Christian Retailing

New publishing imprint to offer children’s books, animated videos Print Email
Written by Kiersti Adams   
Wednesday, 08 April 2015 03:53 PM America/New_York

Sparkhouse-logoSparkhouse, a division of Augsburg Fortress, has announced its new children’s trade imprint, sparkhouse Family. The imprint’s launch list will release on August 4, 2015, and it will include three illustrated Bibles, six picture books, and eight DVDs containing animated videos.

Sparkhouse, a leading provider of curriculum resources for churches, is leveraging its long-standing expertise in faith-based multimedia resources to offer parents a broad selection of products that are both faith-filled and entertaining for today’s children.

“The team here at sparkhouse excels in using creativity and storytelling to create inspiring, Bible-based learning. Extending those efforts into the trade market is a natural next step," says Tim Paulson, sparkhouse’s vice president & publisher.

The imprint launches with a variety of appealing picture books, illustrated Bibles, and animated videos. For example, the Spark Bible Stories series of picture books launches with The Story of Creation and The Story of Moses and God’s Promise, richly illustrated stories perfect for reading aloud. The Holy Moly product line focuses on hilarious, accessible retellings of Bible stories that encourage kids’ creative engagement with them.

The line contains an illustrated Bible, a series of picture books, and an animated DVD series. The Whirl product line offers two animated video series-Whirl: Ada & Friends for ages 3-6 and Whirl: Leo & Friends for ages 7-10-that each focus on a group of kids navigating age-appropriate real-life problems using biblical values. Finally, the Connect: Becky & Todd’s Bible Adventures line launches with an animated series featuring a group of preteen kids running a community theater that specializes in theatrical productions of Bible stories.

More titles in each of these series will follow in October 2015 and February 2016, and the imprint plans to build out future lists with additional types of faith-based children’s multimedia products.

Jill Braithwaite has been hired as Director of Product Development for the Sparkhouse Family imprint. Braithwaite formerly led product development at both Capstone and Red Line Editorial.

More details about the imprint and its launch list can be found at sparkhouse.org.