Scholastic to Launch Book Publishing Program for Planet Earth

NEW YORK, May 2:
Scholastic will roll out an eco-friendly children’s book publishing program in
the U.S. and Canada for Planet Earth, the award-winning nature documentary series from the BBC, with all
books to be printed on 30 percent recycled paper.

The agreement was brokered
by The Joester Loria Group, BBC Worldwide's North American licensing agent for Planet
Earth. Scholastic holds the U.S.
and Canadian English-language and French-language rights for the Planet
Earth children's books program,
and will publish and distribute the titles through its trade, school book club
and school book fair channels.

The publishing program
will launch in September 2008 with a full-color 48-page Planet Earth
Scrapbook and a Planet Earth
Reader featuring full-color
photography in an easy-to-read format. The program will continue with three
January 2009 publications (a second reader, a board book and scrapbook),
followed in April 2009 by a full-color 98-page Guide to the Planet timed to coincide with Earth Day.

Scholastic's publishing
program will include a variety of formats, including paperbacks, board books,
phonics books, novelty, readers, and scrapbooks to reach a broad audience of
readers, from preschoolers, to the middle grades, to young adults.

Planet Earth, which aired on the Discovery Channel in the U.S., was the most-watched cable
event of all time, reaching more than 100 million viewers.

"We are proud to
partner with the BBC on this award-winning series and bring the Planet Earth message of appreciating and marveling at the world
in which we live to families and kids of all ages," said Lynn Smith, the
director of licensed publishing at Scholastic Trade. "This series is
another step in Scholastic’s corporate commitment to responsible paper use and
to educating children about the environment."

—By Irene Lew