Hasbro has licensed My First Games (including Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders), as well as other preschool brands, to Scholastic for children's books. Hasbro and Scholastic will also expand their Tonka publishing program. Separately, Hasbro licensed Houghton Mifflin for Scrabble activity books.... Silver Lining Productions has teamed up with France Animation to codevelop and coproduce a television series based on the picture book Dr. Dog, published in the U.S. by Knopf. The book is by British author Babette Cole.... Author Helen Fielding granted rights to her character Bridget Jones, star of Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, to Riot Entertainment for mobile phone content such as diary entries, personality tests and an advice column. The service starts in Europe this spring and in the U.S. later this year.... According to the NPD Harry Potter Prophet, a tracking study by the NPD Group, 40% of children and adults who have read at least one Harry Potter book have purchased or own a Harry Potter-related product.... DIC Entertainment will launch a nationwide in-store retail promotion, "Madeline Fun Days," in the second half of 2001, supplying activity kits, marketing promotion ideas, four-color signage, event announcements, prizes and giveaways to specialty retailers.... Tom Lichtenheld's Everything I Know About Pirates, published by Simon & Schuster this May, will be the focus of a kids' Treasure Meal program at quick-service restaurant chain Long John Silvers. Lichtenheld is represented by The Lazear Agency.... Scholastic and Centrum Kids teamed up for an interactive in-school nutrition program running from January 2001 through the end of the school year. Online and print materials feature Nickelodeon's Rugrats, for which Centrum holds a license.... Universal Studios Consumer Products signed a worldwide license with Brio for Curious George toys.... Chicken Soup for the Soul has been licensed to Stoney Creek Collection for a series of cross-stitch books and kits. SloanVision Unlimited is the licensing agent.... Golden Books revamped its Barbie book line to include a new look and new formats and story lines. Eighteen titles will be released in 2001.... Marc Brown Studios licensed Creations by You to create Arthur-themed kits to help children write, illustrate and publish their own books.... Golden's Spongebob Squarepants books, licensed from Nickelodeon, will be launched with a "Design-a-Tie" contest for children 4—17, as well as a pineapple-shaped point-of-purchase display. The tie-wearing Bob lives in a pineapple.... The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Scholastic will create six new theater pieces based on the Dear America book series, with the first premiering this fall.