donate their unwanted children’s books, so they can be rehomed with underprivileged families. The National Literacy Trust found children from underprivileged homes who don’t own a book are six times less likely to read at their expected level.
The Big Book Rehoming aims to encourage all families to read more, after research commissioned by The Entertainer found that of the 807 families surveyed across Britain, one in five (20 per cent) spend less than an hour a week reading with their children and one in 12 (eight per cent) devote less than half an hour to the cause.
In contrast, a third of families (30 per cent), spend over two hours a week watching YouTube videos together with one in seven households quizzed spending more than four hours watching YouTube together each week.
When asked to rank the importance of doing activities together as a family, making social media content together such as creating social posts, Tik Tok and YouTube videos also ranked higher than reading.
On a scale of one to 10 with 10 being the most, 14 per cent of families said making YouTube content was the most important thing to do together and eight per cent of families said reading was the least important.
When it came to getting out and about as a family, out of school clubs and trips to the cinema were regular activities on the family calendar with nearly a third of families going to the cinema every month and out of school classes being visited every two to three days for a quarter of families. In contrast, a quarter of families (22 per cent) never visited a library.
Gary Grant, founder and executive chairman of The Entertainer, said: “We are extremely pleased to launch The Big Book Rehoming in partnership with The Salvation Army. Reading is such an important part of childhood learning and development.
“Knowledge and education are fundamental building blocks for life and missing out on having books to read can take away the freedom and imagination reading can inspire. We’re proud to be helping to rehome books with children who need them whilst continuing to support the work of The Salvation Army.”
Kirk Bradley, head of corporate partnerships of The Salvation Army Trading Company, added: “After the success of The Big Toy Rehoming campaign we are delighted to partner with The Entertainer for The Big Book Rehoming.
“Donations from members of the public help The Salvation Army in continuing to provide practical and emotional support to vulnerable people in the UK. This is another vital campaign which benefits those who need it most and we are overjoyed to be taking part.”
The donated books will help to support The Salvation Army and its services, providing assistance to vulnerable people which can include their parent and toddler groups and disadvantaged families.
The Big Book Rehoming will run from March 5th to March 14th in all 172 of The Entertainer’s stores nationwide.
For more information about The Entertainer, please visit www.thetoyshop.com.
Egmont has launched a petition to bring storytime into the national curriculum
Egmont has called for daily storytime to be made a statutory part of the school curriculum for key stages one and two, following a study that has revealed that children’s comprehension of reading suffers without it.
The petition has been put forward by Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham in an Early Day Motion on February 24th. The petition was founded on the basis of study findings that by removing regular storytime among school children, reduces their progress by half the expected rate.
The move from Egmont was announced at its annual Insights day held in London this week, where the UK publishing house went on to expand on results from its recent study held at St Joseph’s Catholic Academy, a primary school in Goldenhill, Stoke on Trent.
It discovered that regular reading and listening to stories for pleasure improves reading comprehension in children by double the expected rate.
The UK government has previously stated that ‘nothing is more important in education than ensuring every child can read well’, and that the ‘best way to achieve this is to instil a passion for reading for pleasure.’ However, to date, storytime has not been made part of the statutory curriculum.
Egmont has found that 40 per cent of six to 11 year olds currently read for pleasure almost every day, while only 25 per cent of the same age group are read to at home.
Over the study’s five month period, it found that reading comprehension increased by an average of 10.2 months, double the normal expectation in the same time frame at schools outside of the study. It found that particular progress was made by year three, where children’s comprehension increased by an average of 16 months.
Children were motivated and inspired to read independently, for pleasure, more often and to try out different authors and widen their repertoire. As a result, Egmont saw a greater level of excitement around books, magazines, and reading, while storytime was found to give both students and teachers time to relax and a better sense of wellbeing.
Reading comprehension progress was re-examined five months after the project ended. Comprehension had slowed significantly, with progress dropping to 2.6 months on average over a five month period.
Alison David, Consumer Insight Director, Egmont Publishing and author of Help Your Child Love Reading, said: “Regular storytime is powerful. Include it in the school day and reading comprehension increases rapidly. Take it away and progress in reading comprehension decreases.”
Egmont Publishing is now calling for the government to free up the curriculum, to make space and time for daily storytime and ring-fence it by making it statutory in the primary school curriculum. Egmont is asking supporters to sign their petition, write to their MP and join the online conversation and tweet using #statutorystorytime.
David continued: “We would not dream of allowing children to go through the school day with no lunch break – it should be the same for storytime. It might seem counter-intuitive, but the data from this study is clear: by uncoupling reading from lessons, by having storytime instead of teaching literacy, reading attainment naturally improves.”
Cally Poplak, managing director, Egmont publishing, added: “The funding challenges facing the education system are well documented, as are the challenges with children’s reading. Storytime is such an easy, low cost solution to these challenges, with immensely powerful results. It’s hard to see why it would not be made statutory.”
Michael Morpurgo, the bestselling children’s author has also thrown his own weight behind the project.
He said: “It is vital that children, young people and all of us have access to stories which give us the knowledge, empathy and understanding we need to negotiate life. But just as importantly, we need to give children and their teachers and parents time to read.”
