Tokyopop moves into kids books with lines targeted towards 6-9 year olds and 8-12 year olds. It sounds like they want to come up with their own version of those Disney W.I.T.C.H. books. It is also another way for them to push their OEL/World/Global whatever they are calling their homegrown manga. Note that “Librarians and teachers are beyond excited about these initiatives because they know these manga programs will motivate kids to read.” I’m always in favor of motivating kids to read, but I don’t know if I’m “beyond excited”. It would take a lot more than this for me to be “beyond excited”. It seems like smart publishing move, and it is always good to have a variety of options available for kids.
Some commentary at Manga Blog and Precocious Curmudgeon.
8:11 pm on May 18th, 2006 1
I got caught up in the whole Tokyopop thing and bought a bunch of the comics for kids. They have quite a few Disney ones. I bought some of them, but I didn’t buy the ones like Josh and Drake… I don’t know if I’m THAT desparate for kids to read.
Here’s a list of them on Tokyopop’s site.
http://tokyopop.com/browse/agerating.php?ageratingid=1