Reader's Digest Children's Publishing recently reached an agreement with Marvel Entertainment to publish and distribute interactive books based on the popular Marvel Heroes program.

Reader's Digest intends to market the interactive books to children, ages four to 11 in three countries—the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom—beginning this fall. The publishing program will feature popular characters including Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. The first line will include hard cover books, storybooks with DVDs and the Movie Theater Storybook format.

"The addition of Marvel Heroes to our growing roster of renowned children's brands gives us the opportunity to focus on developing titles for boys," says Rosanne McManus, associate director of Reader's Digest Children's Publishing. "We look for evergreen properties to introduce into innovative book formats, and Marvel fits that bill."

Simon & Schuster will distribute the interactive books for Reader's Digest Children's Publishing, which plans to release five Marvel titles this year, priced between $9.99 and $24.99.

"Reader's Digest has pushed the boundaries of the [interactive publishing] category with highly innovative products," says Bruno Maglione, president of Marvel International. "We eagerly await to see this creativity applied to the first set of Marvel books."