Colour fiction titles 'next big trend' for PRH Children's

Penguin Random House Children’s is launching a new range of colour fiction books after acquiring titles by Judd Winick, Victoria Jamieson and Terri Lebnenson.

Colour fiction, the “next big trend in children’s publishing” according to PRH, resembles graphic novels but sits on the children’s fiction bookshelf alongside series such as Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and Tom Gates by Liz Pichon.

PRH Children’s is publishing five colour fiction titles: three books in the Hilo series by Winick (Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth, Hilo: Saving the Whole Wide World and Hilo: The Great Big Boom), Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson and Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson.

The Hilo titles will publish in January and February 2017, Invisible Emmie will be released in May and Roller Girl in July. All will be published in paperback and priced at £7.99.

M.d. Francesca Dow said: “At Penguin Random House Children’s we are always exploring the best ways to engage the attention of our readers and this new focus on colour fiction will help us to do just that. The winning combination of expertly crafted stories and eye-catching full-colour illustration will charm and delight young readers, and we are enormously excited to be spearheading this kind of publishing in the UK.”

PRH acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to the Hilo series and Roller Girl from Penguin Random House US, while the deal for Invisible Emmie was struck with Angharad Kowal of Writers House.

The books will be published by fiction publishers Ruth Knowles and Ben Horslen and commissioning editor Natalie Doherty.