UK-based Mind Candy has signed on four new publishing partners including Penguin (and its imprint DK), Scholastic, Reader’s Digest, and Random House imprint Prima Games to produce new children’s titles based on its virtual world Moshi Monsters.

Penguin is on board for paperback, hardcover and electronic offerings, DK for a character encyclopedia and sticker collection, Scholastic for Moshling collectors’ guides, Reader’s Digest for novelty books, and Prima Games will offer a print strategy guide for use with the NintendoDS game, Moshling Zoo.

In additional deals, UK publisher SkyJack is set to launch a version of its popular Moshi Magazine for North America, and Mind Candy with Activision Publishing will debut Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park, the second title in the Moshi Monsters video game series, for Nintendo 3DS this fall.

As the follow-up to the top-selling Moshling Zoo, the Black Lantern Studios-developed Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park lets users restore a Moshi theme park by building attractions and rescuing Moshlings (small pets for pet monsters).

The game also allows users interact with other Nintendo 3DS players via the StreetPass feature and online users at MoshiMonsters.com can uncover secret codes that unlock special areas and content on the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS.

The latest deals follow on the heels of Mind Candy and global mobile social gaming company Gree entering into a partnership that will expand Moshi Monsters to mobile devices for the first time.