Hodder Children’s Books are excited to announce the acquisition of three film tie-in PARANORMAN titles.
The deal was brokered through LAIKA, who produced Academy Award-nominated animated feature Coraline.
A hilarious and spooky adventure for children age 9+ — soon to be a major motion picture!
In a quaint New England town with a history of witches and pilgrims, misunderstood eleven-year-old Norman Babcock can see and talk to ghosts. No one believes him, of course — everyone just thinks he’s weird (including his parents). But when a folktale of a witch who cursed her accusers turns out to be true, it’s up to Norman to save the town from pilgrim zombies! In addition to the zombies, he takes on a very angry witch, an annoying side-kick, his boy-crazy teenage sister, and dozens of moronic grown-ups who get in his way. This young ghoul whisperer finds his paranormal talents pushed to their otherworldly limits! Featuring gorgeous black-and-white interior illustrations and a story beyond what you’ll see in the film, this novel is sure to delight.
The publishing programme features ParaNorman, an original illustrated novel written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, author of the popular Suddenly Supernatural series. Working closely with ParaNorman’s writer/director Chris Butler, Kimmel provides an exciting expanded version of the film’s story that is illustrated throughout with black-and-white illustrations. No stranger to writing about the paranormal world, Kimmel brings humour, heart, and supernatural charm to Norman’s trials and tribulations that will have readers eagerly anticipating the chance to see the movie in 3D.
Anne McNeil Publishing Director Hodder Children’s Books says: ‘I was delighted to acquire the ParaNorman tie-in publishing rights. This is a project which shines with quality. The concept, storyline and art samples which I saw at Bologna 2010 were really the ‘must have’ of the bookfair. ParaNorman sits perfectly on the Hodder Children’s list alongside titles like How to Train Your Dragon. We look forward very much to working with our sister company in the States to develop quality innovative book publishing.’