Children\u2019s book author Mercer Mayer has aligned with John R. Sansevere in a new venture to exploit his catalog of 300-plus titles across media and consumer products.<\/p>\n
The new business, TWELVE\/3, holds the exclusive media and licensing rights across all consumer-products categories and all new publishing rights. It launches with plans to develop Mayer\u2019s best-selling Little Critter<\/em> book series, which debuted in 1975 with Just for You <\/em>and\u00a0<\/em>targets kids 2 to 6.<\/p>\n HarperCollins is set to release new Little Critter<\/em> books under its \u201cI Can Read Comics\u201d label, as well as two new readers in the \u201cI Can Read\u201d series. There are 54 Little Critter<\/em> titles with HarperCollins, with an option for more, and 41 titles with Random House in print or rotation.<\/p>\n TWELVE\/3, to be run by\u00a0Sansevere as managing partner, is also working on the\u00a011-title Little Monster<\/em> series; the six-title A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog<\/em> series; as well as There\u2019s a Nightmare in My Closet<\/em>, There\u2019s an Alligator Under My Bed,\u00a0One Monster After Another<\/em>, Professor Wormbog in Search of the Zipperump-a-Zoo<\/em>\u00a0and Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp<\/em>.<\/p>\n TWELVE\/30 plans to create animated content for the IPs for television and streaming, beginning with an animated short based on the Little Critter<\/em> \u201cI Can Read Comics\u201d title for the new Little Critter<\/em> YouTube channel.<\/p>\n \u201cMultiple generations born after 1980 grew up with Mercer Mayer\u2019s books and are now passing on their love for his characters and stories to their own children,\u201d commented Sansevere. \u201cThe first IP we will develop is Little Critter<\/em>, one of the last remaining evergreen U.S. publishing brands that has never had a TV show or large-scale licensing and merchandising program. With the 50th anniversary of Little Critter<\/em> coming up in 2025, this is a perfect time to bring the world of Little Critter<\/em> to new audiences everywhere through animated content and appealing products that will allow children to further engage with the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been publishing stories for over 55 years, adventures inspired from my childhood or my children\u2019s childhoods, and now I get inspiration from my grandkids,\u201d added Mayer. \u201cI\u2019ve long wanted to explore opportunities that will allow kids to engage with my characters and stories in ways that appeal to a new generation of children. Having worked with John over the years, I am extremely excited to collaborate with him again in the launch of TWELVE\/30 and to continue creating inspiring new content and products based on my published works that parents will trust, and children will love.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Children\u2019s book author Mercer Mayer has aligned with John R. Sansevere in a new venture to exploit his catalog of 300-plus titles across media and consumer products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":24181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[6820,385,386,6821],"class_list":["post-24180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-john-r-sansevere","tag-little-critter","tag-mercer-mayer","tag-twelve3","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n