‘Martha Speaks’ to Launch on PBS

By Judith Rosen, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 8/21/2008

Starting September 1, Susan Meddaugh’s talking dog Martha will head to the small screen with the debut of Martha Speaks, an animated series to air on PBS KIDS. Not only is it the second time that Houghton has scored a coup with a PBS children’s television series—Curious George was the first—but this is a Boston tale all around. The series brings together public broadcasting producer WGBH Boston, Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Boston author/illustrator Susan Meddaugh.

In addition, HMH Children’s Book Group senior v-p and publisher Betsy Groban has gone full circle with the book and show. Before coming to HMH she was managing director of WGBH Enterprises, where she lobbied for a program featuring Curious George. By the time it aired, she had moved to HMH, where she once again lobbied, this time for Martha.

Actually, notes Carol Greenwald, executive producer of Martha Speaks and Curious George, the project dates back even earlier, to when she produced Marc Brown’s Arthur (yet another Boston-area author). Greenwald first contacted Meddaugh 12 years ago, right after Arthur launched, but it wasn’t until 2003, when Meddaugh had written more Martha books, that she reopened the conversation.

Family Reading time, with Martha.

For Greenwald, in addition to Martha’s innate appeal and the text’s sense of humor, the character’s love of language offered an educational opportunity. Each episode—there are two per program—contains several challenging words. A group of advisors oversees the word choices and each program is vetted by a content advisor.

Meddaugh, who works closely with Greenwald and oversees every image from the show on her laptop, describes her role as “keeping my baby, keeping my doggie, the way it should be. I don’t want [the programs] to be too preachy. I think the definitions for the most part don’t get in the way of the story.” That is not to say that the stories haven’t morphed from page to screen, and Meddaugh accepts that.

Susan Meddaugh, putting a “pawtograph” on copies of Martha Speaks, during a recent signing.

Mom is now Hispanic, Helen has a baby brother and the family lives in Wagstaff.

The first season of 80 stories is already complete, and WGBH, which has a Web site devoted to all things Martha, has begun working on another 60 for the second season. For the series launch, Houghton is reissuing the hardcover of Martha Speaks with an audio CD and the paperback with sticker pages. It will also publish Perfectly Martha in paperback for the first time. And all the Martha books now feature a “Look for Martha Speaks on PBS” burst. In fall ’09, Houghton will launch its first list of official tie-in books, which will include 24-page readers, chapter books and a picture book. In the meantime, says Houghton’s Groban, “We’re loving it.”