Simon & Schuster Springs Green Kids' Line

Little Simon is launching Little Green Books, an eco-friendly line of children's books aimed at parents and children who want to learn more about the environment. The first four books will pub this fall; Little Monkey and Little Panda will be cloth, and I Can Save the Earth! One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and The Polar Bear's Home: A Story About Global Warming will be 8x8 storybooks. In subsequent seasons, Little Green will publish board books and novelty formats; the Simon Scribbles imprint will publish Little Green activity books starting in spring 2009. Books published under the imprint will focus on recycling, replanting, preserving habitats and creating awareness of endangered animals.

Valerie Garfield, v-p, publisher for novelty and licensed publishing, will head the imprint. She called Little Green “an appropriate contribution toward making Simon & Schuster an environmentally responsible publishing house,” and said the imprint will “allow parents to introduce young children to some of the issues surrounding the environment and what they can do to help preserve it.”

All books will be priced under $10, made from recycled materials and printed with soy ink. Marketing and promotion efforts will be environmentally friendly and will include eco-friendly giveaways such as seed-paper flower bookmarks that readers can plant.