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COVER REVEAL: My Mad Scientist Mom: No More Mr. Mice Guy

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

One month from today, my next book–and my next series–launches. The book? Saved by the Smell. The series? My Mad Scientist Mom.

Considering all this, I thought today was a fitting time to officially reveal the cover of the second book in the My Mad Scientist Mom series.

So, without further ado, here it is–the cover of No More Mr. Mice Guy:

As you can see, this second installment of the series of illustrated chapter books features a boy, his mad scientist mom, and yet another ferocious creature. And if you don’t think a mouse is as ferocious as a T-Rex, try facing one after you’ve been shrunken down to the size of a small insect! That’s the predicament that Ari (the above-mentioned boy) finds himself in during No More Mr. Mice Guy–part of it, at least.

Here’s my publisher’s official description of the book:

Ari’s life is filled with school, video games, and his pet turtle, Fred: pretty run-of-the mill stuff. But not anywhere near run-of-the-mill is Ari’s mom, who’s a mad scientist. That’s right, a MAD scientist. Sure, she strives to make people’s lives better with her inventions, especially at home. But all of Mom’s inventions seem to go just the slightest bit off kilter.

His mom puts a new invention to the test to help clean up the clutter in their house: a magnimizer, which can shrink or enlarge anything! Pretty amazing, right? Well, not if you happen to be Mr. Jakes, their neighbor who comes face to face with this gizmo and becomes the size of a cockroach—and a potential tasty morsel for the resident basement mouse! Can Ari save the day and teeny-weeny Mr. Jakes?

No More Mr. Mice Guy hits shelves on July 1st, just a few months after the first book in the My Mad Scientist Mom series comes out, but is already available for preorder–like, right now–everywhere books are sold. As always, if you preorder/order my books–any of them–from my local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn, I can sign, doodle-in, and (if you want) personalize your copies. To do that, click HERE.

Thanks!

~ Jarrett

COVER REVEAL: Nat the Cat Has a Hat

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

I’m delighted to reveal here the cover of my next Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Has a Hat:

The book is out January 7, 2025, and will be my fourth Nat the Cat book. And while I think all the Nat books are quite fun, this one is especially so. I mean, it’s got hats. A whole BUNCH of them!

You can check out my publisher’s description of the book below. And you can, starting now, also preorder the book. As always, if you preorder from my local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn, I’ll sign, doodle-in, and personalize (if you want) your copies of the book. You can click HERE to do that.

Nat the Cat gets a little jealous in this fourth book in the hilarious, fourth wall–breaking Pre-Level 1 Ready-to-Read series about a grumpy cat, a curious rat, and an exasperated narrator from powerhouse creator Jarrett Lerner!

Nat the Cat has a hat. Pat the Rat has a nicer hat. Nat the Cat wants a hat like that. Will the two friends have a spat?

~ Jarrett

NAT THE CAT HAS A SNACK and A WORK IN PROGRESS (paperback) Pub Day!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

Okay, fine: the title of this post is a bit misleading. TODAY is not actually the pub day for the books mentioned above. It was last week. But last week, I was busy in New Jersey with school visits, and so didn’t get a chance to post until now. So, a bit belatedly, here’s my celebratory shout: Happy Book Birthday to Nat the Cat Has a Snack and the paperback edition of A Work in Progress! Phew. I’ve been holding that in for nearly a week.

First up: Nat!

The third/newest Nat the Cat book is all about SHARING. More specifically, the book is about how we can share both GOOD things (like snacks!) and BAD things (like problems!) with our friends, and how, even if it’s not always EASY to share, it’s basically always BETTER when we do.

Next up, the paperback edition of A Work in Progress.

To me, the most exciting thing about this edition of the book is that it’s (comparatively) CHEAP! It’s half the list price of the hardcover edition. I hope the means the book ends up reaching the hands of many, many more kids than it already has. This cheaper price also means it’s easier for teachers, librarians, and schools to purchase sets of the book for reading groups and book clubs. The second most exciting thing about this edition of the book is that the cover has this fancy cutaway (you can see it in the picture up there), meaning you can glimpse the notebook lines that carry throughout the book, as well as a few of Will’s scribbles.

