James Patterson.
Leave it to author James Patterson, a fierce advocate of reading and school libraries whose books help define the term “page-turner,” to launch a new children’s book imprint, Jimmy Patterson. The aim is to leave kids hungry to read more.
Jimmy Patterson will be an imprint of Little, Brown, part of the Hachette Book Group and Patterson’s long-term publisher. “My passion is to get kids reading,” the best-selling scribe said in a phone interview from Palm Beach, FL, where he lives and works most of the year. “My mission of this imprint is to get every kid to say, ‘Please give me another book.’ And we’re going to deliver on it.”
The first Jimmy Patterson book will be Treasure Hunters: Secret of the Forbidden City (September 14), the third story in Patterson’s “Treasure Hunter” series. Other authors will be invited to publish as well, and eight to 12 books will be released each year—all of which Patterson says he will personally approve. An executive editor is also being hired, according to a spokesperson.
Profits from the books will go towards Patterson’s current efforts including ReadKiddoRead, a nonprofit website that offers lesson plans for books, reading lists by age, and books reviews. School libraries will also continue to benefit—Patterson has pledged approximately $1.5 million to them over the years.
“This new imprint is an exciting way of combining [Patterson’s] force as the world’s best-selling author with his inspiring message about getting kids reading,” said Michael Pietsch, CEO of the Hachette Book Group, in a statement. Pietch co-announced the imprint’s launch today. “I can’t think of anyone better equipped with tools and experiences to revolutionize children’s book publishing.”
In addition to publishing new titles, Patterson is working to get children’s books more exposure—and into kids’ hands. He has reached out to Walmart, he says, asking the retailer to increase its stock of children’s books, as well as McDonald’s, requesting the fast food restaurant chain to put out more reading material geared to children.
With the emphasis he sees today on physical fitness and workouts, Patterson wonders why activities that exercise the brain aren’t as actively pursued. Students should think that reading and going to the library are just as cool as playing soccer, he believes.
“We’re obsessed with keeping off that 10 pounds,” he says. “We also need to be exercising the muscle in the mind.”
Patterson recalls a childhood in Newburgh, NY, filled with “The Hardy Boys” mysteries and comic books. “A fine start,” says Patterson, who has more than 130 titles under his belt, for middle schoolers up to adults. Since his mother was an elementary school teacher for 47 years, Patterson says, he has a deep respect for educators—from teachers to librarians. But he believes that well-meaning educators sometimes push the spinach, so to speak, of foisting reading materials onto kids that can end up turning them away from the printed page.
“If we taught movies in the schools, and started with Ingmar Bergman movies, kids would go, ‘I don’t like movies that much,’” he says. “Unfortunately that’s how we expose kids to reading by giving them material that’s not interesting to them. I don’t think it’s a case of dumbing down. I think this is an issue of what’s appropriate.”