Category: News

Draw the Author Contest: the WINNERS!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 2 Comments

Draw the Author Contest Announcement

Six weeks ago, I launched my Draw the Author Contest to find a new author portrait for my upcoming series of Geeger the Robot early chapter books. The contest was only open for three weeks, but in that time, I received hundreds of submissions from kids all over the country (and a couple dozen from kids abroad, too!). Looking through the submissions was both delightful — there was so much talent on display! — and stressful — how was I going to choose just one of these amazing drawings?! I mean, I knew the decision was going to be tough. But I didn’t quite realize it was going to be this tough.

In the end, after poring over the submissions for several days, I decided that I, in fact, couldn’t pick just one drawing. But I figured I could pick, say, four drawings. And there just so happens to be FOUR books in the Geeger the Robot series. And so, my publisher and I decided to include a different portrait in each of the four books.

Now, without further ado, I present to you the winners of the Draw the Author Contest…

Appearing in Book 1 of the Geeger the Robot series will be this portrait by kindergartener Noah:

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Appearing in Book 2 of the Geeger the Robot series will be this portrait by 3rd grader Annabelle:

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Appearing in Book 3 of the Geeger the Robot series will be this portrait by 6th grader Dominic:

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And appearing in Book 4 of the Geeger the Robot series will be this portrait by 5th grader Ariah:

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THANK YOU to every kid who entered my contest, and THANK YOU to every adult who shared the contest with their students and/or kids. I am BEYOND excited to be able to feature these incredible kid creations in my books.

~ Jarrett

EngiNerds: the AUDIOBOOK!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

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I’m super excited to share that the rights to the audiobook edition of EngiNerds were recently purchased by Tantor Media, and that the book is currently in production and scheduled for a June 16, 2020 release! Narrating the book will be James Fouhey! James received classical training at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, and has gone on to record over 150 audiobooks. Once, James even voiced a rapping kid dinosaur — so, you know, he’s got some experience with off-the-wall characters. All of which is to say that, if there’s anyone I trust to voice my bottomlessly hungry, dangerously flatulent robots, it’s James.

~ Jarrett

New Activities and KNIGHTS

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 6 Comments

In the past couple weeks, the world has been turned upside down. The coronavirus pandemic has ground pretty much all our lives to a halt. As of this morning, a third of the population of the United States was told to stay in their homes and only leave in the case of an emergency, and the same is true for countries and communities all over the world. The schooling of hundreds of millions of children was put on hold, and is now being conducted virtually or being done by parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, or neighbors.

Thinking about those kids — especially those who may not have access to the sorts of resources that their schools, teachers, and librarians would usually provide them with — I ramped up production of my free activity sheets. I’ve been posting a brand new batch of them every morning for the past week or so, and plan to continue doing so for as long as I can. You can find all those sheets be clicking the ACTIVITIES tab up in the menu bar, or by clicking here.

And now, starting Monday, I will be doing something else — something to help out any kids who want or need access to more reading materials. I will be releasing one of my unpublished novels, Knights of the Kids’ Table. I plan to post a few chapters every Monday and Thursday morning, and then archive the posts on a new page at this site (you’ll be able to find a link to that page up in the menu bar as soon as it’s ready). It’ll probably take a couple months to get the end of the book.

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I am far from the only children’s book maker who is sharing resources at this time. Here are just a few of the lists going around sharing more of the wonderful stuff being shared by members of the kid lit community: Today.com’s “How to homeschool during the coronavirus crisis with free resources”; Fast Company’s “Stuck at home? Take free drawing classes from famous illustrators”; and We Are Teachers’ “The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read Alouds & Activities”.

GEEGER THE ROBOT GOES TO SCHOOL — Now Available for Preorder!

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Geeger the Robot_LERNER copyThe first book in my Geeger the Robot early reader series doesn’t come out for another six months, but just last week, both the hardcover and paperback editions (they’re releasing simultaneously) became available for preorder. Preordering is a GREAT way to support creators whose books you enjoy. It signals to their publisher that you are excited about their work, which can lead to increased support, and also lets booksellers know that they should stock — and possibly provide special promotion and/or in-store placement for — their latest offerings.

If you are interested in preordering a copy of Geeger the Robot Goes to School, you can do so from anywhere that books are sold. But if you REALLY want to offer your support (for me, in this case, or for ANY other book-makers out there), preordering from an independent bookseller is especially awesome. If you’ve got a local indie you prefer to shop at, that’s great! If not, you can use the wonderful IndieBound — click here to head to their page for the Geeger books — OR order from my local indie, Porter Square Books — click here to head to their page for the Geeger books. And if you order ANY of my books from Porter Square Books, I’ll swing by the shop and sign them for you before they get shipped out.

