The pull-out mini sampler in the middle of the BBC brand, Top of the Pops magazine features exclusive book extracts from The Ultimate Guide to Roblox 2023 Edition by GamesWarrior.

Appearing in the 30^th November edition for readers to get a heads-up on adding the Annual to their Christmas list. This edition also included an exclusive advert of our 2023 Christmas Annuals suitable for under 13’s.

Little Brother Books features in the licensing press…

‘Brokered by London Entertainment Inc., in partnership with the UK’s number one publisher in children’s annuals, Little Brother Books, Rebekah and Jamie Vardy have embarked on their new venture with a series of storybooks aimed at children aged three and upwards.

The first release – Cedric The Little Sloth with a Big Dream – was unveiled at an exclusive event at The Dorchester Hotel, London on 8 March. It introduces the Be You Guardians, with each title having a different storyline and B.U.G support.

Cedric has a passion for football, bags of enthusiasm and dreams of joining his favourite football team, the Rainforest Rovers, but has had it engrained in him that sloths are too slow and too sleepy to be good footballers. The Be You Guardians step in to boost Cedric’s confidence and remind him that he can follow his dream and join the team.

Rebekah and Jamie wanted to develop stories based around a theme that they strongly believe in, and which will be reiterated in every title: inspiring children to be confident and happy, just by being themselves and never letting anyone tell you that you can’t achieve your dreams.’

To read the full article please click here Licensing Source – Rebekah-Jamie-Vardy launch series of books

Little Brother Books has appeared in The Daily Mail regarding the publication of a new picture book.

”Rebekah and Jamie Vardy are to launch a new range of children’s illustrated storybooks. The model, 39, and her footballer husband, 34, are drawing inspiration from their parenting experience with their blended family of six children, and said they hope to uplift youngsters with empowering messages in the books.

Their first release is titled Cedric the Little Sloth with a Big Dream and is set for release next year, close to World Book Day…

To read the full article please click here Daily Mail Rebekah-Jamie-Vardy book

Published on: 10th May 2021

The collection of mid-year annuals and gaming guides from Little Brother Books includes titles for top toy and gaming brands to refresh toy retailers’ offerings.

Little Brother Books (LBB), the UK’s leading publisher of children’s annuals is set to bolster the market with its 2021 spring/summer range of six hugely popular titles.

Launching in May will be three Fun, Play and Learn titles, including L.O.L. Surprise!, Barbie and World of Dinosaurs, as well as three Ultimate Gaming Guides – GamesWarrior’s Ultimate Guide to Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft.

All six titles have entirely new content created exclusively by Little Brother Books and will delight fans of these hugely popular toy and gaming brands over the summer months.  Each with an RRP of £5.99, the books are available now. With strong listings already in Amazon, TJ Morris, Sainsbury’s, Smyths Toys and other book retailers, the collection provides an indicator of LBB’s success in driving the annuals category forward across the wider market and reinforces its No.1 status in the annuals sector. LBB firmly believes high visibility at retail is key to driving impulse sales and has been successful in placing thousands of dedicated FSDUs, as well as POS material, in major retailers.

Matthew Reynolds, MD at Little Brother Books, commented: “Our mid-year annuals and Gaming Guides launching this season are testament to our success in refreshing this market and I’m thrilled that we have six titles to delight parents and children alike this summer with six of the hottest properties in the market. Despite 2020’s challenges, Little Brother Books once again dominated the annuals market, and we retained our position as the number one publisher in this sector for the third consecutive year with unrivalled distribution for our leading brands. 2021 is shaping up to be even more successful with other major retailers coming onboard, as well as exciting new brands joining our portfolio.”

To find out more, contact Little Brother Books on 01392 982082 or [email protected].

On the first day of Christmas, Santa gave to me a copy of the truly pop-tastic Little Mix Special 2021 Edition by Pop Winners.

On the second day I got the Shoot 2021 Annual, crammed full of quizzes, the latest team & player info, plus exclusive football interviews!

I roamed into the third day of Christmas with the roar-some World of Dinosaurs 2021 Edition from The Natural History Museum. Who doesn’t like a dinosaur, and this annual is filled with them all!

On the fourth day I opened the legendary Beano Annual 2021. It’s a sure-fire classic!

The fifth day was all about L.O.L. Surprise and O.M.G. (Outrageous Millenial Girls) 2021 Annuals.  They are rocking it.

Day Six of Christmas was a day of gaming when I opened GamesWarrior’s 2021 Ultimate Guide to Fortnite, packed full of hints, tips and all the jargon explained.

And on the seventh day of Christmas Barbie popped up – I loved all her styles and fashions, and it shows in her official 2021 Annual!

