PW says that Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has launched the first branded tween imprint: Aladdin MIX. The line, which includes a mix of paperback originals and reprints, debuts this week with six titles: The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney by Lauren Barnholdt, The Melting of Maggie Bean by Tricia Rayburn, In the Cards: Love by Mariah Frederick, Totally Joe by James Howe, There's a Girl in My Hammerlock by Jerry Spinelli, and Just Another Day in My Insanely Real Life [Full disclosure: just how many titles does that remind you of? My So-Called Life? Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life? Other?] by Barbara Dee.
In the article, Rubin Pfeffer, senior v-p and publisher at S&S Children's Publishing, says, "There are about 30 million kids between the ages of nine and 13," he says, "and we wanted to create a program of books that deal with this age group, who are coming of age in a contemporary way." Pfeffer points out that other industries are targeting this market, which has a lot of buying power, and figured S&S should try it as well. The books that will be included in the imprint are those he describes as "stories about self-identity and self-esteem, and books about being in that transition, with children on their way to being pre-teens."
The books will also be promoted through a road tour this fall, which will include Melissa de la Cruz (for her new The Ashleys series), Rachel Cohn (for her Two Steps Forward reprint) and Jenny Han (for her Shug reprint). PW says that other authors will most likely join them, but details haven't been finalized yet.
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