l'école des loisirs is an independent family-owned publishing group founded in 1923. Since 1965, it is entirely dedicated to children’s books and became one of the largest publishing houses for children's books in France. l’école des loisirs has two subsidiaries: Moritz Verlag in Germany and Babalibri in Italy; a comic books imprint, Rue de Sèvres; a Belgian imprint, Pastel; and a French imprint, Kaléidoscope.

With a back list of over 5.800 titles and 300 new titles per year (80% original titles), it is one of the largest publishers of children’s literature in France and enjoys a strong reputation among librarians, booksellers and other book professionals. Its rich universe of characters has led to the creation of games and DVDs (picture books as films).