The Minnesota Historical Society Press/Borealis Books is expanding both its children’s publishing and its app development this fall with the release of Big Little Brother by humorist Kevin Kling, illustrated by cartoonist Chris Monroe. This will be the third children’s title published by the press, and it marks just the second time MHSP has developed an iPad app for one of its releases. The app will be released simultaneously with the print edition of Big Little Brother on November 1; the book’s initial print run will be 7,000 copies.
While Monroe is the author-illustrator of the popular Monkey with a Tool Belt series of picture books published by Carolrhoda, Kling makes his children’s debut with Big Little Brother, a tale of sibling rivalry, love, and standing up to bullies. The Big Little Brother app will incorporate some of the images created by Monroe, as well as an audio recording of Kling – an NPR commentator who’s been compared to Garrison Keillor. In the book (and app), Kling expands upon a childhood experience he describes in Kevin Kling’s Holiday Inn Story, a collection of autobiographical tales also published by MHSP. Observant readers who are already fans of Kling’s humorous tales will recognize in Monroe’s illustrations objects described by Kling in the Holiday Inn collection as well as another of his books, The Dog Says How. Monroe consciously incorporated details from them in Big Little Brother’s illustrations, such as toys Kling specified he played with as a child.
MHSP was founded in 1859, but it wasn’t until last fall that it released its first children’s title: Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Joe Rossi. The book is currently in its second print run, with 10,000 copies in print. The press’s second children’s release, Birds in Our Backyard: Say Hello to Minnesota’s Feathered Friends by Adele Porter, illustrated by Bill Marchel, will be published in October. Of the 20 books releases each year, MHSP anticipates publishing two to four children’s books. As marketing and publicity manager Alison Aten explained, the press wanted to “align [itself] with the larger mission of the Minnesota Historical Society to focus on serving students and Minnesota teachers and parents.”
A four-member advisory committee has been established to assist MHSP in evaluating children’s book proposals. The committee includes bookseller Colette Morgan, the owner of Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis; independent publishing consultant Lisa Bullard; author/illustrator Nancy Carlson; and children’s librarian Shelly Hawkins from St. Paul Central Library. Shannon Pennefeather, MHSP’s managing editor, acts as a liaison between the press and the committee.
Morgan anticipates that Big Little Brother will do well at Wild Rumpus, which has sold 45 copies of Minnesota’s Hidden Alphabet. She praised MHSP for expanding into picture books, and for working with Minnesota authors and illustrators on this new initiative. Kling and Monroe will officially launch Big Little Brother at Morgan’s store on Saturday, November 19.
MHSP hopes to continue developing apps in conjunction with those publications targeted towards children and families. The press released its first app this past spring, a companion to Dad’s Eye View: 52 Family Adventures in the Twin Cities by Michael Hartford.
