Mr. Men Little Miss

UK-based kids publisher Mr. Men Little Miss has partnered with ’90s pop group Spice Girls to create four books and a range of CP ahead of their UK stadium reunion tour. Each book, illustrated in the publisher’s style (pictured), is based on a persona of one of the Spice Girls. Titled Little Miss Baby, Little Miss Ginger, Little Miss Scary and Little Miss Sporty, the books can be pre-ordered through the publisher’s website, before hitting shelves this fall.

On top of the books, a range of merchandise is being developed by Japanese licensing agency Sanrio Global, Mr. Men Little Miss and the Spice Girls, for launch later this year.

The Spice Girls, comprised of English musicians Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), and Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), rose to prominence in the ’90s after their debut single “Wannabe” reached number one in more than 30 countries. Their first album, Spice, sold more than 30 million copies, and the group went on to star in their own film Spice World. To date, the Spice Girls have sold 85 million records, according to Mr. Men Little Miss.

HITN

Spanish-language edutainment network HITN is getting into the streaming game, partnering with LatAm media conglom Claro Video to launch its new preschool SVOD Edye.

Launching on April 3 across Mexico and Latin America, Edye includes well-known IPs like Bob the Builder, Elmo’s World and Sesame Street, and short-form Sesame content, including the latest seasons of its digital series Hotel Furchester. Edye also carries Japanese studio Nippon Animation’s series Maya the Honey Bee and the CBeebies’ animated series Sarah & Duck.

To accompany the SVOD, HITN launched a website that contains educational Spanish guides for how parents can take advantage of the platform’s content. The network plans to add a variety of educational games and electronic books to the site in the future. It is also expanding Edye’s distribution to Pay TV, internet and mobile phone providers in the US and Puerto Rico.

Hopster

Preschool streamer Hopster has teamed up with Croatian telecom operator A1 Hrvatska giving subscribers a free subscription to the SVOD. Subscribers that use the telecom’s internet protection app, which has parental controls to keep kids away from inappropriate content, will be able to access the SVOD’s ad-free shows, music, games and books.

Hopster has hundreds of family shows, including Pingu and Ben and Holly, as well as original animated series like Clever Brenda and Two Minute Tales, which was renewed for a second season in January. The SVOD also recently expanded its content by signing a deal with non-profit org Diversity Role Models, which will see the companies co-create a series of short animated films teaching preschoolers about LGBT+ issues, scheduled to launch in June.