After almost five months of negotiations, Key Porter Books has finalized a deal to acquire Somerville House's inventory of children's book and toy properties and the rights to other children's titles previously held by the publisher. Somerville House Books LTD filed for bankruptcy in June 2001.
"We were looking into expanding our own children's line in this direction, and then this opportunity came along," said Key Porter president Diane Davy. "It gives us the ability to go out to the market in a significant way with a wonderful group of products."
The inventory consists of about 50 titles, including popular book-and-toy/game combinations like The Bug Book and Bottle kit, which has more than two million copies in print worldwide. Other titles include Chess for Kids and the Tiny Perfect Dinosaur series, which includes a toy dinosaur in an egg with an accompanying book. Key Porter will sell off the outstanding inventory and develop its own products out of the recently acquired properties.
Former Somerville writers, illustrators and other creators were contacted and offered a royalty structure for their works. Linda Pruessen, a former Somerville editor who joined Key Porter in 1999, will begin making decisions about developing the existing book-and-toy combinations into new projects once market interest has been determined.
