Scholastic is poised to make a splash in the preschool market, with the introduction this month of the first 12 board books in its Little Scholastic publishing program. Geared to youngsters in the 0-3 age span, the books feature a range of interactive components to engage children, high color contrast to develop concentration and focus, rhyming and repetitive text to promote language and listening skills and familiar objects to reinforce basic concepts. And the publisher is touting Little Scholastic's ability to "grow" with kids as they grow: printed on the back of each book are specific suggestions for using the volume with babies, with 1- to 2-year-olds and with 2- to 3-year-olds.

The move into this market was a logical one for the company, notes Cecily Kaiser, executive editor of Cartwheel and licensed publishing, who spearheaded the creation of the Little Scholastic program. "Over the years, Scholastic has conducted so much research, in-house and out, on early childhood development," she explains. "There is so much knowledge within these walls, yet we realized that we weren't translating it into a retail product. So we took a great deal of that research and channeled it into a developmental book program with the idea that we could reach out to parents and specify exactly how these books are appropriate for youngest readers at various ages."

Though Little Scholastic is hardly the first solid preschool program in the market—Kaiser cites DK's offerings for youngest readers and the Baby Einstein books as potential competition—its research-based leveling and parental guidance are distinctive features that the editor believes sets it apart. Suggestions for using the books include having babies touch a book's different textures and point to the images; urging 1 to 2-year-olds to look at both the pictures and text and to listen to and repeat the words; and encouraging 2 to 3-year-olds to grasp the concepts and connect the meaning of words and images.



On the imprint's inaugural list are Five Shiny Stars and Five Little Ducks, which feature foil art, die-cut pages and sound chips; The Tiny Tadpole and The Noisy Egg and Shapes and Colors, all with touch-and-feel textures; and the larger-format Peek-a-Zoo, introducing a menagerie with the help of textures, mirrors, die-cuts, glitter, flaps and flocking. Rounding out the list are five popular backlist books (previously published in Scholastic's Hand Puppet Books and My First Jumbo Books lines), which have been re-branded so as to incorporate Little Scholastic's design features and signature vividly hued striped spine. Six new titles will arrive in the fall and Kaiser estimates that the future annual output for the imprint will be nine to 12 titles.

As with the new imprint's editorial thrust, the publisher has parental outreach in focus in its marketing initiative for Little Scholastic. A [dedicated Web site]www.littlescholastic.com is up and running, offering parents a spectrum of resources, including articles on parenting, learning and literacy; videos; downloadable activities; parent message boards; blogs with childhood experts; and a sign-up for a free monthly e-newsletter. The publisher is running ongoing ads on Babycenter.com, one of the most heavily trafficked on-line references for young parents, receiving four million unique visitors monthly. Little Scholastic's advertisements on that site provide a link to the imprint's own Web site.

Ads will also run in parenting magazines, reports Julie Amitie, Scholastic's director of retail marketing and brand management, who as the mother of a one-year-old son was the ideal person to mastermind Little Scholastic's marketing campaign. Her musings on where she spends a good bit of time—the pediatrician's office came immediately to mind—sparked a significant component of the campaign. The company ran a special 20,000-copy printing (without bar code or price) of one of the first Little Scholastic titles to distribute to pediatricians across the country. "Pediatricians' offices usually have plenty of magazines on hand," Amitie observes, "but babies and magazines don't always go together."

Also helping to promote the new line is another giveaway, Little Scholastic How to Read with Your Baby and Toddler Guide, 100,000 copes of which will be distributed at conferences and to pediatricians' offices, day care centers and retail outlets. A significant number of retailers have ordered a Little Scholastic floor display, including Michelle Charles, manager of Oblong Jr., the children's department of Oblong Books and Music in Millerton, N.Y. Noting that the Little Scholastic books are doing very well in her store, she cites the interactive nature of the books, the bright colors and arresting images and the suggestions for parents on the back cover as strong selling points.

"These books provide lots of opportunity for babies to play and learn on a number of levels," this bookseller observes. "As a company, Scholastic definitely has its finger on the pulse of the kids' market and with this program they are right on the money."

Just how right on? Less than a month after the first Little Scholastic books shipped in mid-June, there are more than 600,000 copies of the seven titles in print, and all but one has returned to press at least once.