Ginee Seo Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, has acquired the rights to one of the premiere contemporary all-ages comic book/graphic novel series, Jimmy Gownley’s Amelia Rules!, which was originally published by Renaissance Press.  The series, about a quirky, intelligent 10-year-old tomboy who is forced to relocate from Manhattan to a small town after her parents divorce, was nominated for no fewer than four Eisner Awards this year (see “Eisner Awards Share the Wealth”) and Amelia Rules Volume 3: Superheroes won the Cybil Award for best graphic novel for readers 12 and under in 2007.  Four graphic novel collections of Amelia Rules! have been published so far.

Under the terms of a deal that was brokered through an auction conducted by Judith Hansen of the Hansen Literary Agency, Simon & Schuster will publish reprint editions of the four already-released Amelia Rules! collections over the next two years, with the first volume, Amelia Rules! The Whole World’s Crazy slated for the spring of 2009.  The fourth volume, Amelia Rules!: When the Past is Present, will be released in the spring of 2010 and will be followed by the first original Simon & Schuster volume, Amelia Rules! #5: The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular, which will be published in both hardcover and paperback editions in the fall of 2010.