Charlesbridge is launching a new middle-grade fiction imprint, Charlesbridge Moves, that will publish "high-interest, character-driven stories that are told through traditional prose and verse, and several future books will have graphic-novel elements... the imprint focuses on the inactive reader or capable nonreader who has become disengaged."
The new imprint will be headed by editorial director Eileen Robinson, who in 2011 started Move Books with the hope of increasing literacy rates among boys. Charlesbridge acquired the company in 2022. Robinson Robinson is also editing board books and picture books for the Charlesbridge list as executive editor.
Robinson said, "Charlesbridge Moves will excite middle-grade and chapter-book readers with adventure, mystery, and fun, giving them the confidence to read more. Whether told through traditional prose, verse, or graphic novel elements, our books grow and sustain an appetite for reading, especially with boys and reluctant readers."
The first books on the Charlesbridge Moves list are:
The Kid by debut author Jeff Schill, "a rollicking western set in 1882 with a boy, a quick-draw called The Kid, a city slicker, and an outlaw." (May 7)
Hum by William David Thomas, "an adventurous, heartwarming story of a boy who discovers he can communicate with a llama, unveiling repressed memories and lies about his past." (July 16)
Wings to Soar by Tina Athaide, "a courageous novel-in-verse, set in the 1970s--a young refugee is displaced in a country that doesn't want her." (July 23)
Saving Kenny by debut author Corinne Gaile. "In the midst of emotional and physical upheaval, a young boy with a dauntless spirit sets his sights on becoming a costume designer after seeing the opera Aida." (October 29)
Future books include the Monsters of Fife, a three-book series of fantasy adventure novels by Jane Yolen.
Charlesbridge is distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.