Scholastic Media has signed an agreement with New York-based toy design company Yottoy Productions Inc. to manage Scholastic’s SideKicks toy division. Under the agreement, Yottoy will manage sales, marketing, and product development for SideKicks. The agreement will incorporate Yottoy’s creative vision in the specialty market to offer a broader range of products inspired by Scholastic’s library of children’s brands, which include Clifford The Big Red Dog, Kim Parker kids, The Real Mother Goose, and storybook characters from author/illustrator David Shannon.

Yottoy launched the concept of a book-toy product combination in order to encourage a special interaction between children and literature. Yottoy’s existing book-toy collections include award-winning author and illustrator Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Knuffle Bunny, H.A. Rey's Curious George and Friends, and classic characters such as Paddington Bear, Maisy, Harry the Dog, and The Velveteen Rabbit.

“We are thrilled to partner with such an established and trusted company as Scholastic,” says Kate Karcher Clark, founder of Yottoy Productions. “Scholastic’s reputation and inherent message is consistent with Yottoy’s mission of developing high-quality toys that are rooted in children’s literature.”