Get a Little Weird! “Millie Fleur,” “Worst Week Ever” and More Join Scholastic and 9 Story’s Growing Kids Slate

Sometimes being a little strange is exactly what makes the world more interesting.

And one wonderfully unusual little girl is getting ready to prove it.

Scholastic Entertainment and 9 Story Media Group have revealed a new collection of projects ahead of Mipcom, including four titles currently in development alongside a new “Super Why!” series and returning seasons of “Do Not Watch This Show” and “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.”

Leading the new development slate is “Millie Fleur,” a 2D animated preschool comedy based on Christy Mandin’s Scholastic book series. The 52-episode series follows Millie, a girl who doesn’t shy away from the strange and unusual things around her but embraces them instead, turning what might seem odd to everyone else into part of the fun.

Honestly, we like her already.

For slightly older viewers, “Worst Week Ever” is bringing embarrassment to an entirely different level. Based on the books by Eva Amores and Matt Cosgrove, the 52 x 11-minute series follows 12-year-old Justin as one mishap after another turns his week into an increasingly disastrous collection of awkward moments.

The project is being developed with Studio Moshi, with assistance from ABC Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation, and is aimed at kids ages 8 to 12.

Because apparently surviving middle school wasn’t difficult enough already.

Fairy tales are getting a mystery makeover with “Beanstalk & Bear: Fairy Tale Detectives,” another 52 x 11-minute preschool project currently in development. Based on Make Believe Ideas’ “True Crime Fairy Tales” books, the series puts familiar fairy-tale characters into brand-new mysteries as two young detectives attempt to uncover what really happened.

That premise alone opens up quite a playful little world.

Fairy tales are already filled with missing objects, suspicious characters, strange transformations and questionable decisions. Give someone a detective hat and suddenly there are quite a few cases that probably deserve another look.

The fourth project in development takes young viewers somewhere a little less magical but no less adventurous.

“Earth Rangers: Underground,” aimed at children ages 5 to 8, follows two kids recruited by a covert group of animal agents working to tackle environmental crises. The 52 x 11-minute animated comedy mixes secret-agent adventure with environmental themes, giving its young heroes some rather important missions to solve.

Beyond those new projects, a familiar literacy-focused franchise is also expanding.

“Super Why’s Comic Book Adventures” will introduce 117 seven-minute musical shorts that bring the “Super Why!” world into a comic-book format. The new series adds Power Paige to the cast while continuing to use stories and characters to help preschoolers build early literacy skills.

Then there are a couple of familiar faces coming back for more.

“Do Not Watch This Show” is returning for a second season consisting of 20 x 11-minute episodes. Based on Andy Lee’s “Do Not Open This Book” series, the Australian comedy once again follows Wizz, a blue monster whose primary goal is apparently convincing everyone to stop watching his television show.

Naturally, that makes us want to watch it more.

And one of children’s television’s most familiar neighbors isn’t going anywhere either.

“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” is returning for an eighth season with 16 new 11-minute episodes. Coproduced with Fred Rogers Productions and inspired by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the series continues its long-running approach to helping young children work through emotions, relationships and everyday experiences.

Taken together, the new slate gives Scholastic Entertainment and 9 Story quite a range to work with.

There is a preschooler celebrating everything strange and unusual, a 12-year-old enduring what may genuinely be the worst week ever, fairy-tale detectives solving mysteries, child recruits working alongside secret animal agents, superheroes helping children read and one blue monster still desperately trying to get us to change the channel.

Oh, and Daniel Tiger.

Somebody has to keep everyone calm.

Brown Bag Films, 9 Story’s animation studio, will showcase animation tests from across the slate at Mipcom alongside new creative partnerships and its expanded animation capabilities.

For now, several of these shows are still in development, meaning there is plenty we don’t know yet about where or when young viewers will eventually meet them.

But if Millie Fleur wants to start by making things a little weirder?

We are completely on board.