DK Moves Into Middle-Grade Fiction With International, Award-Winning Cornelia Funke’s THE GREEN KINGDOM
Cornelia Funke, photo © Michael Orth.
DK has acquired their debut middle-grade fiction book, THE GREEN KINGDOM by the international, award-winning, and New York Times best-selling children’s author of The Inkheart Trilogy, Cornelia Funke, to be published in the United States and Canada in April 2025. Francesca Young, DK Children’s Publisher, obtained rights including ebook and audio. The audio book will be narrated by actress Jessica DiCicco.
THE GREEN KINGDOM is the story of twelve-year-old Caspia who has to spend the entire summer with her parents in Brooklyn. She hates big cities, especially New York – too many people, too loud, too dirty. When she discovers mysterious, old letters from a girl who traveled the world with her botanist father, each one opening with a puzzle, Caspia soon finds herself on a quest to solve them all.
Commenting on the deal, Young states, “Cornelia’s publishing is world renowned and I, like so many, have loved escaping to her magical worlds time and time again. The opportunity to bring Cornelia’s newest adventure into the US market wasn’t one I was going to miss. As DK builds its children’s fiction list it felt like the perfect match to have such an internationally renowned author here with us and we can’t wait for the world to be just as captivated by Caspia’s adventures as we are.”
Funke commented, “The books of DK Publishing have been glorious companions since I was able to read books in English and I am so thrilled that one of my books will now be part of this publishing program! I hope it is the first of many collaborations with DK.”
About Cornelia Funke
Cornelia is an award-winning and best selling German children’s author whose work has been published in 53 languages and sold well over 22 million copies worldwide. Her The Inkheart Trilogy – Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath – has sold more than six million copies worldwide with the first in the series adapted for film in 2008 starring Brendan Fraser and Helen Mirren.
Contributors
The book was co-written by Tammi Hartung, an ethnobotanical herbalist and organic farmer with more than forty years of experience and was translated from its original German by Anna Funke. The audio book is narrated by Daytime Emmy nominee, Jessica DiCicco, an actress and prolific voiceover artist known for her work in Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney animated television series including Winx Club, The Mighty B!, The Buzz on Maggie, and Adventure Time which have earned her worldwide recognition. Illustrations by Melissa Castrillón, an award-winning illustrator based near Cambridge, England.