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James Patterson is launching a children’s book imprint at Little, Brown & Company called jimmy patterson that will be unwaveringly focused on one goal: turning kids into lifelong readers. The announcement was made today by Michael Pietsch, Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Book Group, and Reagan Arthur, Senior Vice President and Publisher of Little, Brown and Company.
The defining mission of jimmy patterson will reflect Patterson’s most heartfelt goals: to inspire kids to become willing, self-propelled readers; to help teachers, booksellers, and librarians get the tools, opportunities, and skills they need to accomplish this important duty; and to identify the right books for each child by celebrating a compelling diversity of human voices and experiences.
The imprint’s purpose is not just to publish compulsively readable books by James Patterson and other writers, but also to provide resources, strategies, and programs that serve the country’s librarians, booksellers, teachers, and parents. Patterson’s profits from the imprint will go to scholarships for teachers; helping bookstores; supporting school libraries; increasing the reach of his pro-reading website, ReadKiddoRead; and distributing books to kids who can’t afford them.
“James Patterson is a man on a mission: to save lives by making great books available to all kids,” Pietsch said. “This new imprint is an exciting way of combining his force as the world’s best-selling author with his inspiring message about getting kids reading. I can’t think of anyone better equipped with tools and experiences to revolutionize children’s book publishing. With his deep commitment to reading and his let’s-solve-this-problem approach, he is the ideal founder for an imprint that aligns with Hachette Book Group’s tradition of fostering creativity and encouraging risk-taking and innovation.”
Over the past decade, Patterson has endeavored to find new ways to get books into kids’ hands. In addition to publishing four to six children’s books a year, his recent efforts have included a campaign to make reading a national priority for President Obama; launching the #1 pro-reading not-for-profit website on the Internet, ReadKiddoRead; giving hundreds of thousands of books to some of the most under-resourced schools in the country; donating more than $1 million to independent bookstores with children’s sections; donating $1.5 million to school libraries across the country; and funding scholarships at twenty-four colleges and universities.
For Patterson, this is only the beginning. With his new imprint, the bestselling author will do even more because he sees reading as crucial to all children’s success.
James Patterson says:
As a reader, as a writer, and as a believer in the power of books, I would love to see our president stand up at his next press conference and proudly announce that during the last year or so of his term he was going to devote himself to getting kids reading.
Because if we accomplish that—just that—we will dramatically increase the number of kids who finish high school in this country and thus have a better chance of going on to college or getting better jobs. We will create a more informed populace. With better citizens. Better voters. Better workers. Better spouses. Better parents. Better human beings.
If I could wave a wand I would love to hear that Amazon is devoting itself to becoming the savior of reading across this country. And that McDonald’s is promoting reading in all of its restaurants. And that Walmart and Target are dedicating the book sections of their stores to the noble task of getting kids reading better.
In the meantime—here I am. Introducing a new and startlingly different imprint for kids’ books at Little, Brown. It’s called jimmy patterson. Our mission is simple: that every kid who finishes a jimmy book will say, “Please give me another book.” What could be better than that? Mom, Dad, Grandma, local school board, U.S. Department of Education: “Please give me another book.”
What makes jimmy patterson different is simple: My profits will go to scholarships for teachers, helping bookstores survive, helping school libraries in their time of great need, increasing the reach of ReadKiddoRead.com, and distributing books to kids who can’t afford them.
It’s simple. It’s a start. I call on others to please help where you can.
Once again, our mission: That every kid who finishes a jimmy book will say, “Please give me another book.”