On day eight Santa decided it was time for me to learn about wrestling and I opened the WWE 2021 Annual and now I know how to perform the moves like the best of them!

On the ninth day of Christmas I worked my way through all the best bits of the official CBeebies 2021 Annual.   What’s not to love, reading about the best TV shows for kids?

On day ten it was time to dig deep into GamesWarrior’s Ultimate Guide to Minecraft 2021 Edition ~ now I know all about awesome pro-builds.

Day eleven and hurray, it’s time to play, with the hot new girls on the block – the 2021 KindiKids Annual.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Santa decided I now needed to get help in making games with the GamesWarrior’s Ultimate Guide to Roblox 2021 Edition.

And on Day Thirteen… there’s a day thirteen??  Yes, there is when there’s the Elf on The Shelf 2021 Annual that is still to be unwrapped and is packed full of fun ‘elfing’ activities!

Happy (Annual) Christmas from Little Brother Books!

Little Brother Books has appeared in the licensing and toy press this month to announce our exciting range of Annuals, due for launch in September ready for Christmas 2021!

You can read the full articles by clicking the links below

Little Brother Books announces Christmas annuals line-up – Toy World Magazine

Little Brother Books – Licensing.biz

Little Brother Books – Licensingsource.net

Little Brother Books’ Matt Reynolds on keeping relationships going with virtual meetings with licensors and retailers.

The traditional start to the year is looking significantly different in 2021, with none of the usual trade shows – including London’s Toy Fair, Nuremberg and Spring Fair – going ahead in-person.

So, what are licensees across a range of categories doing to fill the gap?

LicensingSource.net catches up with a selection to find out their plans and why it’s key for the industry to make the most of Q1 despite the calendar changes.

Today: Matt Reynolds, MD, Little Brother Books

“Without trade shows, we have had to be more proactive than ever to arrange face to face virtual meetings with all our licensors, as well as ad hoc calls to our retail buyers and fellow licensees (in non-competitive areas) to better understand their views on each brand.

This is something we did anyway, but without the structure of meetings and presentations at trade shows, as well as the ‘general banter’ that happens there, we need to make a conscious effort to do it nowadays.

I am also an avid reader of all trade publications, press and newsfeeds, so these are more important than ever. We as a company have also been more proactive than ever in trade and consumer PR over the last 12 months, working with Grapevine Global.”

This feature originally appeared in the spring 2021 edition of Licensing Source Book see page 19. To read the full publication, click here Licensing Source Book article

11 November 2020:  Little Brother Books (LBB), the UK’s leading publisher of children’s Annuals has secured an exclusive partnership with one of the UK’s most established media organisations, DC Thomson Media (DCT).  

The Scottish-based media heavyweight, DC Thomson Media, renowned for its history in newspaper and magazine publishing, is home to some of the most successful children’s brands, including The Beano.  The partnership with Little Brother Books has initially focused on The Beano and its iconic best-selling Christmas Annual, which is one of the longest running annuals in the UK market.  The key objective was to drive broader retail distribution for DCT annuals, as well as reach new audiences, and from 5th November 2020 the 2021 Beano Annual is listed in all of LBB’s dedicated Annuals FSDU’s across all of Lidl’s UK and Irish stores for the first time. 

Commenting on the partnership, Matthew Reynolds, MD at Little Brother Books said: “The Beano and DC Thomson Media are synonymous with Annuals and it has been our pleasure to work with the team to drive their iconic Annuals into more retailers in 2020.  Unfortunately, Annuals have recently been wrongly perceived by some retailers, which we (LBB) have been successful in proving wrong in the wider market.  Annuals remain a must-have Christmas gift for many families and therefore appetite at retail remains very strong so long as they are visible in store for customers to see (as they are purchased on impulse).  We know DCT share our passion for the long-term success of Annuals, and as such are proud to represent their Annuals in many new retailers for them and we hope this is the start of exciting things to come for both companies.” 

Craig Houston, Head of eCommerce and Partnerships at DC Thomson Media adds: “Despite the difficult trading environment we are all experiencing, the Annuals market in particular is facing strong headwinds and we at DC Thomson Media are confident our market leading titles and award winning content have the right mix to continue to supply and grow our collection of annuals.  I’m delighted to partner with Matt and his team.  They are well known, respected and well established in the market and the partnership provides excellent opportunities to reach wider markets.”

In recent years, Little Brother Books has successfully established itself as the UK’s leading publisher and distributor of Annuals for the third consecutive year with up to 1.2million Annuals sold each year with LBB’s top selling Annual reaching over 300,000 copies); its achievements have been driven by Annuals being LBB’s sole focus as a business, and its expertise in partnering with retailers to maximise sales in-store (as Annuals are a time-sensitive product category to get right), and subsequently secure repeat business year on year.