(New York—March 5th, 2013)—Open Road Integrated Media, a digital publisher and multimedia content company, announced today that they will digitally publish, distribute, and market a selection of Holiday House chapter books by Betsy Byars and 13 picture books by Tomie dePaola, beginning with Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland.
John Briggs from Holiday House said: “Jane Friedman has done a remarkable job with Open Road and we are delighted that they will now be digitally publishing these titles.”
Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Open Road said: “I am thrilled to work with the remarkable John Briggs and his company on publishing ebooks from Betsy Byars and Tomie dePaola’s acclaimed catalogs.”
Holiday House was founded in 1935 in New York City, the first American publishing house ever founded with the purpose of publishing nothing but children’s books, according to Publishers Weekly.
The chapter books by Betsy Byars include the five-book “The Blossom Family” series, a middle-grade series about the fun adventures and realistic family drama of the children and parents of the Blossom Family. The last and latest book in the series, Wanted…Mud Blossom, is an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Writers Award. These titles join seventeen additional Byars ebooks published by Open Road, including The Night Swimmers, for which she was awarded the National Book Award.
Open Road will also publish thirteen picture books from artist-author Tomie dePaola, the creator of more than 200 books, who has won a Caldecott Honor, a Newbery Honor, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for “Substantial and lasting contributions to children’s literature” in 2011. Open Road will begin with Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland in March for St. Patrick’s Day, which will be followed by 12 other titles.*
Holiday House is the latest children’s publisher to join Open Road’s growing Publishing Partners Program which also includes Albert Whitman & Company, Kids Can Press and Annick Press.
*dePaola titles:
· Christopher, the Holy Giant
· An Early American Christmas
· The Family Christmas Tree Book
· Fin M’Coul, the Giant of Knockmany Hill
· Francis, the Poor Man of Assisi
· The Hunter and the Animals;
· The Kids’ Cat Book
· The Lady of Guadalupe
· Mary, the Mother of Jesus
· The Parables of Jesus
· Songs of the Fog Maiden
· When Everyone Was Fast Asleep
