Arcadia Publishing has acquired the independent children's publisher Dry Climate Studios, known for its alphabet books spotlighting notable cities, states, and regions across the U.S. Dry Climate's titles, which comprise picture and board books, will be adopted into the Arcadia Children's Books imprint.
“Exploring the places that families across the country hold dear is at the heart of what we do at ACB," said ACB publishing director Nancy Ellwood in a statement. "Dry Climate’s beautiful books fit perfectly into our list, and we are delighted to bring them on board!”
Dry Climate was founded in 2011 by Maria Kernahan and the late Michael Schafbuch, with the inaugural title A Is for Aspen. Other titles include C Is for Chicago, M Is for Michigan, R Is for Rocky Mountains, and S Is for San Francisco. Moving forward, Kernahan will act as a freelance writer and art director for Dry Climate. Together, she and Ellwood will revive the Dry Climate backlist and plan future titles. Dry Climate backlist titles are now available to order from Arcadia.
Over the last several years, Arcadia has undertaken a series of acquisitions to build a backlist of more than 20,000 regionally focused, local interest nonfiction titles. Earlier this year, Arcadia acquired the Cleveland-based Belt Publishing, and the year before it acquired the Carlisle, Mass.–based Applewood Books. In 2021, it purchased Applewood's regional publishing imprint Commonwealth Editions, and prior to that it bought New Orleans–based houses River Road Press and Pelican Publishing, as well as the field guide publisher Wildsam.
