IDW Launches Hollywood-Heavy Kids’ Imprint
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 1/17/2008
Graphic novel, horror and sci-fi publisher IDW is going after younger readers with a new division and imprint dedicated to kids. The publisher’s new imprint, Worthwhile Books, will be housed under the equally new Jonas Publishing division. Mining a first-look deal with U.K. children’s publisher Meadowside Books, Worthwhile will, in addition to releasing a number of original titles, publish about 10 Meadowside books annually. For its own list, v-p and creative director Rob Kurtz, whose background is in TV and film, said the goal is to cull projects from comedy writers working in Hollywood.
Noting that many of the authors already on Meadowside’s first list are working comedy writers—collective credits include TV and film properties like The Simpsons, Rugrats and Shrek 2—Kurtz said that, in general, he’s looking for projects from these creative types, hoping to “mine the children’s book part of their souls.”
Releasing 10 titles from Worthwhile and six originals on the first list, Kurtz, who wrote the children’s film Everyone’s Hero and worked on various TV shows, including The Cosby Show, is hoping the imprint fills a void. “I’m a father of five and often lament the lack of really creative, funny children’s books. So this started with a desire to create really great books by using successful writers who’ve never [written children’s books] before.” Kurtz added that many of the writers on his list are also parents, many of whom have been giving life to fanciful tales already, just in the verbal tradition.
The first original title Worthwhile will publish will be David N. Weiss’ Carl the Frog, about a frog who learns that the best way to improve his social life is to figure out how not consume his acquaintances. (Weiss has written for Rugrats and penned the script to Shrek 2.) Also on the imprint’s first list are former Will & Grace and That’s So Raven writer Dava Saval’s Town of Zack, about a boy who, in a bid to get some breathing room from his sisters, anoints himself ruler of his own tiny metropolis; and Kurtz’s first book, Shamus McNamus, about a goat that, following the local the tradition of Puck Fair, becomes ruler of Ireland for three days.
