Kids Version of LOTR....really needed? - Xoanon @ 17:45 PST
From: An insider at Scholastic

The company I work for Scholastic, a children publisher, won the auction for the juvenile world-wide book rights for the trilogy. When the Tolkien Estate viewed the sales pitch they shot the idea down in flames, as they felt it would devalue the book.

Personally, I agree with the Tolkien Estate. Scholastic, published the Tie-in book for The Phantom Menace and they were bad enough. I would hate to see what they would have produced for Lord of the Rings !

There is an article on this on www.thebookseller.com, but you need to be a premium subscriber to get at the article now. Here is what you see when you search the archive option with 'Scholastic'

Tolkien estate tie-in snub Score: 80%

Date: 20 April 2001 A children's publishing programme tied to the forthcoming film versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy has been axed after protests from J R R Tolkien's estate, Joel Rickett writes.

I will try and find the original article for you for authenticity. I will keep my ear to the ground and see if I can find anything else out and keep you informed.