Walden Pond Press
| Founded | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City and Boston |
| Official website | http://www.harperchildrens.com |
Walden Pond Press, established in 2008 and located in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City, New York, is the co-publishing venture of film production company Walden Media and book publisher HarperCollins.[1] The venture operates as an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books and its logo, a skipping stone on Walden Pond, is derivative of the Walden Media logo.
Background
Walden Pond Press is publishing the next generation of middle grade books—fast paced, funny, engaging, compulsively readable stories by well-established authors and new talent.[2] The two marked characteristics of the imprint are its high quality titles and its embrace of a multi-platform approach to storytelling. For example, Cosmic (published January 2010) by author and screenwriter, Frank Cottrell Boyce is one of the best reviewed children’s books of 2010,[3] and is currently in film development with Walden Media.[4]
Audience
Walden Pond Press publishes a small, targeted list of middle grade book titles every year. In addition to Cosmic, during its 2010 launch the imprint published The Billionaire's Curse: The Archer Legacy Book 1 by Richard Newsome, The Last Words of Will Wolfkin by Steven Knight, Max Cassidy: Escape from Shadow Island by Paul Adam, Finding Danny by Linzi Glass, and the acclaimed Guys Read: Funny Business, edited by Jon Scieszka with stories by Jeff Kinney, Eoin Colfer, Adam Rex, and Kate DiCamillo, among other well-known authors. Funny Business is the first title in the Guys Read Library, a series of titles connected to Jon Scieszka’s Guys Read initiative, a web-based literacy program for boys to help them to become self-motivated, lifelong readers.[5]
Walden Pond Press’s 2011 titles include The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander (published February 2011), Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky (publishing April 2011), The Emerald Casket: The Archer Legacy Book 2 by Richard Newsome (publishing May 2011), Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (publishing October 2011), and Guys Read: Thriller edited by Jon Scieszka (publishing September 2011) with stories by James Patterson, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Walter Dean Myers, Gennifer Choldenko, and among other prominent authors (published September 2011).
Prior Publishing History
Walden Pond Press is Walden Media’s second co-publishing venture with a major US publishing house. From 2004 -2008, Walden Media worked across all imprints at Penguin Young Readers Group publishing the Newbery Honor-winning[6] Savvy by first-time author Ingrid Law (Dial/Walden Media), Mike Lupica’s The Comeback Kids series (Philomel/Walden Media), Lauren St. John’s The White Giraffe series (Dial/Walden Media), and Michael Reisman’s Simon Bloom series (Dutton/Walden Media) among other titles.[7][8] Both Savvy and Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper are in film development at Walden Media.[9][10]
References
- ^ Getlin, Josh."Maker of Children's Films Gets Into the Book Business", The Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2008, accessed March 2, 2011.
- ^ HarperCollins Children's Imprints
- ^ Bluemle, Elizabeth. "The Stars So Far - updated September 22, 2010", Shelf Talker, September 22, 2010, accessed March 2, 2011.
- ^ Kit, Zorianna. "'Cosmic' Kids Book Transforming Into Feature", Reuters, May 20, 2010, accessed March 2, 2011
- ^ Jon Scieszka's Guys Read Website
- ^ Newbery Honor Books
- ^ "Penguin Young Reader's Group and Walden Media Set Multi-Year Publishing, Film and Television Joint Venture", PR Newsire, March 27, 2006, accessed March 2, 2011.
- ^ Springen, Karen. "Walden Media Moves Into the Future", Publisher's Weekly, February 19, 2009, accessed March 2, 2011.
- ^ McNary, Dave. "Walden Gets Law's 'Savvy'", Variety, July 11, 2007, accessed March 2, 2011.
- ^ McNary, Dave "Walden Media Nabs 'Simon Bloom' Rights", Variety, January 11, 2011, accessed March 2, 2011.