Running Press Launches Two Licensed YA Series with Cloudco

Running Press Kids is pairing with Cloudco Entertainment for two series of paperback young adult originals under the RP Teens imprint, with two books in each to start.

The new licenses came about through a conversation the two companies were having about a separate project, when a nostalgic 1980s doll brand, Lady Lovely Locks, came up. Intellectual properties from the ’80s are a specialty of Cloudco’s as a descendent of American Greetings’ Those Characters from Cleveland licensing division, known for launching some of the biggest properties of that era, including Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears.

“They were looking for an opportunity to bring Lady Lovely Locks to a new generation in a cool, revamped way,” Allison Cohen, senior editor, Running Press Kids, told PW. Running Press, meanwhile, had been assessing the middle grade and YA fiction categories for opportunities. “There’s a lot of dark stuff out there, and heavy romance. I was hoping for something that had that teen angst but was clean. I think we need more of that for readers, and this felt like the right property to do it with.”

RP Kids found an author in Carrie Harris, who was given a lot of freedom from Cloudco to give the property a new spin as a fairy tale reinvention with elements of nerdy pop-culture fandom. “She really gets this world, and she’s diving in with older references, but with the new angle of cosplay as well,” Cohen said, adding that she believes adults will come to the books along with younger readers. “There are a lot of Easter eggs for those who remember it.” She should know, as she was one of those fans. “As a child of the ’80s who was deeply enmeshed in that era, I owned the dolls, the horse, and the tea set. My life has come full circle.”

The first two titles are Snagged: A Lady Lovely Locks Novel, set for release in February 2026, and Tendrils: A Lady Lovely Locks Novel, scheduled for August 2026. They star lead character Leigh Carroll, who is 16, lives in Philadelphia, works at a hardware store, and loves cosplay. A wig given to her by a mysterious woman at a comic con turns her into a princess and brings her into the Kingdom of Lovely Locks.

The second Cloudco property to enter the realm of YA fiction with RP Teens is Ellen Poe, inspired by the writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, a new IP that is the brainchild of Ryan Wiesbrock, former head of development and production for Cloudco before leaving in March to focus on his own projects. He is spearheading the relaunch of Lady Lovely Locks and is the creator of Ellen Poe. Two titles, Ellen Poe: The Forgotten Lore and Ellen Poe: For Evermore, are scheduled for publication in April and October 2026, respectively.

Wiesbrock had thought through the characters and world in depth, including developing concepts and storylines, and then worked collaboratively with author Diana Peterfreund to flesh it out. “Diana really immersed herself in the world,” Cohen said, noting that she spent time at the Poe House and various museums. “Her research has been remarkable.”

Main character Ellen lives in Baltimore, is a descendent of the writer, whose family runs businesses that cash in on the Poe name, and has visions of ghosts. She discovers secret messages in the original Poe’s journal and, by deciphering the clues and cryptograms, tries to uncover the truth about her legacy and the afterlife so she can avoid following in the footsteps of her ancestor, who shared her psychic gift and went mad from it.

“She’s an awesome character, and as an English major, I’m loving the hints of Poe throughout. He appears as a ghost and recites some of his own lines,” Cohen said. “Both Ellen and Leigh are very strong and independent, with a take-me-for-who-I-am attitude, and I think teen readers will see themselves in the characters.”

RP Kids is looking for more properties that would be a good fit with its new YA fiction list, and is in discussions with Cloudco for projects based on additional properties down the road.

Union Square & Co. and Super Smalls Pair for Sparkly New Book

Union Square & Co. has partnered with Super Smalls for the latter’s first book, as well as a range of stationery and craft kits.

Super Smalls is a gem-centric brand that lets kids pretend-play a luxury lifestyle, alongside their parents, while using their imaginations and expressing themselves. “We’re all about the sparkle,” Maria Dueñas Jacobs, co-founder of the six-year-old company with her sister Bianca Gottesman, told PW. The core line includes everything from jewelry and crafts to cold-weather products and beauty, currently its fastest-growing category, all including gems. “The gem is to Super Smalls what the brick is to Lego,” Dueñas Jacobs said.

“Everything is high fashion and high fun, all made for play,” she continued. “We want to wow adults and kids.” She noted that everything is safe and child-friendly, and not too adult in usage or look. “The products are fancy and the play pattern is like what the adults are doing, but they’re still for the littles.”

The Super Smalls team had been thinking about doing a book when the publisher reached out. “We received a call from Union Square and they said they saw an opportunity for paper products and maybe a few books, and asked, have you thought of that?” she said. “The answer was yes!”

