Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, today announced Ten Speed Young Readers, a children’s imprint and offshoot of Ten Speed Press. Ten Speed Young Readers will publish 20 titles in 2026, with plans to increase its annual output to around 40 projects per year.

Ginee Seo, Ten Speed Press VP and editorial director, helms the TSYR team, along with executive editor Kelly Barrales-Saylor and assistant editor Adah Li. Barrales-Saylor arrived at Ten Speed last August, and Li, former assistant editor at Algonquin Young Readers, joined Ten Speed in January. “The three of us have very different and complementary tastes,” Seo said.

The inaugural list will include Others, a picture book by Compendium president Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Charles Santoso; Axolotl-Ella, a Cinderella story by Kate Messner, illustrated by Lian Cho; and Paul Westmoreland’s choose-your-own-adventure Puzzle Sleuth Undercover, the second book in a buy-in from Puffin UK.

The imprint marks a return of sorts. “Once upon a time, Ten Speed did publish children’s titles,” Seo said, recalling that soon after Random House acquired Ten Speed in 2009, “the decision was made to fold the children’s program [Tricycle Press] into Random House Children’s Books. But there’s a long-term love of children’s publishing at Ten Speed, particularly from our publisher, Aaron Wehner.”

Ten Speed Young Readers “has been evolving since I got to Ten Speed in November 2023, Seo said. “In the beginning, I had thought I would just contribute to the list,” but Wehner and Crown Publishing Group president David Drake had visions of “a more expansive” young readers’ imprint. Ten Speed has sought a junior audience with Women in Science series author Rachel Ignotofsky, Kelsey Oseid (Eclipse), and the Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides, Seo said, and this variety is “feeding our creativity and helping us think about what the market is receptive to.”

The TSYR team anticipates “a pretty broad swath” from board books to picture books, illustrated fiction and nonfiction, and upper middle grade titles, Seo said. “We are thinking in a very holistic way, and the entire editorial group is quite entrepreneurial,” inviting Crown authors and editors to reach across their respective aisles. To name one example, Levy Rozman—chess-match YouTuber and author of Ten Speed’s How to Win at Chess—proposed a book for young readers. Now, his board book Chess for Babies will be on TSYR’s 2026 list. “It will be design-y and high-contrast, as if Levy is talking to your baby about the very basic rules of chess,” Seo said.

“We’re looking at a wide range of opportunities,” agreed Barrales-Saylor. She reinforced one of TSYR’s goals, creating books that are “seriously silly,” she said, “because I love things that are a little bit upscale but still completely humorous and a smart version of funny.” Forthcoming projects include Lena Podesta’s picture book I Am Not Boring, which Barrales-Saylor called “an offbeat, goofball, yet very endearing picture book about a nurse log in the forest,” and Neil Coslett’s Kid Potato, the first in a series about “a character who happens to be a potato,” evocative of SpongeBob SquarePants, Captain Underpants, and The Simpsons.

Kid Potato is a hot property, pun intended: Ten Speed won U.S. rights at auction, and Hachette UK will publish Coslett in the U.K.

The TSYR team is welcoming fresh projects and coming up with its own material too, Barrales-Saylor added. “We are creating our own IP for some projects, but some of it is finding the right author or illustrator to partner with in creating brand-new characters, brand-new storylines. I’m excited to see what a creative shop it can and will be.”

Seo said she is excited to lead an imprint focused on reading, playfulness, and good information. “These days when everything is so fraught, it’s important to provide books that not only make kids think, but make them laugh,” she said. “We’re fortunate enough to be in an industry where we know what we’re doing is going to make a difference in shaping critical readers. I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had.”