TWO Cover Reveals + A Paperback Release Date

I had a very busy October, and that is why I am only coming on here now, in November, to share a whole bunch of very exciting stuff — specifically, a pair of cover reveals (one of which also happens to be a series reveal) and a paperback release date.

First up, the cover reveal for Welcome to Scare School, the first book in my new series, Scare School Diaries:

Welcome to Scare School is a chapter book — but save for its length, it’s very different from most chapter books you’ll open. The book is what my editor, agent, and I have begun to call a “hybrid,” a blend of both written and illustrated elements that are put together in a way that make it difficult to classify according to traditional categories. In other words, it’s not a straightforward chapter book, with mostly text and some occasionally illustrations. And it’s a not a graphic novel, with comic paneling on every page. The book is set up as a diary (that of Bash, a young ghost just beginning his education at Scare School), but while each entry begins with text, it soon gives way to a mix of spot illustrations and comics. In other words, with each page turn, the reader never knows what they’ll see next! I find storytelling in this form the most natural for me (if you’ve ever seen photos of drafts, which I often share on social media, they almost always appear in this way, whether or not the final product is a novel, a graphic novel, or whatever).

I can’t wait to share more about this book (and series!) with you, which comes out on July 16, 2024, but is already available for preorder wherever books are sold. (As always, if you preorder from the Silver Unicorn, I will sign/personalize — and doodle in! — your copies. Click HERE to do that.)

Lastly, here’s my publisher’s description of the book:

Bash, a young ghost who’s never been good at “ghost stuff” is heading off to Scare School, the world’s leading institution for elementary scare instruction, and he’s not happy about it. In fact, he’s kind of scared! His older sister Bella, precocious in every way, was a star student there and he knows the classes are hard and the teachers are tough.

Even before his first day of school, Bash is worried about how he’s going to make it through the rigorous curriculum when he hasn’t been able to get the hang of basics like making himself invisible or passing through walls (without bonking his head!). Will the young ghost get booooted out of Scare School?

Next up, the cover reveal for my next (the third) Nat the Cat early reader: Nat the Cat Has a Snack!

I’m a bit nervous that if I let myself ramble a bit about this book, I’ll end up spoiling everything. So I’m going to limit myself to saying that it comes out on May 7, 2024, but like Welcome to Scare School, it is already available for preorder wherever books are sold. (And also like Welcome to Scare School — as well as all my other books — if you preorder from the Silver Unicorn, I will sign/personalize/doodle in your copies. Click HERE to do that.) Beyond that, I’m going to let my publisher describe the book for you:

Nat that Cat has a snack. Pat the Rat wants a snack. Nat the Cat can share, right? Nat the Cat does not want to share!

And for my last bit of news today, I’m thrilled to share that A Work in Progress now has a paperback release date!

This significantly cheaper and much more portable edition of the book will come out alongside Nat’s newest adventure, on May 7, 2024. I don’t know much about the paperback A Work in Progress beyond the release date, but I know my publishers are currently working on it, and are exploring some pretty cool design ideas. I’ll be sharing more information about it — and the other two books mentioned above — as soon as I can, in addition to more news about all the other stuff I’ve been working on these past handful of months. Oh! How could I forget? The paperback edition of A Work in Progress is, like Welcome to Scare School and Nat the Cat Has a Snack, available for preorder wherever books are sold. And you know the drill, right? Preorder from the Silver Unicorn if you want YOUR copies signed/personalized/doodled in. Click HERE to do that.

And THANKS!

~ Jarrett