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Let The Toy Book Tweet Your News on the Toy Fair Show Floor!

The Toy Book’s booth, #1601, is THE place to be this Toy Fair! If you want to reach the industry, and consumers too, be sure to drop by with your toy news so we can “tweet” your news to our followers (industry, mommy bloggers, consumers, and anyone who likes toys) and to everyone at the Fair! Simply drop by with your news and we’ll get the word out for you! If you can whittle your news down to 140 characters or less we can blast it to the masses! Be sure to follow @ToyBook so you can follow our newsfeed! Even if you’re not currently on Twitter and have no idea how to “tweet,” just show up and we’ll take care of getting your message out!

LeapFrog Announces Fourth Quarter, 2009 Results

LeapFrog has announced its fourth quarter financial results. Net sales for the quarter were $188.6 million, a 36.9 percent increased compared to $137.8 million for the same quarter a year ago. The company attributes the increase in net sales to higher sales of interactive reading systems, software-based book and game content, and learning toy products.

Gross profit for the quarter was $83.4 million, up 73.2 percent compared to $48.1 million in 2008.

LeapFrog CEO to Step Down in March

Effective March 1, Jeffrey Katz, current LeapFrog chairman and CEO, will leave his position as CEO and return to the LeapFrog Board of Directors as executive chairman. Bill Chiasson, current CFO, will become CEO.

Toy Fair Nuremberg Finishes with More Visitors

Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nuremberg 2010 closed its doors on Tuesday with a grand total of 76,600 visitors during the six-day event, a 2-percent increase compared to 2009. The visitors traveled from 104 countries, and exhibitors totaled 2,625.

According to the Toy Fair Nuremberg, 23.2 percent of the exhibitors said their customers were more interested in purchasing and ordering than the year before (in 2009 the number was 9.4 percent). The fair also reported that 86.2 percent of visitors were decision-makers (2009: 84.8 percent), and 52 percent of all buyers and traders came from abroad (2009: 51 percent). German visitors to the fair dropped slightly, but the number was offset by an increase of visitors from France, Great Britain, Poland, Russia, and the U.S.

Allied Products to Develop Britannica-Branded Puzzles

Allied Products Company has been picked to develop and market a line of wooden and cardboard puzzles under the Encyclopaedia Britannica brand. Allied will produce the line of branded puzzles under both its Springbok and Majestic puzzle lines.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Springbok puzzles will be sold at a wide selection of gift and specialty stores such as Hallmark, while the Encyclopaedia Britannica Majestic puzzles will be at retail stores. The first Britannica puzzle, America the Beautiful, will be on store shelves early this year.

Planet Fred to Debut BamBoo Bears at Toy Fair

A new eco-friendly toy company, Planet Fred, will be debuting its line of soft and colorful plush called BamBoo Bears at Toy Fair New York. BamBoo Bears are made from natural bamboo and organic cotton fleece, decorated in vibrant shades of pink and blue. Through a program with the National Arbor Day Foundation, Planet Fred will plant one tree in U.S. forests for every six BamBoo Bears that are sold.

Spider-Man Co-Creator to Create New Comic Book

A Squared (A2) Entertainment and Archie Comics have teamed up with Stan Lee—the co-creator of comics such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, and Iron Man, and founder and chief creative officer of POW! Entertainment—to create a new print and digital comic book line. Scheduled first for release is an original multimedia series called Super Seven. The series follows seven aliens who are stranded on planet Earth after their spaceship crashes, and then befriended by none other than Lee himself. Lee becomes their leader and enables the seven to live as superheroes on Earth.

Super Seven is slated to debut in fall 2010 in digital, print, and broadcast.

New Licensees Appointed for Pinkalicious

The Joester Loria Group, the exclusive licensing agency for the Pinkalicious picture book series, is expanding the brand with a new consumer products program and a new collection of Pinkalicious merchandise. The book series includes the original book title Pinkalicious and two sequels, Purplicious and Goldilicious.

JAKKS Pacific will debut a line of “pinktastic” dolls, toys, and activity items inspired by the series. The line––available at Wal-Mart stores in the fall––will include a small doll assortment of three, a large Pinkalicious doll outfitted in fairy princess wings and a crown, a plush doll of Pinkalicious’s friend Goldie, and the Pinkalicious Activity Easel that includes pink paper, markers, glitter, and stickers.

Introducing… Tweet Yourself with The Toy Book!

Get tweeted and grow your social media presence with The Toy Book! Email 140-characters-or-less news announcements or fun items to tweetyourself@toybook.com and we’ll blast them in our news feed to all of our followers.

Crayola and Wild Planet Team Up for New Games

Wild Planet will release its first line of Crayola-licensed games this fall. The new games are an extension of the partnership between the two companies; in 2009 Crayola and Wild Planet launched Crayon Town activity sets.

Guess My Picture is a game of creating and identifying pictures made from different shapes. The game, for kids ages four and older, is part puzzle, part art project, and part guessing game, promoting spatial thinking and fine motor skills.