In other A Work in Progress news, over the course of the past few months the book has popped up on a bunch of state award lists: Kentucky’s, Georgia’s, Florida’s, and my home state of Massachusetts’s, too.

This means that kids all over these states will spend the year reading A Work in Progress (in addition to the other books on the nominee lists) and then have a chance to vote for their favorites. And while winning would of course be incredible, I am super honored and grateful to simply be nominated. The list of nominees are created by teams of librarians who spent the past year reading more or less EVERY SINGLE BOOK published for kids before deciding on what they deem the 10 to 12 very, very best. Also, being nominated means your work will reach thousands and thousands of kids that it otherwise might not. So, to all the committees who’ve nominated A Work in Progress so far: THANK YOU!

As always, if you want signed/personalized/doodled-in copies of Nat the Cat Has a Snack and/or the paperback edition of A Work in Progress (and/or ANY of my books), you can order them from my wonderful local indie, The Silver Unicorn.

~ Jarrett

THE HUNGER HEROES: MISSED MEAL MAYHEM Wins the OTTER Award!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

A little over a year ago, I shared some excited news about Missed Meal Mayhem, the first graphic novel chapter book in my Hunger Heroes series. The news was that the book had been nominated for an OTTER Award, one of three state book awards the book had been put up for. (You can read the original blog post about the OTTER Award HERE.) The OTTER Award, which is given out by the Washington Library Association, is an especially special award. The list of nominees is put together by a group of librarians, and after a year of reading and discussing all the nominees, the winner of the award is chosen by the KIDS of Washington state. And I am beyond delighted and honored to share that, last week, it was announced that The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem WON the award.

There are even MORE reasons why the OTTER Award is so darn awesome, though, one being that the award highlights and celebrates a very specific type of book: so-called “transitional chapter books.” These books — which fall between picture books/early readers and longer, full-fledged chapter books — aim to both attract AND assist readers. In other words, these books need to be ones that kids will not only love to read, but ones that will help them in their journey to becoming stronger, more confident readers. And that is precisely what I tried to accomplish with Missed Meal Mayhem and its sequel, Snack Cabinet Sabotage. The carefully balanced blend of comics and text was designed to grow readers just as it excited and entertained them. To have a bunch of librarians acknowledge the work I did to make such a book — and, by nominating it for their state’s award, let me know they think I made a successful one — and THEN have thousands of young readers use their vote to declare it their favorite? I can’t think of anything better.

THANK YOU to the Washington Library Association, and THANK YOU to every Washington kid who read The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem, whether they ultimately voted for it not. Because getting kids reading and voicing their thoughts and feelings about books — that’s the real prize.

To learn more about the OTTER Award, click HERE.

To see the official announcement about Missed Meal Mayhem‘s big win, click HERE.

~ Jarrett

A WORK IN PROGRESS Update: Educator’s Guide, Another STARRED Review, and More

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

I just returned home from the final out-of-state school visits of my A Work in Progress tour, and have some news to share, in case you missed my posting about it on social media.

First, this website now has its very own A WORK IN PROGRESS page. On it you’ll find some general information about the book, a list of accolades (with links), and — drumroll please — the Educator’s Guide! This IS deserving a drumroll, because this guide: it’s EPIC. And you can trust me on that, because it wasn’t me who made it.

The Educator’s Guide was made by award-winning middle school media specialist Carrie Friday, and she did SUCH a fantastic job. Using both carefully crafted questions and thoughtful extension activities, Carrie has not only created a resource that will help educators ensure their readers get everything out of A Work in Progress that I could’ve hoped and dreamed, but has found so much more in the book. Her experience and brilliance as a librarian really shine through, and I’m amazed by all the ways she has found to use the book as a launchpad for meaningful discussion and productive exploration. Again: you can find the Educator’s Guide at the A WORK IN PROGRESS page of this site, or by simply clicking HERE.

