Licensing Hotline: VeggieTales from Zonderkidz

by Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 8/26/2002

Big Idea Productions, licensor of VeggieTales and other values-based video series, is launching a book program with Zondervan's Zonderkidz imprint. The publisher will introduce 10 titles in 2002, including five tied to Big Idea's first film, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, and 20 more in 2003. Other properties included in the agreement are LarryBoy, 3-2-1 Penguins! and The Great Cheese Squeeze: A Gruntly and Iggy Adventure. The last is an original book concept; the publishing program will be used to launch new franchises as well as support the company's existing brands, according to Bob Starnes, Big Idea's v-p of publishing and consumer products.

Formats for toddlers through age 12 will include story, sticker, activity, picture and chapter books, as well as a collectors' edition movie tie-in, and will be carried in all levels of distribution. "We're getting as much exposure in other distribution as we are even in the CBA channel," Starnes said. Previous VeggieTales publishing included six preschool titles from Tommy Nelson, released from 1997 through 2000, totaling six million copies in print.