Marvel Inks Film Publishing Deal

The new partnership, which covers movie tie-in publishing including novelizations, readers, storybooks and reusable sticker books, will kick off the film

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

, which will hit U.S. theaters Aug. 1.

Little, Brown has already released five Guardians of the Galaxy books in an array of formats, including Marvel’s

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Junior Novel

, which features full-color photos from the film. For younger fans, the publishing program will also include two storybooks,

Guardians of the Galaxy: Battle Of Knowhere

and

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket And Groot Fight Back

; a Level 2 early reader,

Guardians of the Galaxy: Friends And Foes

; and

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Reusable Sticker Book

.

Beginning in November, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will launch, for the first time in print, a new collectible

Marvel Cinematic Universe

based on Marvel's film franchises and featuring new artwork specially commissioned for the series. In

Phase One: Iron Man

and

Phase One: Captain America

, fans will have access to the complete origin stories of the heroes as told in the feature films

Iron Man

(2008),

Iron Man 2

(2010) and

Captain America: The First Avenger

(2011). Additional books in the series will focus on the individual stories of Thor, the Incredible Hulk and all of the Avengers, and will release in time for their return to the big screen in 

Avengers: Age of Ultron

in May 2015.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Marvel to bring young fans an array of books tied to the highly anticipated film

Guardians of the Galaxy

,” says Andrew Smith, senior vice president, deputy publisher and executive director of new business development, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. “And we look forward to continuing the tradition of action-packed storytelling surrounding Marvel’s many upcoming big-screen adventures.”