In other A Work in Progress news: the book received another STARRED review. This time, it’s from Shelf Awareness, and the reviewer (Cade Williams) really got what I was going for. In addition to calling “earnest and inspiring,” Williams says:

Lerner’s novel is striking, sincere, and sensitive to the very real problems of bullying and ostracization. Visually, the book recalls a middle-schooler’s notebook, with a font reminiscent of penciled handwriting and striking cartoonish doodles that illustrate the novel’s events and Will’s emotional reactions to them. Throughout the novel Lerner uses repetition, emphases (such as bolding and capitalization), and free-verse forms to illustrate feelings of chaos and disorientation, anxiety, and oppressive self-loathing, and–eventually–determination and self-acceptance. A Work in Progress conveys a resounding and empowering message of self-love.

THANK YOU, Cade, for the kind words — and for that shiny star!

On top of touring to do school visits and bookstore events to share about A Work in Progress, I’ve also been doing lots of interviews, as well as guest posts at various websites. Only a portion of these posts and interviews have been published or aired. But you can find all of those that have — and keep an eye out for more as they are released — at the PRESS page of this website. Click HERE to head over there. As more interviews and filmed appearances are made public, they’ll be linked on that page.

Thanks to all of you who have already shown A Work in Progress so much love and given it so much support. The book has only been out for a few weeks and it’s already been such a wild, enjoyable ride.

~ Jarrett

The Hunger Heroes Social Media TAKEOVER!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

The Hunger Heroes, my series of graphic novel chapter books, launches four weeks from today, when the first book in the series, Missed Meal Mayhem, publishes. Starting tomorrow, this crew of superheroic taco ingredients will be dominating my social media feeds, as I share tons of fun, cool stuff about the book and how I made it. There will sneak peeks of the finished book, as well as process pictures/posts and behind-the-scenes insights into just what goes into making a graphic novel.

I hope that all of this not only drums up interest in and excitement about Missed Meal Mayhem and the Hunger Heroes series as a whole, but also serves as a tool for educators, librarians, and parents of kids out there looking to learn more about drawing, writing, storytelling in general, and comic-making in particular. As such, I’ll be including a hashtag — #TheHungerHeroes — on each of these posts (which you can find on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), and will also be collecting them all here, next month, once I’m done sharing all I have to share and the book is out.

One last thing: if you’re planning to preorder The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem, I hope you’ll consider doing so from your local independent bookstore — or from one of my local indies. Copies of the book preordered from any of the four Massachusetts indies shown/mentioned below will be signed, personalized (if you wish), and doodled in.

Click HERE to preorder The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem from The Silver Unicorn.

Click HERE to preorder The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem from Porter Square Books.

Click HERE to preorder The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem from The Blue Bunny.

Click HERE to preorder The Hunger Heroes: Missed Meal Mayhem from Belmont Books.

I’ve been making my own comics since the third grade (that’s one of the things I’ll be sharing more about in the coming weeks!). That, combined with the fact that I’ve been working on this comic book for so darn long, makes the fact that it’s about to be out in the world all the more surreal. It’s another piece of my dream coming true. I can’t wait to properly introduce the Hunger Heroes to you, in the form of their first adventure, and in the lead up to that moment, I hope you enjoy all the stuff I’ve got to share with you.

~ Jarrett

Last night…

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 3 Comments

Last night I shared on social media that I’ll be helping Alyson Gerber celebrate her new book, Taking Up Space, next week. I said we’ll be having “an honest, personal conversation on why we need to talk to kids about body image, food, and self-worth.”

Some people may have wondered why Alyson asked ME to be at one of her events for the book. Which would be totally understandable – body image and its relationship to self-worth is not something I’ve ever really spoken about on here.

But these are things that I have quietly – for a long time, even secretly – struggled with for going on 25 years now. So, why have I decided to start talking about them now?

My mission as a children’s book creator is to help kids: help them fall in love with reading, help them discover all the things that books can do for them, help them find their creative voice and learn how to most powerfully use it.

A year or so ago, it occurred to me that I could potentially help kids in another way by sharing a part of myself, an aspect of my story, that I had never really shared before. And so, eventually, I made the decision to share it.

I dusted off an old manuscript based on my own experiences with body image, body dysmorphia, disordered eating, and self-worth (or extreme lack of it) and committed to finishing it. (I did. And will share more about all of that soon).

