Stephen Colbert to release kids' book about a flag pole

NEW YORK - With the blessing of Maurice Sendak, Stephen Colbert is releasing a children's book.

Grand Central Publishing said Tuesday that it will publish "I Am a Pole (And So Can You!)" on May 8. In a two-part "Colbert Report" segment that aired last month, Colbert previewed the book with "Where the Wild Things Are" author Sendak.

Claiming he was looking to "cash-in" on celebrity children's books, Colbert penned an illustrated story about a flag pole's quest for identity.

Sendak called the book "terribly ordinary" but acknowledged, "The sad thing is I like it."

In a statement, Colbert said: "I hope the minutes you and your loved ones spend reading it are as fulfilling as the minutes I spent writing it."

Grand Central previously published Colbert's 2007 bestseller "I Am America (And So Can You!)" It will also publish his next book, "America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't" in October.

After a two-episode hiatus due to his ailing mother, Colbert returned to "The Report" on Monday.