DHX MEDIA ANNOUNCES RASTAMOUSE PUBLISHING LICENSE

STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 19.10.11

EVERYTING IS IRIE AT MACMILLAN. RASTAMOUSE IS ON HIS WAY

Macmillan Children’s Books is delighted to announce that they have acquired publishing rights in Rastamouse, the adventures of the cool crime-fighting mouse and global superstar, from DHX Media, a world leader in producing and distributing groundbreaking family entertainment.

The licence, which was heavily sought after by other UK children’s publishers, will enable Macmillan to publish a wide range of Rastamouse products – storybooks, sound books, graphic novels, annuals and eBooks among others.  The first of these will launch in the UK in Spring 2012.

Rastamouse, the mystery-solving skate-boarder and his reggae band, Da Easy Crew, have proved a hit not only with the under-sixes but also with a growing number of their parents and students too.

Created by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza, and developed from the original books published by Little Roots, Rastamouse and his band was one of the highlights of this year’s Glastonbury, and the group’s celebrity fans include Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal, Alexandra Burke and Simon Pegg.

Suzanne Carnell, Publishing Director of Illustrated at MCB, said: “I fell for Rastamouse the first time I saw him and so did the rest of my team! We’re thrilled to be the publisher of this lovable CBeebies star and look forward to working with him and Da Easy Crew.’

Rastamouse added: “Dem is some seriously talented people at Macmillan. Mi and da Crew cyant wait to start makin’ some irie books wid dem.”

Following the launch of the TV series in January 2011, the show has risen to be one of CBeebies’ top animated programmes on the channel and the BBC iPlayer, whilst YouTube clips of the action are receiving hundreds of thousands of hits.

A Rastamouse Company Production for CBeebies, Rastamouse is produced by Greg Boardman and Eugenio Perez of Three Stones Media, in association with Dinamo Productions, Little Roots and DHX Media, which handles worldwide TV sales (excluding the UK) and worldwide licensing and merchandising.  The production is supported by the Wales Creative IP Fund.

Follow us on Twitter @rastamouse_irie.

For more information, please contact:
Ruth Cairns at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 or ruth@colmangetty.co.uk

For DHX Media
Aimee Norman at Blueprint PR Tel: +44 (0) 208 341 6171 or aimee@blueprintpr.co.uk
Anthony Jiwa, DHX Media, Tel: +1 604 684 2363 x215 or anthony.jiwa@dhxmedia.com
Kelly Kimball, Tel +1 (310) 271 1400 or kkimball@wildbrain.com

About Macmillan Children’s Books
Macmillan Children’s Books is one of the UK’s leading children’s publishers. A division of Pan Macmillan, Macmillan Children’s Books publishes over 300 books a year. We have won all major awards such as the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize, The Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize and the Blue Peter and Red House Book Awards. We also added the British Design and Production Book of the Year – with Emily Gravett’s Little Mouse’s Book of Big Fears – to our list. In 2010 we saw our market share increase in the UK market place with growth of 9% in a declining children’s market. Particular sales successes have been The Gruffalo, which has sold a whopping 2 million copies in the UK alone, Andy Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes books and Alyson Noel’s The Immortals series which sold over 320k copies in the UK in its first year.  The list is filled with groundbreaking and prize winning books including the incomparable Judy Blume, the magical Eva Ibbotson and the irresistible Frank Cottrell Boyce among others. We are proud to be publishing Frank’s much-anticipated sequel to Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this autumn. Our heritage also includes Alice in Wonderland, Milly Molly Mandy and Just William.

About DHX Media
DHX Media, together with its subsidiary, W!LDBRAIN Entertainment, is a leading international family entertainment rights creation and management company with three-award-winning production facilities, worldwide distribution and a global consumer products business.  DHX Media has produced over 40 original television series and maintains a library of over 2,500 half-hours of animation and live-action programming.  DHX Media has offices in Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver, Los Angeles and London.  DHX Media is listed on the TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange).  www.dhxmedia.com