Thanks, as always, for the support!!!

~ Jarrett

Sleeker! Lighter! Cheaper!

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If you simply haven’t been able to bring yourself to pay hardcover price for a book that has not one, but TWO farting creatures on the cover, you’re in luck! Starting today, you can get yourself the paperback edition of Revenge of the EngiNerds. It’s sleeker, lighter, and cheaper — but I promise, it contains the same amount of fart jokes as the hardcover version. Though, I suppose, it does contain more fart jokes per ounce . . . And more fart jokes per square inch . . .

In any case, the book is now available wherever books are sold. So if you’re interested, head to your local bookstore or preferred online retailer and check it out!

Thanks!

~ Jarrett

GEEGER THE ROBOT 3 + 4 and HUNGER HEROES 2!!!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been sharing some very exciting news on social media this past week, and figured I’d put it here, too, in case you missed it. The news is: MORE BOOKS! My Geeger the Robot chapter book series has been extended to FOUR books (and will then be packaged into a nifty box set!), and my Hunger Heroes graphic novel has been given a SEQUEL!

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The first book in the Geeger series hits shelves this August, with the second and third publishing in 2021, and the fourth coming out in 2022. I will be sharing publication date information about the two Hunger Heroes books soon.

A big shout out goes to my amazing agent, Myrsini Stephanides, who never bats an eye at my zany ideas. In fact, after laughing at me for a bit, she takes them all VERY seriously, and helps me get them ready to share with publishers. And another big shout out goes to the incredible team at Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, especially my editor, Karen Nagel, who pushes and challenges me in ways that help make my books about 100 times better than they would be otherwise. The second Hunger Heroes book will be my NINTH book, all of them published by Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, and thinking about that makes my head spin and my heart explode.

And one final big shout out goes to YOU — yes, YOU! If you are reading this post, you’ve almost undoubtedly supported me and my work in some way or another, and for that I am beyond grateful. So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for helping me continue to do work that I love.

~ Jarrett

EVEN MORE #KidsNeedBooks of All Kinds T-Shirts!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 2 Comments

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You asked for it, so here it is: a third round of #KidsNeedBooks of All Kinds T-shirt fundraising! I worked with Custom Ink to try to satisfy all the requests you shared with me over on Twitter. Which is why we have two different fundraising pages. On the first, you’ll find a variety of new unisex color options. On the second, you’ll find both V-neck and long sleeve options.

As before, proceeds from this fundraiser will go toward kids’ book access efforts. THANK YOU again to everyone who has supported and/or shared this cause. I continue to be blown away by this incredible community.

~ Jarrett

REVENGE OF THE ENGINERDS in paperback!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

If you follow me over on the social medias, you might’ve seen that the paperback edition of REVENGE OF THE ENGINERDS recently became available for preorder.

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Sure, it doesn’t come out for another five months — but imagine how happy you’ll be when, in the depths of winter, a slim little package shows up on your doorstep, and you open it to gaze upon a little green tooting alien. Won’t you be glad you preordered? 🙂

Below is a link to the Indie Bound preorder page, but you can preorder the book anywhere books are sold — including directly through your local independent bookstore!

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THANKS!

~ Jarrett

#KidsNeedBooks of All Kinds T-Shirt Fundraiser Update 3

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 9 Comments

At midnight last night, the second round of #KidsNeedBooks of All Kinds fundraising ended. The numbers in the image below represent the combined total over both rounds of fundraising.

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I am as amazed and proud of this incredible kid lit community as I’ve ever been. THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart, to every single person who showed up and supported these efforts. That $19,120 is going to help get LOTS of books into the hands of kids!

~ Jarrett

EngiNerds 3!!!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 2 Comments

In case you missed it over on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, I’ve got book news! The EngiNerds series has been extended!

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Since the very beginning, even before I sold the manuscript that would become EngiNerds (it originally had a much wordier — and much worse — title), I envisioned this story arc in three installments, so I’m very excited to get a chance to complete that vision and share it with all of you. And if you or your young readers were left upset or desperate by the ending of Revenge of the EngiNerds, you can rest assured that you won’t be left hanging. Well, you will be, actually, for a little while longer — until the book comes out.

I’ll be sharing more information about Book 3 in the coming weeks and months. But for now, I just want to say THANK YOU to every person who has read and/or shared these books of mine. If not for the support of all of YOU, this contract wouldn’t have landed on my desk yesterday afternoon.

So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

~ Jarrett