History 2000 - 2001

In 2000, John Pittar joins the business as Managing Director, and develops a global Business Plan for Milly, Molly. It remains the template for the business.

Gill Pittar contracts a local illustrator, Cris Morrell, to help bring the girls to life. The first four Milly, Molly books are exhibited in October 2000 at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Television New Zealand expresses firm interest in creating a children's television series. Interest is also received from a London based television producer.

The response to Milly, Molly grows as the need for ethics-based, character development children's literature becomes ever more apparent around the globe. Professor Dr. Sigrid Markmann, Dean of Lirerature and Linguistics at Osnabruck University, and internationally recognized developer of curriculum English in Germany and Canada, pReviews & Mktg the first 32 stories and gives them an outstanding endorsement. She writes: "The underlying morals inherent within the texts are important for children of the twenty first century to take as their own... the language used to carry the stories is lively and exciting for young readers... the language and style is simply good literature... suitable as teaching texts in social studies or health programmes anywhere in the world where difference is an integral component of a community." This endorsement is now printed on the back of every Milly, Molly book.

Milly, Molly develops a sound working relationship with Rhythm Printing in Malaysia.

Market research, along with discussions with Canadian distributors, leads to the incorporation of Milly Molly (North America) Limited.

At the Bologna Book Fair, sixteen countries express firm interest in the Milly, Molly Books–for trade, and for character education purposes. Bologna is followed by market research for Milly, Molly dolls and books in Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, New York and Chicago.

Four more books are launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in mid-October, together with a Series of eight School Journals and Teaching Guide. Thirty nine countries have now expressed firm interest in Milly, Molly.