After more than 40 years of teaching children to read via phonics, Bob Books is ready to expand its reach and update its look for a more contemporary audience. Refreshed characters and graphics will appear in backlist titles next spring, followed by the summer launch of My First Bob Books, a new line designed to cultivate pre-reading skills in preschoolers.
Scholastic, which has been publishing the brand since 1994, continues to honor the core mission of building confidence in beginning readers.
Use Your Words
Named for the preschool teacher who, in the mid-1980s, sought to teach the fundamentals of reading, Bob Books began as a homegrown business run by Bobby Lynn Maslen and her illustrator husband John. The two produced small format boxed sets out of their Portland, Ore., home before turning the reins over to Scholastic in 1994. “Her vision for the brand was a line of books that allowed children to be able to say, ‘I read the whole book!,’ ” said Debra Dorfman, senior VP and publisher, global licensing, media & brands. “Creating books that make learning to read a positive, confidence-building experience is still Scholastic’s mission with the brand today.”
Scholastic prides itself on working closely with the Maslen family (following Bobby Lynn’s death in 2018) and furthering its reach. The original line of decodable book boxed sets has grown from three titles to 14, encompassing a wider range of phonics skills. Major milestones include the launch in 2012 of a line of 6 x 9 phonics-based readers, workbooks in 2018, and most recently, the first standalone flashcard sets. To date, Bob Books has more than 11 million copies in print, with boxed sets and ancillary products in three stages of reading.
To better engage budding bookworms, Scholastic has refreshed its basic black-and-white line drawings with more modern aesthetics. “The original Bob Books were charming and quirky, which is exactly why kids love them,” said executive editor Katie Woehr, who oversees the brand. “But almost five decades on, the illustration style was beginning to limit our audience.” The desire to diversify its characters with different body types, ethnicities, physical abilities and gender identities was also top of mind. Woehr described the new figure designs as “relatable and funny; they feel like readers’ friends.” At the same time, Scholastic is intent on maintaining the essence of the classic Bob art. The first backlist set featuring the new art will be available next February, with additional boxes rolling out in April and June.
Babbling Books
Bob Books’ reputation as an educational resource for promoting early literacy prompted Scholastic to examine its target demographic and launch My First Bob Books. “If the mission of Bob Books is to give kids materials needed to become confident, successful readers, it only makes sense that we offer titles that build foundational pre-reading skills and foster a love of reading,” Woehr said. She also referenced the Scholastic Reading Report, which supports the idea that parents want to engage their children in reading at a younger age.
To provide an age-appropriate pre-reading experience, many of My First Bob Books releases will include a novelty element, “so that reading time is playful,” she added. For instance, the first book, Noisy Nursery Rhymes (Aug. 2025) will feature buttons for special sound effects (“meow!,” while also sounding out words (“/c/ /a/ /t/—cat”). All titles will include caregiver tips and engagement questions, designed to promote reading as an educational, bonding opportunity for parents and children.
My First Bob Books will be promoted to booksellers via newsletters and tabletop displays that showcase the new art and branding. With both the new line and the core titles, Scholastic is focused on maintaining its key component—the stories themselves—now and in the future. “This commitment to quality story, combined with a pedagogy that builds and celebrates confidence, makes children’s first reading experience truly a delight,” Woehr said. “That’s exactly what Bobby Maslen aimed to do all those years ago, and Scholastic is proud to continue that tradition today.”
