Random House Graphic believes in the importance and power of comics storytelling, and the central place of visual literature in our world and culture today. The imprint’s mission is to transform the childhood reading experience by making high-quality graphic novels accessible to every type of reader. The imprint is made up of a team of experts in the format, led by Director Gina Gagliano, who came to Random House from First Second Books, and includes Senior Editor Whitney Leopard, previously an Editor at BOOM! Studios, and Designer Patrick Crotty, Co-Founder of Peow. RHG also will have a dedicated Marketing and PR Manager, Nicole Valdez, joining the team in August. The imprint’s debut list includes two middle-grade graphic novels, THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS by Johan Troïanowski and ASTER AND THE ACCIDENTAL MAGIC by Thom Pico and Karensac; the young adult graphic novel WITCHLIGHT by Jessi Zabarsky; and the chapter book graphic novel BUG BOYS by Laura Knetzger. Following the publication of these first four titles, Random House Graphic will publish a contemporary middle-grade by Lucy Knisley, the critically acclaimed, award-winning New York Times bestselling comic creator of Relish and Kid Gloves. Inspired by Knisley’s own childhood, STEPPING STONES follows a young girl forced to move with her mom from the city to a farm in the country, where she eventually gets a new stepfather and stepsisters. Publication is scheduled for May 2020. “Random House Graphic is dedicated to publishing the best in kids and YA graphic novels,” explains Gagliano. “It’s an incredibly exciting time for the graphic novel medium—with more readers coming to these stories, and new groundbreaking books being published, the category is expanding by leaps and bounds. We can’t wait to share our contributions to it with readers, booksellers, comic book sellers, educators, librarians, and everyone who loves books and comics.”                       THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS (on sale January 21, 2020) follows a young princess who finds her castle intolerably boring and runs away to find adventure, make friends, and learn more about the fantastical world around her. BUG BOYS (on sale February 11, 2020) is a chapter book that follows two young bugs as they learn about friendship and the science of the world around them. ASTER AND THE ACCIDENTAL MAGIC (on sale March 3, 2020) is an action-packed middle-grade adventure about a girl whose parents move their family to the middle of nowhere. Aster’s new home seems far from exciting, until she figures out that the countryside might have some magic in it. WITCHLIGHT (on sale April 14, 2020) is a queer YA fantasy romance, filled with friendship, family, falling in love, and dealing with the hardest bits of your past along the way. Additional titles to be published by Random House Graphic in 2020 include Kerry and the Knight of the Forest by Andi Watson, Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse, Séance Tea Party by Reimena Yee, Crabapple Trouble by Kaeti Vandorn, Donut Feed the Squirrels by Mika Song, The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen, and Suncatcher by Jose Pimienta. The RH Graphic program expands on the current list of acclaimed graphic novels published by Random House Children’s Books, including series like Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm; 5 Worlds by Mark Siegel and Alexis Siegel and illustrated by Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun; and Hilo by Judd Winick, as well as stand-alone titles including The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell. RH Graphic is an imprint of Random House Children’s Books (rhcbooks.com), the world’s largest English-language children’s trade book publisher. Creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books, novels, and nonfiction, the imprints of Random House Children’s Books bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series. Visit Random House Graphic online at @RHKidsGraphic | rhkidsgraphic.com

[caption id="attachment_116570" align="alignright" width="280"] Kate Sullivan with Carl Hiaasen[/caption] In tandem with this recognition, the July 11 edition of NEIBA News leads off with a feature article on Kate that reads, in part: “Kate has always loved books, and was known to spend way too much time in the local library as a child; she even became a library volunteer during Junior High. Her first paying job with books was at Barnes & Noble in downtown Boston, where part of her job was to work with publisher reps on backlist orders, and she eventually became one of them as the NE rep for Pocket Books. After a couple of years she moved to Washington, DC to work for Ballantine Books but discovered that the mid-Atlantic states were a little too warm for a northern girl and moved back to New England. Due to some perfect timing (and Chuck Dresner) she became a rep for the Random House Merchandise Division, later renamed Random House Children's Books, and the rest is history, a 31-year history. “When she's not selling, reading, merchandising, gift wrapping, driving, baking and selling some more, Kate can be found in a big old house in the country with her many rescue cats, inevitably doing a little more baking, gardening, home improving, and quilting. And always, more reading.”  

