Children's Features

Scholastic to Publish Chicken House in U.S.
Jason Britton -- 11/20/00
Cunningham
Scholastic has announced a new publishing partnership with The Chicken House, the U.K. publisher recently launched by Cunningham, co-founder of Bloomsbury Children's Books and perhaps best known as the man who discovered and first published J.K. Rowling. Scholastic will begin publishing North American editions of Chicken House titles in fall 2001, simultaneously with the first CH list in the U.K. It will publish the entire U.K. list in the U.S. and Canada, and will develop marketing campaigns, redesign British covers, and collaborate on new projects for the North American market. Cunningham explained, "It's important to both of us that we keep our style, content and identity separate while working together to make the books attractive and easy-to-approach for American readers." Jean Feiwel, publisher at Scholastic, said, "We're going to make only cosmetic changes for the American market. Barry has an incredibly strong track record and sense of the teen market, and we're not looking to mess with that."
According to Cunningham, "It was a piece in PW [Letter from London, Feb. 28] that gave Scholastic the first news of my venture and said that I was looking for a U.S. partner. We met in Bologna, and recognized that the most important part of our chemistry was our shared enthusiasm for books that children themselves will respond to--and coupled with Scholastic's unique ability to reach children in stores, schools and fairs, that they could make the most of my skills."

As previously reported (Letter from London, Oct. 30), Chicken House will focus its efforts on creating a list that is, in Cunningham's words, "imaginative, fun, sometimes surprising but always child-centered, in a mix of exciting and different formats." The list will span all ages, but is primarily targeted at the 8-12 market, with special attention on the "tween" market of pre-teen girls. The inaugural Chicken House list will consist of 25 fiction, nonfiction and gift-book titles.

Ellie Berger, associate publisher at Scholastic, will manage American operations of the Chicken House imprint.