
Papp International Takes ‘Little Prince’ into New Formats, Channels
When Papp International, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024, acquired fellow Canadian publisher Chouette in October 2023, it brought the ancillary publishing program for The Little Prince, formerly overseen by Chouette and its CrackBoom! imprint, into its licensing portfolio and gave it the opportunity to significantly expand the program.
The publisher has just closed a deal with the estate of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and its U.S.-based licensing agent, Licensing Works!, to become the lead publisher for ancillary publishing in the Americas. (HarperCollins continues to publish the original book.) Papp also holds rights for co-editions in certain territories not covered by other publishing licensees, including Greece and several Eastern European countries.
“Many of us here [at Papp] learned about The Little Prince in school or received a copy for Christmas,” said Shannae Nitti, Papp’s sales and marketing director. “It’s exciting to bring it to a new generation of kids. We have fantastic formats with great traction globally, and we knew we could take it to the next level.”
Chouette’s program, which launched in 2021, included four board books and a sticker activity book, which were sold into the book trade. Papp’s distribution extends the reach to retailers across distribution tiers, from the value channel to high-end boutiques, which is appropriate for this globally beloved property, according to Sidney Piché-Rouillard, licensing and brand manager. “It’s for everybody,” she said.
A new title in the board book series, I Discover Space with The Little Prince, is coming out in March 2025, in English and French editions. Other key formats Papp is adding to the program, to start with, include activity-based formats such as water magic, flip books, and sticker-activity titles that use the character to help develop a love of learning, as well as value-added kits that make great gifts and work well in boutique retail settings where other Little Prince merchandise can be found. All the titles will remain housed within Papp’s CrackBoom! imprint.


The aim is to start with three to four formats per year, supplemented by custom titles requested by retailers. “We want to be a bit conservative so we can continue to build, and so we can put the thought into it to do it justice,” Nitti said.
All told, Papp now has rights to a wide variety of categories, including arts and crafts titles, educational formats like flash cards and educational floor pads, bilingual and language-learning books, readers, novelty formats including bath, sound, and cloth books, and more, according to Jill Collins, head of retail partnerships and promotions for LicensingWorks! “This hugely expands the program,” she said. “It’s a comprehensive ancillary publishing program with so many layers.”
Papp’s list caters primarily to children up to age 12, and it plans to offer something to each age group within that range, marrying the property with all of its popular formats as well as creating new formats for the brand. There is potential for some more adult-skewing formats like sticker-by-number books as well. “In our display at Bologna we had a small section of The Little Prince and people’s eyes just lit up when they saw it,” Nitti said.
The Little Prince brand, which is managed by the author’s family through two organizations, Sodex and Pomase, has 380 active consumer products licensees around the world. The original book remains at the center of all brand extension, whether they be entertainment productions or consumer products. “The ethos, message, characters, and affinity of the brand all extend from the original book, and the ancillary publishing is a lead category in expanding the brand,” Collins said.
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