DARK ONE is a dramatic fantasy adventure that revolves around a young man who sees visions of a bizarre and outlandish land that turns out to be a real world—one where he is fated to become a ruthless tyrant. Sanderson will be transforming the DARK ONE series into a television drama and graphic novel. He is also creating a supplementary, multi-volume book series for potential publication by Random House Children’s Books that will explore the universe of the DARK ONE beyond the television storyline, and a podcast that will serve as a prequel-like addition to the television adaptation. “I’m used to painting a picture in words,” Sanderson said. “DARK ONE came to life when I freed myself to think of it as a project for actual visual media, with the setting, characters and outline all coming together. I’m excited to be able to partner with FremantleMedia North America and Random House Studio on this for television.” Sanderson was brought together with Random House Studio by Beverly Horowitz, SVP & Publisher, Delacorte, Random House Children’s Books. “Brandon Sanderson is one of the most exciting storytellers within the enormous group of authors published by the Penguin Random House group,” said Peter Gethers, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Random House Studio. “We are thrilled to be working with him to create one of his extraordinary worlds for a television audience for the first time.” Sanderson’s bestselling success features the MISTBORN trilogy, the RECKONERS series, and the STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE collection. He is the recipient of a number of awards, notably the Hugo for his novella, THE EMPEROR’S SOUL. His upcoming book, SKYWARD, will be published by the Delacorte Press imprint of RHCB in November. DARK ONE will be Sanderson’s first original production for television. Random House Studio is part of FremantleMedia North America, the US branch of FremantleMedia, a global force in scripted and non-scripted media content, and a production/distribution subsidiary of Bertelsmann's RTL Group.

Participants will have the opportunity to join Word-A-Thon events at local bookstores, complete with reading activities, and enter to win prizes on Seussville.com. Scripps National Spelling Bee and Carnival Cruise Lines are partnering with RHCB and DSE to support the challenge and track words this summer. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is promoting the Word Challenge at the annual national competition held outside Washington, D.C., happening this year May 27–June 1. Events will include a Word-A-Thon, a Dr. Seuss–themed spelling bee to be streamed live on the Bee’s Facebook page, as well as fun activities and special appearances by the Cat in the Hat at the Dr. Seuss Bus that will be on-site. Carnival Cruise Lines is challenging consumers to read the most Dr. Seuss words at sea beginning in early June. Carnival will host two large-scale events promoting the challenge on board, one in June and one in July, and will track the words read on board by guests, adding them to the word widget on Seussville.com. “Teaching children that reading could be fun was a lifelong goal of Ted’s,” says Susan Brandt, President of Dr. Seuss Enterprises. “It’s fitting that this program is taking the form of a challenge, as it was a challenge that inspired him to write The Cat in the Hat! We are so pleased to offer a program that encourages reading in a fun way, while also helping to prevent the summer reading slide.” Penguin Random House employees are not eligible to enter Dr. Seuss’s Word Challenge Sweepstakes, but if you would like to support the challenge and spread the word, please share the #SeussWordChallenge on social media. As a reminder, if you are posting to a personal or other non-PRH account you must include the hashtag #TeamPRH.    

The book will be divided into three parts: Activism, MSD Strong, and What Comes Next, with chapters within each part that include hard-hitting, passionate, and topical writing on activism, recovery, the national response, and most important, the way forward. Through their reporting, essays, and documentary photography and filmmaking, the students detail their thoughts, fears, dreams, and strategies for a better future. Student contributors include Ryan Deitsch, David Hogg, Christy Ma, Nikhita Nikoola, Delaney Tarr, and MSD students from the school newspaper, The Eagle Eye, and the school TV station, WMSD. “Writing this book is empowering the journalism students at MSD to capture their experiences, both positive and negative, since the tragic events that unfolded at our school on February 14,” says Falkowski. “We hope that writing these stories will inspire others to take up issues that are important to them and work toward positive change.” The book will show what it has been like to be in the middle of a swirling controversy that is driving a major public debate—all while recovering from trauma and tragedy. Students will share what they’ve learned about how to articulate their message, mobilize, energize, rally, and make themselves heard so that others can do the same with the issues that they care about. With this publication, Random House Children’s Books will make a donation to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Proceeds will be donated by the contributors to the school journalism programs at MSD. An audio edition will be published simultaneously by Listening Library. Emily Easton, VP, Publisher, Crown, negotiated the deal for North American rights with Rachel Horowitz of The Bent Agency, and will edit.