Capstone Publishers, which publishes children’s books for both the trade and educational markets, is collaborating with Sports Illustrated Kids to produce a line of books under two of the company’s six imprints: Capstone Press and Stone Arch Books. SI Kids publishes a sports magazine for children ages 8 and up. Fiction and nonfiction titles containing sports themes will be produced for elementary and middle-grade readers in three different formats: high/low informational, graphic novels, and illustrated chapter books.

The partnership will continue through spring 2012, with a total of 82 titles scheduled for release over the course of the next three years. Three series in the Sports Illustrated Kids line will debut in January 2010: Greatest Sports Stars, The Science of Sports, and Graphic Sports. “Our goal is to reach kids where they are, to turn their interests and hobbies into springboards for reading,” explained Matt Keller, president of Capstone Publisher’s nonfiction division. “Sports is one of the biggest high-interest topics in the country.”

The collaboration with Sports Illustrated Kids is the second licensing agreement entered into by Capstone Publishers. In 2008, in partnership with DC Comics, Capstone launched the DC Super Heroes series of books about Batman and Superman under the Stone Arch Books imprint.