Stephen King picture book to Hodder Children's

Hodder Children’s Books, part of Hachette Children’s Group (HCG), has bought the UK and Commonwealth rights to Charlie the Choo-Choo, the picture book written by Stephen King under the pen name of Beryl Evans.

Picture book publisher Emma Layfield bought the rights from Stephanie Voros, v.p. and director of subsidiary rights at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing in the US.

The news that horror writer Stephen King was writing a children’s book broke in October, when S&S US listed the book on Amazon’s US site. However, the book was first mentioned in King’s adult Dark Tower series (published in the UK in 2012) when it was ‘bought’ by a fictional protagonist called Jake.

Layfield said: “We are thrilled to be publishing Charlie the Choo-Choo alongside our colleagues at Hodder and Stoughton, which is the home for The Dark Tower series in the UK. For Stephen King fans, it’s a must-have addition to their library.”

Hodder will publish a limited edition of the book on 15th December for Waterstones alongside a numbered and signed print by ‘Beryl Evans’. A hardback edition will follow in July 2017 to coincide with the film release of The Dark Tower.