Nelvana and Scholastic Create Magic with Little Charmers Worldwide Publishing Program!

First Book to Launch with Retail Exclusive in Spring 2016

TORONTO, March 18, 2015 /CNW/ - Corus Entertainment's Nelvana, a leading international producer and distributor of content for kids and families, announced today that it has signed a publishing deal with Scholastic, granting them worldwide English-language rights to produce a range of preschool books in a number of formats based on the brand new, spell-binding series, Little Charmers.

As the master storybook licensee, Scholastic plans to launch the series in the U.S. and Canada in Spring 2016 with two storybooks entitled "Meet the Charmers" and "Double Trouble." Additional formats including 8x8s, Readers, Paper-over-Board, Activity Books, and eBooks will follow throughout the rest of 2016 at retail as well as through Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs. Scholastic UK and Scholastic Australia/New Zealand will roll out the series in Fall 2016 in their territories.

"It's incredibly exciting to announce Scholastic as the global English-language publishing partner for the Little Charmers brand," said Andrew Kerr, Co-Head, Nelvana Enterprises. "As world leaders in licensed children's publishing and with direct access to the school market, Scholastic is the ideal partner to introduce and extend the Little Charmers experience for girls everywhere."

"Scholastic has been charmed by Little Charmers!" said Debra Dorfman, VP, Publisher at Scholastic. "We're thrilled to work with Nelvana to bring this magical, friendship-filled, humorous world of Charmville to life in our books. Hazel and her best friends Posie and Lavender are sure to win little girls' hearts everywhere."

Little Charmers, produced by Nelvana and Spin Master, takes place in the whimsical land of Charmville where three "Charmers-In-Training" embark on spellbinding adventures that always seem to stir up amusing situations. Led by the spirited and energetic go-getter, Hazel, and accompanied by her two best friends, Posie and Lavender, the three Charmers try their best to make use of their new magical powers but come to find that their magic often creates more problems than it solves. Along the way they learn that the most important power is that of true friendship and that a little teamwork and self-confidence will overcome whatever mishap their magic creates.

Little Charmers currently airs on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. in the U.S. and Treehouse in Canada.

About Nelvana
Nelvana is a world-leading international producer and distributor of children's animated and live-action content. Nelvana produces a stable of award-winning and globally renowned brands that focus on comedies, preschool and boys action series and ancillary consumer products programs. Nelvana's content airs on Corus Entertainment's kids channels in Canada and in over 160 countries around the world. The Nelvana library has well over 4,000 episodes of programming and has received over 70 major international program awards including Emmys® and Geminis. Visit the Nelvana website at www.nelvana.com.

About Spin Master Ltd.
A multi-category children's entertainment company, Spin Master has been designing, developing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer products for children around the world since 1994 and is recognized as a global leader within the toy industry. Spin Master is best known for award winning, innovative brands including action phenomena Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, Zoomer™, Air Hogs®, and Spin Master Games™ including 2014 Game of the Year, Boom Boom Balloon ™. In 2013 Spin Master acquired the international Meccano™ brand and has re-launched the brand with the iconic Meccanoid G15 KS™, introducing robotics and embracing the global Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) movement. In 2015 the company expanded its reach within children's media and entertainment, launching SpindoTV, a YouTube channel dedicated to broadcasting Spin Master Entertainment's original television and media properties, including the hit animated preschool series, PAW Patrol™. Spin Master employs over 900 people with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Munich, and Milan.

For more about Scholastic, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com

SOURCE Corus Entertainment Inc.

Kate Calder, Publicist, Corus Entertainment, 416.479.6319, [email protected]