Leveraging its book, broadcast and studio divisions, Toronto-HQ’d Corus Entertainment is grooming Melanie Watt’s successful Scaredy Squirrel book series to be its next multimedia entertainment property.

Kids Can Press, Nelvana Studios and Nelvana Enterprises are collaborating to publish additional titles, produce a TV series, develop animated shorts and online and mobile distribution and launch an international merchandise and licensing program for the series.

The book series, which features a cautious, safety-conscious squirrel who is reluctantly forced to leave his household tree and confront his fears of the outside world, often to comic effect, has sold more than 170,000 copies worldwide and garnered numerous children’s book awards.

Nelvana Studios is getting to work on the 26-ep animated series and companion shorts this summer. Nelvana Enterprises, meanwhile, will be responsible for worldwide broadcast and distribution sales as well as the international merchandising and licensing of the property.

From KidScreen Daily