Simon & Schuster Imprint Acquires Amelia Rules!

Amelia Rules / Renassaince Press

On October 7th, Ginee Seo Books, an imprint of Atheneum/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, announced it had acquired the world rights to Jimmy Gownley’s graphic series Amelia Rules! The all-ages comic had previously been self published by Mr. Gownley through Renaissance Press.

“It was important for me to find the perfect home for Amelia Rules!, and I strongly believe Simon & Schuster and Ginee Seo Books are a great match,” says Mr. Gownley.

Simon & Schuster plans to reprint the first four already published Amelia Rules! books over the next two years, with Amelia Rules!: The Whole World’s Crazy scheduled to be published in Spring 2009 and the last reprint, Amelia Rules!: When the Past is a Present, slated for release in Spring 2010. Amelia Rules! #5: The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular will be the first original Simon & Schuster publication. Both cloth and paper should come out simultaneously in Fall 2010. 

Amelia Rules! is graphic storytelling for children at its finest. I reviewed 2008’s Free Comic Book Day sample on this site.

Scott Robins interviews Mr. Gownleyfor Good Comics for Kids, discussing the new arrangement with Simon & Schuster and the future of his pro-comics organization Kids Love Comics.

“We are actually talking with New York Comic Con right now and working on doing some events for their Kids’ Day, which is Sunday Feb 8th,” says Jimmy Gownley. ”They are really excited about a new design for the Kids’ Day area and I believe it will be a fantastic event for families. Kids will be able to spend the whole day there and be very interactive with the programs and cartoonists. It should be a blast and we can’t wait!”