Super Smalls Super Book of Gems: Birthstone Magic, Science, Facts and Fun, written by Dueñas Jacobs and Gottesman, will release on October 14. It is organized by birthstone and features information about the color, symbolism, and facts and figures of each gem; explains in simple terms aspects of the science of gems; and has plenty of photos of sparkly jewelry from well-known designers like Cartier and Bulgari. It is meant to be a shared experience for children and their grown-ups. “It’s like a jewel box and a science lab in a book,” Dueñas Jacob said. “I think of it as a coffee table book for kids. There’s storytelling within but I see it in the kids’ library and them reaching for it often. It’s not just once and forget it.”

Union Square Gift, meanwhile, is releasing paper-based gift products to complement the book, including Super Sticker Creations: Collage and Create Your Own Sticker Art, Super Gem Bingo: Get Your Gems in a Row to Win Big!, Super DIY Card Kit: Many Thanks!, and Super DIY Card Kit: Hip, Hip, Hooray!. Super Smalls itself is also releasing two products that complement the book, a Gemstone Rock Box and a Super Gems Charm Bracelet. All go on sale on October 14 along with the book.

Ensuring that the look of the books and gifts was consistent with the brand, including its dominant yellow color and bold graphics, was important to the authors. “Our yellow boxes are like Tiffany Blue to the kids,” Dueñas Jacobs said. “I want them to think of this when they grow up like I do about Sanrio or Lisa Frank.”

The deal with Union Square & Co. gives Super Smalls a foothold in places like Barnes & Noble and Target’s book departments, where it does not yet have a presence. “It diversified our distribution, since no one could find us in the book aisle before,” Dueñas Jacob said. “A lot of people will find us through the book and understand our world. And our customers can read the book and go deeper into why we love gems and why they inspire us.”

Cottage Door Press Adds Mattel as Partner for New Luna StoryTime Projector

Cottage Door Press announced a licensing deal with Mattel to bring the toy maker’s brands into the content library of Cottage Door’s new Luna StoryTime projector, a three-in-one device that includes a projector, audio player, and night light that launched in July. A Thomas & Friends collection comes out this month and Angelina Ballerina in December, followed by Barbie in January and Hot Wheels in back-to-school season 2026.

Cottage Door already had a relationship with Mattel for Thomas & Friends novelty books. “These are beloved characters that are cross-generational and have a strong storytelling DNA,” Melissa Tigges, VP of strategic initiatives, told PW. “Mattel not only expands our reach to fans, but it ties Luna more to the toy department, where it usually will have placement and where we as Cottage Door Press have no presence.”

The Luna StoryTime projector launched on Amazon with the Owl Starter Set, consisting of the projector and an in-house developed story-collection cartridge, as well as add-on Bible Stories and Unicorn Stories collections. The product can be found in store and online at Barnes & Noble, and is rolling out to Kohl’s stores and Target’s and Walmart’s e-commerce sites in the fourth quarter.

The company sees the new projector as another way to get kids to read. “There’s a reading crisis, and people are looking for solutions,” Tigges said. “Retailers are trying to solve that as well, by adding story-tech spaces in the toy aisle or potentially even the book aisle.”

Tigges said Luna StoryTime fills a gap in the market, which includes other publishing-adjacent tech brands like Tonies and Yoto. Priced at $59.99 for the projector and $14.99 for story collections, it falls between lower-end, very toy-like products and higher-priced, higher-tech versions. “It’s accessible but still a slightly premium alternative,” Tigges said.

The company’s publishing heritage, including its reputation for beautiful illustrations, is another differentiator in a market where most of the players come from the tech or toy industries. “For this age group, three to five or six years old, the visuals in storybooks are incredibly important to give contextual clues and engage little ones in reading,” said Tigges, who cautioned, “This is not easy or cheap to make. We have storytelling experience, but there are so many extra layers here that are outside of publishing.” That said, the product is generating a lot of attention. “It’s making our retail partners, licensing partners, and the kids who have seen it excited in a way our individual book titles have never done.”

Each content collection, which takes the form of figural character cartridges called Luna Content Characters, features 30-plus minutes of stories and songs, all with text so the child can read or sing along. The book-like pages turn automatically, at a slow pace akin to reading. Some of the images have motion graphics, allowing a character to wave or a butterfly to flutter its wings. “It’s one more way to engage the reader in the story,” Tigges said. The device works without downloads, apps, Wi-Fi, or a mobile screen.

