Pink Poogle Toy Forum

HarperCollins Publishers has teamed up with Neopets to produce five titles, including two illustrated novels, a puzzle and game book, a how-to-draw book and a field guide, to be released in the fall of 2008.

All these books will link back to the online world and each book will come with codes that can unlock special features on the Neopets website.

"The joining of Neopets and HarperCollins presents the perfect opportunity to extend the imaginative and fantastic virtual world of Neopets into a delightful new series of books," said Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books. "We are excited about embarking with existing fans and new readers on their adventures through Neopia."

"It's exciting to bring Neopets, a digital first brand, to the publishing platform offering our audience new ways to interact with the virtual world, its characters and storylines," said Kyra Reppen, senior vice president and general manager of Neopets. "Not only will we be expanding the virtual world to include books, but will also include unique connections between the books and the website that unlock special features to further enhance the Neopets experience for readers."

Ugh.

I think this is a cute idea, actually. As long as the books don't have content which I find objectionable, I like this plan. I don't know what age group they're targeting the books at, but maybe it will be another way to introduce kids to the joys of reading.

I do think that the part where books "unlock key areas of the site" is a bad idea, though. Or, maybe it's not. Everybody on the internet has been able to benefit from the word scramble puzzle on the magazines, even though most of us don't subscribe to the magazine.

Aaahhhhhhh! I am scared for what they will be about. I don't like the "unlock special areas" thing. I hope it is still available (like the scramble) for prizes for those who don't buy it.

Most likely it will be targeted towards kids in the 8-14 range. No doubt the special content will be fixed so you can't share the codes/content with others, making sure you buy the books to get the custom codes.

I'm going to buy them.

id def' buy the books. Im in suppoort of reading books instead of the audiobooks. Reading is awesome and neopets has come up with a good idea.

This kind of makes me scared.. is this online stuff going to be a special pay-only feature?

Do not want.

I read plenty. In fact I have over a dozen books to read lined up to read after I finish my current book and a dozen more to buy after that. I read every day, sometimes as much as 200 pages in a book though usually it's closer to 40-50.

I don't think that turning reading into a profit marketing strategy is really all that great an idea though. I know no one publishes books solely on the merit of entertainment or fun anymore but Neopets books would mainly be looking for profit and the books would no doubt be thin on the reading material and thicker on marketing towards the children to buy more Neopets merchandise.

Then again, perhaps I'm too cynical and they really are wanting children to read more.

I can see it now ...

Little Sally Usual was playing with her blue Kacheek plushie which she bought from her local Limited Too store when her friend Benjamin the Skeith ran in waving the official Neopets magazine which he could have bought from the news agency for $7.99 cents but was rather smart and subscribed for an entire year instead saving him $22 overall.

"Hi Sally!" said Benjamin excitedly. "Guess what I bought today!"
"What?!" Sally asked, also excitedly.
"I got the new Neopets Playstation game and guess what! It was only $35.00 + $5 postage and handling!!"
"No way!!" Sally exclaimed.
"Way!" Benjamin replied back enthusiastically.
"Wow that's nearly as good as Neopets Premium which I bought for only $7.99 per month!!"

I like the idea of the how-to-draw books... Will help me be a less stuggling artist :p

Mmm...but don't they already have a "How to Draw" section on Neopets? (aka, "free") Unless they're planning to release more complicated things to draw in their book...

I just hope they don't turn out to be stupid. But if it's like what I see in the neopets magazine, it should be okay. (i like that chicken)