New York’s Surge Licensing has signed TOMY International as the master toy partner for kids book series A Little SPOT.

Written and illustrated by Diane Alber, the book range currently features 50-plus titles that have sold more than a million copies on Amazon. They’re designed to teach children ages four to 11 how to manage and understand their emotions by using brightly colored characters to explain topics such as kindness, honesty, inclusion and empathy.

TOMY initially plans to roll out a line of social-emotional learning (SEL) products such as plush and plastic figures based on the SPOT characters through online retailers during the first half of 2023. And it will expand distribution to brick-and-mortar stores later in the year, adding a collection of book-and-plush boxsets to the product mix.

Surge partnered with Alber in November 2020 in order to bring the author’s portfolio of art-focused titles to life as consumer products. Over the last three years, Alber has self-published more than 58 books across three other SEL-focused series—Never Let a Unicorn…, Inspire to Create and Inspire to Create a Better You.

TOMY’s portfolio of preschool and youth licenses already includes Lamaze (plush), The First Years (plush) and JJ Cole (diaper bags and carriers).