Cottage Door Press is bringing many of its existing publishing licenses into the Luna format, either under current publishing deals or through new agreements. Examples include Sesame Street’s Elmo, Paw Patrol, John Deere, CoComelon, and Daniel Tiger. It is also adding new licenses specifically for the Luna program, including Disney, with six Luna Content Characters planned by 2026, as well as Peppa Pig, Little Critter, Mo Willems’s Unlimited Squirrels, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. “It’s a balance of literary and fun entertainment properties, so we can reach a new audience while reinforcing our literary-first positioning.”

By the end of 2026, there will be more than 50 characters available for the device, including from literary, entertainment, and educational partners. The goal is to have a wide range of content to support regular use of the device, as well as content that appeals to all genders and age levels within the target demographic.

New Licensing Agent for ‘Love You Forever’

Licensing Works! is the new licensing agency for Love You Forever, supporting illustrator Sheila McGraw in her efforts to extend the brand—based on the book written by Robert Munsch and first published by Firefly Books in 1986—into products for young children and adults.

“We seek out truly timeless, universally recognizable brands that are relatable to all demographics,” said Licensing Works! founder Leslie Levine. “What’s more relatable than watching your children grow up, leave the nest, and have families of their own? This beautiful full-circle story is about parenting and the responsibility that entails, as the parent and later as the grown children, and about unconditional love.” Levine noted that the book is a perennial bestseller, almost always ranking in the top five on the children’s classics list on Amazon, with about a million copies still sold each year and more than 39 million over the life of the property.

McGraw has offered products online and forged a 2022 collaboration with rapper Drake and Nike for a limited-edition pair of sneakers, as part of the promotional activity for Drake’s album Certified Loverboy. The shoes came packaged with a custom limited-edition version of the book that included a Nike Swoosh on the cover and a dedication from Drake to his mother.

McGraw exhibited at the Licensing Expo in both 2023 and 2025 and attended the ABC Show (for infant and toddler products) in 2024. “At all of these shows, I encountered loads of optimism and enthusiasm from makers of various products to license the Love You Forever brand,” she said. “These positive encounters were certainly ego boosters. However, the follow-up was crucial and often daunting. I don’t recall the exact moment I realized I needed an agent, but when I was faced with both the contractual and legal aspects of licensing my brand, it was a scary thing to realize I was completely out of my depth. Fortunately Licensing Works! has taken up the challenge.” McGraw noted that Licensing Works!’ representation of literary properties, including The Little Prince, Kewpie, Fun with Spot, and Tarzan, was also attractive.

The Licensing Works! team and McGraw connected at Licensing Expo this past May. “I was very intrigued,” Levine said. “I was super curious about the way Drake had teamed with the Love You Forever brand on a Nike sneaker line, which I thought was an amazing tap into the book’s nostalgia. I was also impressed with all that Sheila had done to date to protect the trademark.”

The book will celebrate its 40th anniversary in October 2026, and that will be the hook for the launch of the licensed products. The merchandise will be inspired by the relationships, memories, and milestones between parents and children that the book evokes. One of the first deals to be announced will be with a fabric and wallpaper partner for a full room treatment under the World of Love You Forever umbrella, with designs inspired by the book.

Other categories will include baby shower and baby gifts, keepsakes, nursery decor, infant and toddler apparel and accessories, health and beauty, jewelry, and seasonal gift-giving for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Grandparents’ Day, graduations, adoptions, and other milestones.

The Drake and Nike collaboration also continues with the late 2024 launch of the I Love You Forever sneakers in three colors: purple, yellow, and pink for Valentine’s Day.

In Brief

Wicked: For Good, the follow-up to last year’s Wicked feature film, debuts in theaters on November 21, and will be supported by tie-in books from a variety of publishers. HarperCollins will release Wicked: The Faces & Places of Oz. Insight Editions will offer Wicked: For Good: The Illustrated Lyrics, Wicked: Quotes of Grandiosity, and Wicked: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, as well as gift products including a tarot deck and guidebook, premium advent calendar, pen set, embroidered journal, deluxe stationery set, and set of three soft notebooks. Random House Children’s Books will publish the Little Golden Books I Am Fiyero and We Are Shiz, along with Ultimate Fan Editions of those two titles as well as I Am Elphaba and I Am Glinda, published in conjunction with the first film, and regular and Ultimate Fan Edition boxed sets of all four titles. Finally, Running Press will add a light-up mini shadow box with a sound clip of the song “Defying Gravity” and a mini book with images and quotes from the film.... Rizzoli will publish The Mattel Archive in October, under license from Mattel. The illustrated history celebrates Mattel’s 80th anniversary with full-page renditions of original printed Mattel catalogs and other archival images, the story of the company’s development over the decades and its famous brands.... Recently acquired licenses for Phidal’s My Busy Book series and other novelty formats include Spot, Dora the Explorer, Barney, and Peanuts.