Thinking big: Little Simon UK reflects on the imprint’s first year
Isobel Booth and Mara van der Meer outline their plans and priorities for S&S’ new early-years list.
Caroline Carpenter is children's editor and deputy features editor at The Bookseller magazine, where she also writes the magazine’s monthly
...moreCaroline Carpenter is children's editor and deputy features editor at The Bookseller magazine, where she also writes the magazine’s monthly
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It has been 12 months since Simon & Schuster Children’s Books launched pre-school and novelty imprint Little Simon UK at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, “inspired by the success” of the long-standing US list of the same name. “A lot has changed in a year,” says Isobel Booth, pre-school and novelty editorial director. “We’ve been reminiscing about this with our Bologna deadlines, because [at the start of 2025] we were sending our very first books off to get printed. Now, we’ve got lots of titles.”
Booth joined S&S in August 2024 to set up the new imprint. A couple of months later, Mara van der Meer came on board as pre-school and novelty art director. Both began their careers at Ladybird and have been “completely immersed in novelty and pre-school” ever since. Van der Meer, who previously spent 11 years as Priddy Books’ art director, says of the move to S&S: “The opportunity to start up a new list from scratch very rarely comes up, so that made it incredibly appealing for me.”
Booth agrees and reflects on working in pre-school and novelty publishing: “It’s so creative and there are so many different things to think about in terms of making it fun, making it safe, making it easy for people to use… I just love the layers of that challenge.” Both note that the market for early-years books has changed significantly since they started out. “It’s got a lot more challenging because the competition is incredible,” states Van der Meer. Another complication is the increased price of including novelty elements. “The challenge now with the cost so high is to still make something impactful… You’ve got to be more clever, more creative, which is great fun.”
Booth adds: “I think it’s an exciting time to be working. We’re seeing a lot of innovation from printers.” She continues: “The other thing that’s really changed in the pre-school space is how many brands are coming down into this younger area… there’s so much that people recognise and know and love already, so trying to elbow some of them off the shelves is a challenge.” One way they intend to do this is by adapting some of S&S’ bestselling picture-book brands for the pre-school and novelty audience, including Benji Davies’ Storm Whale series, Chris and Rosie Ramsey’s There’s a Poonami… titles and the bestselling Supertato range by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet (building on their recent work consulting on a Supertato lift-the-flap picture book).
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“That’s going to be our focus over the next year or so, to start really getting to grips with the picture-book brands,” says Van der Meer, “And of course, our new stuff too. I get incredibly excited about any new formats, and that’s what we would like to focus on – like the Tuck Me In series.” Booth snapped up the titles (which features sturdy pockets with cut-out play pieces on every page) from author-illustrator Naomi Tipping after a video of the handmade dummy Tipping designed for her MA in children’s book illustration went viral on social media. The first two titles will publish this July, with two more to follow in 2027, and another series from Tipping also in the works.
Booth says: “We just loved the idea so much, it’s so clever. It’s all about play, all about these cats having their own life outside the book, and then you tuck them safely into bed. But turning a beautiful, handmade dummy into something you can sell was a real challenge.” Van der Meer adds: “It took us about six months to get to the final iteration.” The art director has also come up with her own new format series, Tickle My Tummy, which features floating tactiles that wiggle when the characters’ stomachs are tickled. It launches in 2027 and is a key range for Little Simon at this Bologna.
Playing the long game
The Little Simon UK team works to a 13-month critical path, producing books so far ahead of publication date to ensure they can be pitched at two book fairs before paper orders are finalised, with the pair currently working on the list for 2028. They praise the S&S Children’s rights team for the fact that the list is launching into 16 languages this year. “The in-house support from sales and rights has been phenomenal,” says Booth. “Everyone really believes in this list, and that means that we can deliver formats of the highest quality… So we’ll always be commissioning and acquiring with that in mind, and we are trying to cater for the global child.” In their regular meetings with foreign publishers, they are seeing interest in “anything format-wise that is different… which is right up our street”.
Despite the long lead time, they are prepared to move faster for a special project. One example of this is the Magic Milestones series by child behavioural expert Amanda Jenner, which kicks off with Ready for My Potty this June. These titles cover important toddler-first experiences and feature pull-tabs that slide to reveal stars to reward and reassure children as they tackle new challenges. They also mention Nik-Nak Bunny: Footballer, a new volume in a narrative-led novelty series written by Carys Bexington and illustrated by Jenny Wren, which has been turned around quickly to publish ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
Booth describes it as “so serendipitous” that the first Little Simon UK books are released in the National Year of Reading. “It feels like exactly the right time to be bringing a new list to market… We’re just trying to meet families where they are, and I think that really embodies the mission of the National Year of Reading.” One way that they plan to reach consumers is with a Little Simon UK installation at Edinburgh International Book Festival, which they are currently designing. “It will be great for getting people engaged with what we’re already doing,” says Booth, “but it will also help us learn from how the children interact with things.”
Little Simon UK will publish between 15 and 25 books annually. Booth’s dream for the future of the list is to “meet the needs and wants of every little consumer we possibly can while retaining the sturdiness and quality and play value of all of the books”. Van der Meer concurs: “Something that Izzy and I feel very strongly about is that whatever we’re doing, we’re having fun, and the children are having fun playing with it as well… [But] we’re not just putting novelty in for novelty’s sake. Everything is incredibly well considered.”
They hope to explore paper engineering and sound books, and to “cover all the age ranges”, with plans to focus on books for newborns next. “The sky’s the limit, really,” agrees Booth, who calls her role “a pinch-me job”.
“What excites me a lot is the top end [of the audience’s age range] where we can maybe do something a little bit more fancy in terms of pops and novelty,” says Van der Meer, adding: “The problem for us is that there is so much we could do – it’s like a blank piece of paper and we’ve got about 50 million ideas… After all these years, we’re still so passionate about what we do.”
