Simon Cowell Strikes Publishing Deal With Hachette Children’s Group For Kids’ Book Series ‘Wishfits’

NBC

The X Factor and Got Talent creator Simon Cowell is moving into the kids’ business after striking a publishing deal with Hachette Children’s Group for a book series.

Cowell and his six-year old son Eric are working on Wishfits, a series of seven books that follow “magical and unusual” creatures including pig/sheep combo Peep and chimpanzee/poodle cross Chimpanpoo.

The first three books, which were unveiled at Hachette’s global showcase event in London, will launch in spring 2021, and a portion of the profits will go to charities Shooting Star Children’s Hospice and Together For Short Lives.

Cowell worked with online content platform Tongal to get the input of creatives before taking the book to Hachette.

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Cowell said, “To be able to write a series of books with my son Eric has been magical. This idea was inspired three years ago by a very special friend of ours who runs a children’s hospice charity. I told her one evening about some of the funny animals my son Eric and I would invent, starting with the Cog and the Dat. And how every evening the two of us would think of the most unlikely animal we would like to have as a pet. We would come up with some very strange new animals and the naming of the animals was Eric’s favourite thing.”

He added, “I really do believe it’s important to encourage kids’ creativity and imagination. I also believe kids have better ideas than most adults. I hope these books will be fun for kids to read, and we will encourage them to come up with new animals for the books. The books will tell how these unique friendships are formed and will celebrate individuality and positivity. We will see how the strengths of these animals are in their differences and make the point we live in a world where inclusivity is so important. And of course these animals will all have lots of fun on their magical adventures together.”