Scholastic to Publish Books Based on BBC Series Planet Earth

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 5/1/2008 8:11:00 AM

Scholastic announced today that it will create a children’s book line from the BBC program Planet Earth. The company holds U.S. and Canadian English and French rights for the Planet Earth children’s books program and will publish and distribute the titles through its trade, school book club and school book fair channels. The books will be printed on 30% post-consumer waste recycled paper. The agreement was brokered by the Joester Loria Group, BBC Worldwide’s North American licensing agent for Planet Earth.

The program will launch in September with the full-color, 48-page Planet Earth Scrapbook and Planet Earth Reader. The program will continue with three January 2009 publications (a second reader, a board book and scrapbook), followed in April 2009 by a full-color 98-page Guide to the Planet timed to coincide with Earth Day. The program will include paperbacks, board books, phonics books, novelty books and scrapbooks. It will target preschoolers, middle-grade students and teens. High-quality 30% post-consumer waste recycled paper will be used for all titles.

Planet Earth begain airing on the Discovery Channel in the U.S. in March 2007 and is now available on DVD.