King takes fear to the third dimension

The king of horror novels has decided to turn an abridged version of one of his stories into a pop-up book for kids and adults alike. Stephen King’s award-winning 1999 bestseller The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon will be adapted to the new format with the help of a yet-to-be-selected illustrator and paper engineer. The book will be published by Simon and Schuster’s Children’s Publishing specialty offshoot Little Simon in late 2004.

‘The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a modern-day Hansel and Gretel, a book kids have loved through the ages. And I’ll try not to scare them…well, not too much,’ King says. Feeble hearts be wary; this is no Disney tale. Described as a fairy tale ‘grimmer than Grimm,’ the story follows a young girl trapped in the woods with a mysterious enemy. Her only connection to the outside world is a radio, and broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games featuring relief pitcher Tom Gordon are what see her through the ordeal.

Jakks snags Irwin’s Dragon Ball Z master toy license

Jakks Pacific was quick to jump on the Dragon Ball Z master toy license after Canada’s Irwin Toys filed for bankruptcy protection late last year, leaving some of its top-selling lines up for grabs. Malibu, California’s Jakks signed a three-year deal in December with Fort Worth, Texas-based Funimation Productions for Dragon Ball, the upcoming Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Z. The brand saw sales increases of between 10% and 20% in toy lines and 20% in videos last year, and Internet search engine Lycos recently announced that ‘Dragon Ball’ was its most searched topic for 2002. Jakks already has its 2003 line designed and will buy all of Irwin’s stock to avoid interruptions at retail.

And Canadian toyco Spin Master has acquired Irwin’s Sky Bugz line, which it will add to its Air Hogs range of flying toys that use similar air-powered technology.