Mattel and Scholastic India, the India arm of children’s publisher Scholastic Inc., have agreed to a publishing and distribution partnership that will put Barbie, Hot Wheels, Monster High and Masters of the Universe characters into books sold across India. The deal, announced this week, was arranged by Dream Theatre, Mattel’s licensing agent in India, and reported by The Hindu BusinessLine.
Under the agreement, Scholastic India will develop and distribute storybooks, activity titles and early readers built around Mattel’s toy brands. The first titles are already on sale across retail stores, e-commerce platforms and schools in India: a Hot Wheels Ultimate Handbook, a Level 1 reader called “Barbie’s Big Move,” “Hot Wheels: To the Extreme,” and story collections drawn from both brands. The companies said the program will add more formats and titles in the years ahead.
Mattel, headquartered in El Segundo, California, is one of the world’s largest toy and family entertainment companies, with brands including Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price and American Girl. Claudia Lucarella, Mattel’s director of global licensing publishing, called the partnership an important milestone in Mattel’s global publishing strategy, saying it combines Scholastic India’s publishing expertise with Mattel’s catalog to reach readers across India.
Scholastic Inc., based in New York City, New York, is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books; Scholastic India is its India office. Neeraj Jain, Scholastic Inc.’s president for Asia, said the partnership continues Scholastic’s history of bringing well-known characters to young readers in India, comparing it to what the company has done with its own Clifford the Big Red Dog and The Magic School Bus titles.
Jiggy George, founder and chief executive of Dream Theatre, said the licensing agency’s role is to connect global brands with local publishing partners in ways that build long-term business value for both sides.
For American consumer brands, the deal is a reminder that India’s retail and e-commerce channels now reach a large enough audience of children and families to justify a dedicated publishing program built on licensed characters, rather than treating India as an afterthought market for existing English-language titles.
