NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global learning
company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), announced today the launch
of 58 original video productions for Curious World™,
the interactive content service that offers an expanding collection
of games, videos and eBooks mapped to key early learning areas. The
new videos are part of six original short-form series: three
live action and three animated. Packed with compelling characters,
humor and music, the series ignite kids' imagination while
inspiring curiosity and playful learning.
These new video series from up-and-coming content creators will
roll out in Curious World over the next six weeks:
- Moonlight Storytime: An animated series that
celebrates the magic and adventure that lives within
books. These classic fables, told with a fresh and quirky
21st century twist, inspire kids to read.
- Jingle Bilingual: Jingle Bilingual is a
series of catchy, animated musical videos that helps kids
learn Spanish vocabulary and Spanish-speaking children learn
English.
- A Rhino Named Paul: In this series of music
videos, we meet Paul, a lovable but haphazardly child-like rhino,
as he tries to learn the ropes of childhood with the
help of his "adopted" family.
- Recycled Superheroes: This program inspires
imaginary play by demonstrating how to make super hero
costumes from recyclable materials. With a magical
moment of animation, we watch these super heroes come to life!
- Get Crafty: This visually bold how-to series
features real kids demonstrating personal takes on arts and crafts
activities.
- Let's Go to Work: Little ones are
fascinated by the people in their
neighborhood - firefighters, pizza makers, garbage
collectors, bakers, etc. This series of mini-documentaries
features the people that kids see every day.
The new video series join Curious World's extensive library,
which also includes over 50 original games and almost 600 acquired
or internally produced titles and has been growing steadily since
its October 2015 launch. Curious
World's material is created by HMH's internal development team of
education experts and award-winning creative partners such as Bix
Pix and CloudKid, and also includes licensed programming from
leading kids' content providers like National Geographic,
Storybots, Caspar Babypants, PBS Kids and Young Rembrandts.
"Curious World encourages children to learn through play in a
safe and fun environment that parents can trust," said CJ Kettler,
Chief of Consumer Brands and Strategy, HMH. "We are committed to
creating original content that is built on early learning
principles, as defined by our in-house educational experts. We
recognize that parents appreciate thoughtfully curated and
originally produced games, videos and ebooks that encourage playful
learning."
All content within Curious World aligns to eight key learning
areas (science, math, language and literacy, health and wellness,
creative expression, social emotional, executive function and
family community). The content offering is designed to give kids a
balanced learning experience across these essential learning areas,
and provide parents with the confidence that programming will be
educational and relevant to their young learners.
Parents are also encouraged to be active participants in the
learning experience; through the "parent dashboard," parents can
track their child's progress, learn more about their interests and
even get recommendations on how to extend the learning journey to
offline activity.
"Like all of our curated content, our original videos are rooted
in the science of learning, built by experts, and designed to
engage young learners with developmentally-appropriate, engaging
stories and characters," said Caroline
Fraser, Vice President of Program Development and
Acquisition, HMH. "We're committed to ensuring Curious World is an
ever-expanding destination for imagination and fun, and we will be
adding content of all varieties on an ongoing basis."
Currently available as an iOS app for iPad® and iPhone®, Curious
World is a subscription-based experience for kids aged two to
seven. The app can be downloaded for free from the App Store℠ with
sample content and features. Access to the full customized content
experience is available on a subscription basis at $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The companion site, where
parents can learn more about their child's personal learning
journey, can be found at www.curiousworld.com.
On February 9, Caroline Fraser will present a "30 Minutes
With..." session at the 2016 Kidscreen Summit in Miami, where
guests will be able to hear first-hand about the future plans and
priorities for Curious World.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(NASDAQ: HMHC) is a global learning company dedicated to changing
people's lives by fostering passionate, curious learners. As a
leading provider of pre-K–12 education content, services, and
cutting-edge technology solutions across a variety of media, HMH
enables learning in a changing landscape. HMH is uniquely
positioned to create engaging and effective educational content and
experiences from early childhood to beyond the classroom. HMH
serves more than 50 million students in over 150 countries
worldwide, while its award-winning children's books, novels,
non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout
the world. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.
Follow HMH on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Curious George®, created by Margret
and H. A. Rey, is copyrighted and trademarked by Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights
reserved. IPhone and IPad are trademarks of Apple Inc.,
registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service
mark of Apple Inc. Curious World™, Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt™, and HMH® are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain statements that are not
historical facts, including information regarding our intentions,
beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our
results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects,
growth, strategies, the industry in which we operate and potential
business decisions. Those statements constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially
from the results expressed in or implied by our forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to, changes in state and
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procurement processes; adverse or worsening economic trends or the
continuation of current economic conditions; changes in consumer
demand for, and acceptance of, our products; industry cycles and
trends; conditions and/or changes in the publishing industry; and
other factors discussed in our news releases, public statements
and/or filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including our most recent Annual and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-K
and Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation, and do not expect, to
publicly update or publicly revise any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
MEDIA CONTACT
Leah
Riviere
Manager, Corporate Communications
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
617-351-5020
Leah.Riviere@hmhco.com
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SOURCE Houghton Mifflin Harcourt