La Pastèque (The Watermelon), a Quebec leader in publishing comics and children’s literature for almost 30 years, has been purchased by Bayard Canada. La Pastèque was founded by Martin Brault and Frederic Gauthier in July of 1998. Headquartered in Montreal with a team in Toronto, publishing and media company Bayard was founded over 30 years ago. The partnership will increase distribution of La Pastèque books in Canada and abroad, and includes plans to expand in France, where it generates almost 40% of its sales.