News & Review

Chhota Bheem and DK join hands

DK (Dorling Kindersley), world’s foremost illustrated reference publisher, has joined hands with Green Gold Animation, India’s leading 2D, animated content provider and creators of hugely popular cartoon character Chhota Bheem, to launch a bouquet of print and digital products for children. This marriage of sorts between the two content giants is a major step towards making learning more accessible and fun for kids: while DK lends its well-researched, graded content, developed by educational experts, as well as world class design and production, Green Gold brings in Chhota Bheem and his friends, adorable toon characters, a huge hit with kids.

With an ambitious, multifaceted programme of more than a dozen titles publishing over the next two years, DK hopes to excite and inspire children to read, create and learn along with Chhota Bheem and his friends. These books will be distributed and sold through the extensive Penguin Random House network – both online and offline. “DK is recognised all over the world for it’s high quality learning books for children, and we are thrilled to be collaborating with Green Gold Animation to introduce a range of fun yet educational books in DKs iconic style, specially for the Indian child,” said Aparna Sharma, managing director, DK India.

New titles in this series will include:

1. Let’s Make English Fun and Let’s Make Maths Fun: Part of the Chhota Bheem Gurukool Series of English and Maths workbooks for preschoolers and primary schoolchildren, for ages 3-5 and 5-7. These workbooks have been put together by a team of subject experts, and are meant to complement the existing school textbooks.
2. Chhota Bheem and Me: This 104- page journal is packed with activities and exercises that will keep a child engaged for hours! A delightful book with multiple uses, it tells children about Chhota Bheem and his friends, allows them to keep a journal or diary, and encourages them to be creative and imaginative.
3. Chhota Bheem Readers: This series of four readers will introduce children to the world of the cartoon character Chhota Bheem, including his village, friends and foes, and the myriad adventures Bheem finds himself in. Suited for a child who is beginning to read, these Level 2 Readers are created with the help of an educational consultant, and will have short and simple text to keep her interested and engaged.
4. Chhota Bheem Character Encyclopedia: This much-awaited, one of its kind, book, tells its young readers all about the famous characters in Chhota Bheem’s world, while giving them a chance to explore the village of Dholakpur where they live.

Leading Reading Schools of India awards

Young India Books has initiated the Leading Reading Schools of India Awards to recognize and honour the top five schools of the country that go the extra mile to encourage children to read, read and read. Over 2500 students from top 55 schools across India competed to ensure that their school was picked as winner for this prestigious nationwide award.

The winners of the Leading Reading Schools of India Awards 2016 are: The Cathedral and John Connon Middle School, Mumbai; Shikshantar, Gurgaon; JBCN Borivali, Mumbai; Bombay International School, Mumbai; and Don Bosco International School, Mumbai. Winning schools receive a special handcrafted trophy from Channapatna, the toy town of Karnataka.

Young India Books has also initiated Children’s Choice Award to ascertain changing trends. The winners are: Senior Category: Horrid High by Payal Kapadia, Puffin India; Secondary Category: Apoorva’s Fat Diary by Nandini Nayar, Mango Books; and Junior Category: My Gandhi Story by Nina Sabnani and Ankit Chadha, Tulika.

Purple Turtle makes in-roads into Chinese market

An Indian IP development company, Aadarsh Pvt Ltd (www.aadarsh.com), has signed the license deal with a leading Chinese children’s book publisher, Hebei Publishers of Beijing to publish a series of children’s books of the company’s anchor property, Purple Turtle, (www. purpleturtle.com) for China.

NK Krishnanand, head – licensing and publishing of Purple Turtle, said, “The Purple Turtle books feature stories that guide and stimulate child’s mind. These stories provide fun-filled learning experience for kids. This deal will help us establish a strong presence of Purple Turtle in China. Hebei Publishing is a leader in providing children with only high quality reading material, a perfect partner to support our growing initiatives for the Purple Turtle brand.”

Originally introduced in 2012, the Purple Turtle books have been published in USA, UK (apps), Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Indonesia, Sir Lanka, Malaysia and five regional languages in India with over one million copies published to date.

An animated series of Purple Turtle is under development (78 x 7 min, 3D HD) which features the world’s cutest turtle, a little guy who stands out of the normal crowd because he tends to think differently than others, or better yet, a bit “out of his shell.”

Established in 1989 Aadarsh is an ISO 9001:2008 and FSC specialises in printing, publishing, IP Development, licensing and entertainment company based in central India. While, founded in 1985, Hebei Publishing Media Group is a well-known large-scale comprehensive enterprise group, the main business includes books and periodicals, electronic audio and digital publishing, printing copying, distribution, logistics, publishing materials trading and cultural investment.