Scholastic Extends and Expands Publishing Agreement with Lego® Through 2019
New York, NY — Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has extended and expanded its publishing relationship with LEGO through 2019, which will now include World all language rights, as well as several new publishing programs, line extensions, and acquisitions. The deal was negotiated by Heidi K. Jensen, Licensing Manager at the LEGO Group and Debra Dorfman, VP & Publisher, Nonfiction & Licensing, and Lynn Smith, Global Licensing Director, at Scholastic. World English rights will be managed by Scholastic U.S., and foreign translation rights will be managed by Scholastic UK.
Scholastic and The LEGO Group have had a successful publishing relationship for more than twelve years, with more than 45 million Scholastic LEGO books in print to date. Under the new agreement, Scholastic will continue to publish books based on the following LEGO PlayThemes: City, NINJAGO, Bionicle, Elves, Friends, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO DC in a variety of formats.
New publishing will include:
- LEGO Nonfiction: Scholastic and LEGO together have developed a line of outstanding and informative—as well as funny and innovative—nonfiction books. Illustrated LEGO minifigures will introduce essential, fun facts combined with fantastic real-world photos. The line will include informational books in a variety of formats covering kids’ favorite topics such as Planets, Knights and Castles, Dinosaurs, and the Ocean, as well as beautiful gift books for the family to enjoy together.
- The first-ever LEGO POP-UP, by bestselling and award-winning paper engineer Matthew Reinhart, will be published in September 2016. This three-dimensional road trip through different LEGO universes, both past and present, takes readers on an interactive journey, brick by brightly colorful brick. Crammed with massive pop-ups, transforming pull-tabs, hidden flaps and fold-out picture guides, this extraordinary book is a celebration of LEGO things.
- Movie Tie-In Books: Scholastic will publish movie tie-in books in a variety of formats based on LEGO feature films released during the term of the agreement.
“The Lego Group and Scholastic are completely aligned in encouraging kids to be creative, to become life-long readers and to be bold and use their imaginations,” said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade. “I am so proud to continue our longtime relationship, to expand our global reach, and to publish innovative new projects with LEGO Publishing.”
“As the largest children’s book publisher in the world, creating fantastic books for millions of kids of all ages and reading levels, it was a natural thing for us to extend and expand the long-term partnership we have with Scholastic,” said Andrea Ryder, Licensing Director, The LEGO Group. “Sharing so many important values such as creativity, learning, fun, imagination and quality make it a great match, too. We are looking forward to excite children around the globe with more inspiring and innovative books coming out of this collaboration.”
About The LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund (Denmark), and main offices in Enfield (USA), London (UK), Shanghai (China), and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO® brick, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials.
Guided by the company spirit: “Only the best is good enough”, the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com.
About Scholastic
For more information about Scholastic, visit our media room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com
