I’m thrilled to share that the second of my Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, has been named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection! If you’ve been following along with Nat, you may remember that his first book, Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, was also a JLG Gold Standard selection.

What does this mean?

The Junior Library Guild is a hugely popular, highly influential subscription service that is used by tons of librarians. It’s been around for more than 90 years, and is known as “the librarian’s secret.” The Guild is basically a highly knowledgeable editorial team that reads pretty much EVERY SINGLE children’s book before it gets published. Books that are deemed essential additions to school libraries are given the Guild’s seal of approval, and that Gold Standard stamp means they really like it.

What happens next?

The Guild buys up a bunch of copies of their selected books and ships them out to subscribing libraries who have noted their interest in titles like it. So, when it comes to Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, librarians that have said they are looking to add more early readers to their collections are likely to receive copies right around the book’s release date.

One more pretty awesome thing about the Guild: nearly 95% of their selections go on to win awards, honors, starred reviews, and industry accolades. So not only does this honor mean that Nat the Cat Takes a Bath will end up in the hands of more readers than it otherwise might have, it means that it bodes well for its chances to receive favorable feedback from other sectors of the industry. All good news for Nat!

You can learn more about the Junior Library Guild by clicking HERE. And just a reminder: Nat the Cat Takes a Bath hits shelves on May 2nd, but can be preordered TODAY wherever books are sold (and if you haven’t already checked out the first book in Nat’s series, Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, you can do so today wherever books are able to be borrowed or bought). If you want your copies of either of Nat’s books signed by me, you can, as always, order/preorder from the Silver Unicorn. Click HERE to access my page at the Silver Unicorn site. And also as always: THANKS!

~ Jarrett

Did you hear?! Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, my first early reader, was recently named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection!

Learning this, you might have some questions…

What’s the Junior Library Guild? It’s a hugely popular, highly influential subscription service that is used by tons of librarians. It’s been around for more than 90 years, and is known as “the librarian’s secret.” The Guild is basically a highly knowledgeable editorial team that reads pretty much EVERY SINGLE children’s book before it gets published. Books that are deemed essential additions to school libraries are given the Guild’s seal of approval, and that Gold Standard stamp means they really like it.

What happens next?

The Guild buys up a bunch of copies of their selected books and ships them out to subscribing libraries who have noted their interest in titles like it. So, when it comes to Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, librarians that have said they are looking to add more early readers to their collections are likely to receive copies right around the book’s release date.

One more pretty awesome thing about the Guild: nearly 95% of their selections go on to win awards, honors, starred reviews, and industry accolades. So not only does this honor mean that Nat the Cat Takes a Nap will end up in the hands of more readers than it otherwise might have, it means that it bodes well for its chances to receive favorable feedback from other sectors of the industry. All good news for Nat!

You can learn more about the Junior Library Guild by clicking HERE. And just a reminder: Nat the Cat Takes a Nap hits shelves on January 17th, 2023, but can be preordered TODAY wherever books are sold (as can the second book in Nat’s series, Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, which comes out on May 2nd, 2023). If you want your copies signed by me, you can, as always, preorder from the Silver Unicorn. Click HERE to access my page at the Silver Unicorn site. And also as always: THANKS!

~ Jarrett