Silvergate Media has acquired the rights to the bilingual picture book series ¡Vamos!, with plans to develop it into an animated series for kids and families.
¡Vamos! is written and illustrated by Mexican-American author Raúl (González) the Third, with colors by Elaine Bay, and stories in a combination of English and Spanish. The books are published by Versify, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishers.
“The response to ¡Vamos! in the past two years has been incredible,” said Raúl the Third. “It’s such a personal project for me as the stories, locations and characters were based on my own childhood experiences, so I’m really thrilled that kids around the world will be able to enjoy these adventures on screen as much as I enjoyed bringing them to life in the books.”
The first book in the series published in April 2019, ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market, follows the adventures of a Coyote, Little Lobo, and his dog Bernabé as they make deliveries at a market near the U.S.-Mexican border. That title was followed by ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat in 2020, which tells the story of a group of luchadores — professional wrestlers — awaiting battle, who are delivered their pre-match meals by Little Lobo and his dog.
Versify has created a World of ¡Vamos! publishing line with three early readers, two board books and, an additional picture book in the pipeline.
“¡Vamos! struck a chord with young readers immediately and we have no doubt that an animated series will take the franchise to new heights,” said Versify founding editor Kwame Alexander, who is producing for his company Big Sea Entertainment, along with partner Arielle Eckstut. “Silvergate Media has a strong reputation for producing high quality, original programming based on graphic novels and picture books so we can’t wait to see what the new series will bring.”
Silvergate’s EVP of Creative Content, Kurt Mueller, will produce the series in partnership with Raúl the Third.
“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Raúl, a true generational talent, and the fine folks at Versify, to bring ¡Vamos! to TV audiences,” said Mueller. “The books offer a seemingly infinite cast of characters and situations that celebrate frontera culture through a singular artistic lens. Every densely illustrated page is a season’s worth of great TV.”