Random House Children’s Books has signed a deal with Chorion, which represents The World of Eric Carle for licensing, for a line of coloring and activity books for North American distribution. The titles will feature line art versions of illustrations from the author’s classic picture books.
Why did the license appeal to the publisher? “The short answer is, because it’s Eric Carle,” says Dennis Shealy, editorial director, Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group. “For 40 years, children have been growing up with his books. That kind of recognition factor is gold.”
The brand also lends itself well to the coloring and activity format. “The art is very big and very bold, with a bold palette of primary colors,” Shealy notes. “Of course, we’re removing said color palette, but it’s very recognizable just with the line art. Children know the books and they’ll having fun coloring in their own Brown Bear.” Shealy adds that, from an operational standpoint, Chorion’s familiarity with publishing—it represents many literary properties—makes it an easy licensor with which to collaborate. “They understand my needs,” he says.
Random House’s first three titles, Color My World, The Very Busy Doodle Book, and The World of Eric Carle Big Coloring Book, will be released in summer 2011. There will probably be one title released per season thereafter, with a focus on higher-end coloring and activity formats that appeal to trade and specialty stores rather than solely to mass channels.
The design-driven licensing program under The World of Eric Carle brand includes toys, games, giftware and other products based on Carle’s 70-plus books, which have sold more than 103 million copies worldwide.
