Scholastic Corp., the biggest publisher and distributor of children’s books, has agreed to acquire 9 Story Media Group, as it looks for ways to broaden the audience for its library of children’s stories.

Scholastic will pay US$185 million for 9 Story Media Group, which creates, produces and distributes television content for kids through an animation studio and a consumer products division. Scholastic said the deal will give it all of the economic interest and a minority of voting control rights in the content company.

The goal is to turn more of Scholastic’s books into television content and vice versa. 

“We know that a lot of kids first get exposed to characters on screens,” Scholastic Board Chair Iole Lucchese said in an interview. “It’s important for us to meet them there and ultimately lead them to reading. It’s about taking a look at all of the content that we have and bringing it back to life or [creating] new content as well.”

The two companies have collaborated previously on projects including the reboot of Clifford the Big Red Dog through an animated series.

9 Story’s animation studio Brown Bag Films is known for shows including Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Doc McStuffins and The Magic School Bus Rides Again.

“We have strong capabilities in creating content, delivering it to audiences and taking the IP and extending it into merchandising and licensing,” Vince Commisso, chief executive officer of Toronto-based 9 Story, said in an interview. “Scholastic has an unmatched library of kids IP. Put those two things together and one plus one equals more than 10.”