Olivia, the curly-tailed heroine, will be back in a new installment of Ian Falconer’s series. Olivia and the Fairy Princesses, a picture book, is set to be published next fall by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, part of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. This will be the seventh book in the series.

In Olivia and the Fairy Princesses, Olivia is on a quest for individuality. She aims to be the most original princess around, looking at different professions for ideas on how to be unlike everyone else. Eventually she realizes that she is her own best source for inspiration.

Over six million of Falconer’s Olivia books have been sold in 22 territories. The Nick Jr. series Olivia debuted in 2009.

The agreement was negotiated by Jon Anderson, executive vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, and Conrad Rippy of Levine Plotkin & Menin, LLP. The deal includes audio and all translation rights.

This post was originally written by Ericka Johnson and published by ToyBook.com. For more news, visit www.toybook.com, follow The Toy Book on Twitter, and like The Toy Book on Facebook. The Toy Book is a bimonthly trade magazine covering the toy industry, published by Adventure Publishing Group.

Image Credit: Nick Jr.

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has announced the release of The Band Book, a book dedicated to the rubber band craze that is popular with kids today. The Band Book features funny pictures, trivia, and an “Ultimate Collector’s Checklist” that includes a complete listing of all bands.

Additionally, Simon & Schuster is releasing The Band App for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The App allows users to blend bands together to create their own unique designs and then share their creations with friends.  The Band App can be bought on the Apple App Store for 99 cents, and both The Band App and The Band Book can be purchased at http://pages.simonandschuster.com/thebandapp.

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing has announced a new multimedia, interactive reading experience, the U-Ventures: Return to the Cave of Time application available on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad . The company worked with software developer Expanded Books/Expanded Apps and Edward Packard, creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, to create the multimedia version of the book, complete with sounds, light, and other special effects.

The application can be purchased on iTunes for $3.99. A second story, U-Ventures: the Black Hole, will be released later in the summer, and U-Ventures: the Forbidden Castle will be released in the fall.

Chorion has announced that the first wave of Olivia consumer products will hit store shelves in the U.S. starting with back-to-school 2010.

Global master toy licensee Spin Master will support its range of Olivia preschool girls’ toys with a major TV advertising campaign and promotional in-store marketing programs. Other categories for the upcoming Olivia launch will include games, publishing, puzzles, novelty, DVDs, apparel, and accessories. Plans are in place for dedicated Olivia sections at retailers such as Toys “R” Us, Target, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. International consumer products are scheduled for a 2011 release with TV tie-in books paving the way in key markets.

Nickelodeon Home Video in the U.S. will launch a holiday DVD, Merry Christmas Olivia, on October 5. Original publisher Simon & Schuster will also release Olivia Claus, a TV tie-in holiday title, on the same day,

Chorion has also inked a deal with Hachette Jeunesse for Olivia TV tie-in books to be published in France starting this fall with more titles to follow next year.

The company also announces the appointment of Bavaria Sonor to represent the licensing and merchandising rights to the property in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Bavaria Sonor will be responsible for developing products in all licensing categories.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has announced that Tony DiTerlizzi, author and illustrator of The Spiderwick Chronicles, is writing a new middle-school series called The Search for WondLa. The first book in the series, also called The Search for WondLa, will be published on September 21, with a first printing of 300,000 copies.

The Search for WondLa is a fantastical story about a space-age adventure and a child’s wish to belong:

“When an intruder destroys the underground sanctuary that Eva Nine was raised in by her robot, Muthr, the twelve-year-year-old girl is forced to flee aboveground: somewhere she’s never been before. Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her, for she knows that other humans exist, because of an item she treasure, a scrap of cardboard on which is depicted a young girl, an adult, and a robot, with the strange word,  ‘WondLa.’”

The book will feature two-color two-page spread, spot illustrations, and for those readers with a webcam, “Augmented Reality” in several places.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers negotiated the deal with the Gotham Group. The deal includes world and audio rights.

Catch up on last week’s news! Read The Toy Book Toy Report for 01/13/10.

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Chorion has signed a deal with TysToyBox.com to launch an Olivia shop at the e-tailer’s website for North America. TysToyBox.com will feature new Olivia products, including exclusive personalized T-shirts and DVDs based on the animated preschool series. Olivia merchandise will be available on Ty’s Toy Box shop in Canada later this year.

This month, Chorion will also launch an Olivia website, www.myolivia.com, that will feature games, printables, and information on Olivia and the show. Additionally, Simon & Schuster will produce a range of Olivia TV tie-in books that will be available starting this month. Spin Master has been named the global master toy partner for the property and will develop preschool girl’s toys, with a rollout planned for fall 2010.