MAIN NEWS HEADLINES

August 1-15, 2004 Edition

Lerner Publishing

Acquires Millbrook

Children’s Imprints

MINNEAPOLIS, MN/07/21/04—Lerner Publishing Group has acquired the Millbrook and Twenty-First Century imprints from Millbrook Press, as part of a court-ordered bankruptcy auction. The inventory was valued at $1.5 million, but the auction purchase price was $3.4 million.

Adam Lerner, publisher of Lerner Publishing, called the deal the most significant in his Minneapolis-based company’s 45-year history. With the acquisition of 900 books from the two Millbrook imprints, Lerner will have a backlist of 2,400 titles. Editorial offices for the two imprints will remain in Connecticut. Lerner plans to acquire 100 new books in 2005. The new owner will keep the Millbrook and Twenty-First Century names, and editorial offices will remain in Connecticut. Lerner expects to acquire 100 new children’s books in 2005, pushing the company’s overall total to about 400 by the end of next year.

Millbrook Press has been publishing children’s books since 1991. The company specialized in production of nonfiction and children’s literature for preschool- through secondary-school levels, and focused on the school and library markets.