Tag: Nat the Cat Has a Snack

NAT THE CAT HAS A HAT pub day!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 2 Comments

Today, my newest book, Nat the Cat Has a Hat, officially hits shelves!

Nat the Cat Has a Hat is the fourth installment of my Nat the Cat early reader series, joining Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, and Nat the Cat Has a Snack.

I try to make every one of my Nat the Cat books fun and funny–that is definitely the most important thing. But in each book, I also attempt to explore some emotional terrain that my young readers might also find themselves facing. In Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, Nat struggles with exhaustion and the annoyance and anger that often stem from it. In Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, Nat confronts fear and shame. In Nat the Cat Has a Snack, Nat deals with selfishness and, at least at first, has a tough time with sharing. And in this newest book, Nat the Cat Has a Hat, Nat has to grapple with jealousy and pride.

The release of Nat the Cat Has a Hat is special for another reason, too–it’s my 20th published book! This fact somehow feels both obvious and also impossible for me to wrap my head around. I’ve worked long and hard, and so a part of me thinks, Yeah, that was about 20 books‘ worth of work. But another part of me thinks back to before I’d sold my first book, to the days (and there were LOTS of them) where I’d think, If I could just publish one book–ONE book–in my whole entire lifetime, I’d be happy. For a long time, it was all I wanted. And I try to remind myself of that as much as I can. It helps me take a step back, take a deep breath, and feel a bit of pride about what I’ve done (something I am notoriously quite bad at…). At the same time, it also reminds me that there is absolutely no way I could’ve gotten here without my family, my friends, and also everyone–likely including YOU–who has ever supported me and my work in any way. So, if that’s you: THANK YOU. Books are nothing without readers, and whether you are one of my readers or someone keeping tabs on my career in order to connect my books to the right readers (or both!), you have been instrumental in making these 20 books a reality, and also in bringing about the next 20. You have quite literally helped make my dreams come true. I appreciate it enormously, and will never stop.

~ 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

TWO Cover Reveals + A Paperback Release Date

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

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