And now, starting with Alyson’s event next week, I am ready and even a bit excited (if also kind of nervous) to share my story and ongoing struggles – in, of course, appropriate settings and situations and, I hope, useful ways.

I’m grateful for Alyson and creators like her who have shown me how to begin to do all this, and who have helped make me feel strong enough to do it, and who have made plain all the potential good it can do.

Alyson’s new book, Taking Up Space, is not only an excellent book in and of itself. Like all her novels, it tackles tough, important topics in brilliant ways and, though it’s not even officially out yet, has already done a ton of good.

I’m also grateful to Alyson for giving me an opportunity and a place to begin sharing my story and discussing these topics and issues. As with all of my work – the book-making and beyond – I sincerely hope it helps some kids.

~ Jarrett

(If you want to join Alyson and me next week, head to my Appearances page and use the link provided to register for the event.)

GIVE THIS BOOK A COVER Preorder Giveaway!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

In three short weeks, on May 4th, my second activity book — Give This Book a Cover — hits shelves. The book offers more of the sort of creativity-boosting activities that can be found in Give This Book a Title — How to Draw instructions, writing/drawing prompts, and Finish this Comic comics — while also challenging those who’ve used the previous book to explore some imaginative territory they may not have before. I hope these carefully crafted and thoughtfully arranged activities not only give kids something fun and creative to do, but get them excited about using their creativity, and also help train their brains to see the potential stories both all around and within them.

If you have, or plan on, preordering the book, make sure to enter the Give This Book a Cover preorder giveaway. What can you win? a 30-minute visit with me! It can be used as a classroom, library, or whole school visit (if you are in a school or wish to donate the visit to one); it can be used as a small-group workshop (for a comics club or during a birthday party, for instance) or one-on-one lesson; it can be used as a consultation (if you are an author, illustrator, or author-illustrator looking for some insight or advice); or it can be used however else you wish!

To enter the giveaway, send proof of your preorder to LernerPreorder@gmail.com. And as always for my preorder giveaways, if you get your copy (or copies!) from an independent bookseller, you’ll be entered into the giveaway twice.

Thank you, as always, for the support, and I hope you and/or the young creators in your life enjoy this next batch of my activities!

~ Jarrett

Thank Your Sanitation Worker!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

My friend Katie Reilley is a brilliant, innovative educator and the owner of one of the biggest, kindest hearts I know. Recently, she asked me whether I had any ideas for an activity sheet that might help her and her kids thank the sanitation workers who, throughout the crisis we’re facing, haven’t slowed down a bit, and are continuing to work hard to keep our homes, yards, and neighborhoods clean.

I thought it was a great idea — particularly since my wife and I had just spent the day cleaning up our backyard, and are now relying on our city’s sanitation workers to come haul away the yard waste so that, as the weather warms up, we can spend more of our time at home outdoors. Below is the sheet I came up with — a combination coloring page and thank you note.

sanitation worker.jpg

Click HERE to download a printable version of this sheet, or head over to my ACTIVITIES page to find it along with all my others. And don’t forget to visit that page often, as I add new activities just about every day.

Thanks again, Katie, for your inspiring work and for giving me this wonderful, big-hearted idea!

~ Jarrett

Geeger the Robot Goes to School!: Cover Reveal and Pub. Date!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 2 Comments

I’m excited to share with the world the cover of my next book, Geeger the Robot Goes to School!, the first in the Geeger the Robot series!

Geeger the Robot_LERNER.jpg

This book is about friendship, the power of a good teacher, and discovering that making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed of, but is in fact a great way — if the the BEST way! — to learn. The book hits shelves on August 25th, 2020, but I’ll share more info about preordering soon.

I’d definitely be remiss if I didn’t give a huge, grateful shout-out to the ridiculously talented Serge Seidlitz, who created yet ANOTHER incredible cover for me (Serge also created the covers for EngiNerds and Revenge of the EngiNerds).

I cannot wait for you all to meet Geeger, his teacher Ms. Bork, his best friend Tillie, and the rest of the crew at Amblerville Elementary School. Oh yeah, and the Digest-O-Tron 5000, too! WEE-oOoOo! WEE-oOoOo! WEE-oOoOo!

~ Jarrett