WHO ARE WE?
Hodder Children's Books and Hodder Wayland publish some of the most respected books in children’s publishing.

Wayland is known as a benchmark non-fiction brand representing both consistent quality of educational content, and an up to date and appealingly child friendly approach to design.   Hodder Children’s Books is home to a cross-section of respected and prize-winning writers and illustrators, and to some of the brightest new talents in fiction for children and young adults.  In 2003 we published the winner of the Whitbread Children’s Award (Hilary Mckay for Saffy’s Angel) and had two picture books on the prestigious shortlist for the Greenaway Prize (Lauren Child for Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book and David Melling for The Kiss That Missed).    Numerous shortlistings and winners for regional and more specialist prizes continue to appear throughout each year.

Illustrators and writers to join the list recently and enjoy almost immediate success include David Melling, David Lee Stone, Joan O’Neill and Neal Layton..and we watch with real excitement as some of our illustrators and authors try their hand at new genres – as Cressida Cowell demonstrates so spectacularly  with her first work of fiction – How to Train Your Dragon. 

KEY STATISTICS AND AUTHORS

We continue to enjoy the unique success of Lucy Daniels' ANIMAL ARK., which has now sold over  7 million books, still wins the hearts and minds of young animal lovers, and which will officially reach ‘Classic’ status in 2004 on the 10^th birthday of  its first creation.  New series launches include The Magic Shop titles by Bruce Coville, and the first three Safari Summer adventures, published complete with their own website in the Summer of 2003.

Already over her first million within a year of publishing – the unstoppable Felicity, created by Emma Thomson, moves from pop-up and gift books into Felicity wishes fiction in 2004, enforcing her reputation as everyone’s favourite fairy!

Internationally renowned illustrator and author Mick Inkpen continues to innovate  - with the arrival of an entirely different landscape in ‘Blue Nose Island’ -but has not forgotten his established national treasures Wibbly Pig and Kipper, who appear in memorable new stories and adventures, and new formats, each year. 

The release of Fire-Eaters by David Almond in the late Summer of 2003 confirms his status as one of the very finest writers for children anywhere in the world – and one of the few who is as challenging and rewarding an author for adults as he is for children.   Visit his website www.davidalmond.com for more information and biographical details, and for audio samples of his own readings of his work.

In non-fiction, we cover a huge range of interests from the highly illustrated (and highly acclaimed) Gold by Stephen Biesty and Meredith Hooper, to John and Mary Gribbin’s study ‘The science of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy’ with a forward by Philip Pullman and a major launch event in the Autumn of 2003.

Hodder Headline has always been committed to World Book Day,  with Jenny Oldfield’s £1 book  for 2003 ‘Tough it Out Tom’ selling tremendously well, becoming a top 5 bestseller for several consecutive weeks in the Spring of 2003, and building on her status as one of our most successful writers of fiction for children of all ages.

MORE TO LOOK OUT FOR

…a variety of fresh, challenging and funny writing in BITE – our teenage imprint dedicated to accessible and contemporary issues – in fiction and non-fiction.

…rewarding and original poetry from the likes of John Agard and Brian Moses, published under our new Poetry Powerhouse banner.  Poetry Powerhouse is also home to an innovative new approach to poetry publishing – on CD – as the most sensible and rewarding way to enjoy and appreciate performance poetry in schools and at home.  Look out for a dedicated Poetry Powerhouse website to be launched soon: www.poetrypowerhouse.co.uk complete with audio samples.

Back-up the learning experience with Superphonics, Supermaths and Hodder  Home Learning,  and develop your self-esteem  with Flirtology, XY, the terrifically well-reviewed Bullies, Bigmouths and So-Called friends, and a new series of light-hearted books on Mind Body and Spirit subjects – ‘Amazing You’.

The roster of wonderful names we publish is too long to include in its entirety, but includes: Joan Aiken, Jean Ure, Celia Rees, Helen Cresswell, The children’s laureate Michael Morpurgo,  Paul Zindel, Robin Jarvis, David Belbin, Rachel Anderson, Catherine Fisher, W J Corbett,  Joan Lingard, Tanith Lee, Ian Whybrow, Vivian French,  multiple award-winner Geraldine McCaughrean,  Kathryn Cave and Paul Stewart, Chris Riddell, Colin Bateman, Bali Rai, Ken Oppel and Jenny Oldfield.

Visit the Wayland website www.hodderwayland.co.uk for more information about our educational publishing, and for details of our secure weblinks site, designed to help encourage online study in a safe environment.