Tag: Paint the Town Pink

COVER REVEALS: The Super Roomies: Paint the Town Pink; Scare School Diaries: The Un-Hauntable House; and Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

What a month it’s been — and we’re only halfway done with it! In the past couple weeks, I’ve had FOUR books come out. First, on May 5th, it was Nat the Cat Sets a Trap, Nat the Cat Five Books in One!, and The Super Roomies: Lake of Slime, the start of a brand-new series of early graphic novels on a brand-new and very exciting line of books (Star Chapter Books) from Simon & Schuster’s Simon Spotlight imprint. Then, on May 12th, EngiNerds 3-in-1 — a single-volume bind-up of my first-ever series of books, the EngiNerds series of Middle Grade novels — hit shelves. (You can read more about both of these epic release days HERE and HERE.) And now I’m back to reveal the covers of three MORE books I’ve got coming out this year (I know, I know — due to a variety of converging factors, 2026 is a bit of a bonanza year for me, in terms of new books out).

First up, the second installment of my freshly launched Super Roomies series of early graphic novels, Paint the Town Pink:

In Paint the Town Pink, the Super Roomies have to put a stop to one of the crew’s former roommates, Nina Neon, who is intent on painting their city “projectile pink,” a shade of pink so overwhelmingly intense it causes people to projectile vomit on sight. In other words, it’s four against one — a task which should be a breeze for Abby Astro, Blix Blaster, Captain Kooky Pants, and Wanda Weather. Unfortunately, three of the four Super Roomies stayed up all night binge-watching their favorite TV show and, now, they can barely keep their eyes open, meaning they’ve made the task of saving the day significantly harder for themselves. Can they pull it off? You’ll be able to find out when Paint the Town Pink hits shelves on August 25th!

Next up — and appropriately publishing at the very beginning of Spooky Season — is the third book in my Scare School Diaries series of highly illustrated chapter books. This one’s called The Un-Hauntable House, and, notably, it’s the first Scare School book that features real live (that is, neither headless nor zombie-fied) human beings.

In The Un-Hauntable House, Bash and his fellow Scare School students are each tasked with passing an Excursion Exam — a sort of field trip combined with a test. Each kids’ Excursion Exam is specially crafted for them by one of Scare School’s teachers, and the tough, insrutable Mr. Crane gives Bash a real doozy . . . . He must spook every member of the Jones family — that’s nine humans, a dog, and a cat — badly enough that they flee their home (bonus points if they are screaming in terror as they are doing it). Bash plans and prepares for his Excursion Exam as thoroughly as he can, but when the time comes to do the actual scaring, he encounters all kinds of obstacles he couldn’t have foreseen: rambunctious toddlers, phone-obsessed teenagers, and parents so overwhelmed and exhausted they’ve basically been turned into zombies. Meaning if Bash wants to pass his exam, he’s going to have to think on his feet (so to speak) and employ some untraditional methods. You can find out how he does when The Un-Hauntable House comes out on October 6th!

Finally, the last cover I have to reveal is for Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing, the first in an upcoming series of early graphic novel starring Nat the Cat, Pat the Rat, and . . . well, a mysterious thing that I’m not about to tell you about before you get a chance to read the book!

Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing comes out November 24th, and I am beyond excited to share the stories I have cooked up in this new, longer format for Nat the Cat and Pat the Rat. Over the course of my six Nat the Cat early readers, our lovable curmudgeon of a protagonist grows increasingly sweet and in tune with his emotions. Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing picks things up from there, with Nat the Cat being made to venture into far more emotionally tricky terrain. Throughout these early graphic novels (I have finished the first two, and written the third), Nat the Cat continues to develop and grow — mirroring, my publisher and I hope, the development and growth of Nat the Cat’s young readers. I could go on and on about the care and thought my team and I put into Nat’s transition to these early graphic novels and the specific stories that play out in their panels, and I WILL, once we get a little closer to their publication date. For now, though, I’ll just share that Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing was recently named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, continuing a long-running streak of Nat’s books being honored in this way, which is great sign, more than six months before the book’s actual publication.

The Super Roomies: Paint the Town Pink, Scare School Diaries: The Un-Hauntable House, and Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing are all now available for preorder wherever books are sold. As always, if you preorder the books from my local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn, I can sign, doodle-in, and personalize (if you wish) your copies. Click HERE to do that. I’ll be sharing more about these books in the coming weeks and months, both here and, more regularly and thoroughly, on social media, so go and find me over on Instagram (@jarrett_lerner) and/or Facebook if you want to keep up-to-date, learn more, and see some sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes fun.

Thanks!

~ Jarrett

COVER REVEALS — PLURAL! Plus: a roundup of what’s in store for 2026!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had an exceptionally busy fall — one filled with school visits all over the country, a handful of conference appearances, a family trip to Disney World, and a whole bunch of book-making. Because of all this busyness, I haven’t been keeping up with sharing new book covers and new news here on the blog. Add all that to the fact that 2026 is going to be the biggest publisher year of my career so far, and I’ve fallen way behind.

What makes next year such a big one for me? Well, I’ve got nine — yes, NINE! — books coming out. Two of these are bind-ups of previously released series of books. But still. It’s a lot! So, below, here’s a catch-up/roundup of what I’ve got in store for 2026.

First up, in January (on the 13th, one day after my birthday!), is my fifth Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Finds a Map. I did already reveal this book’s cover (you can find the post HERE). But that was more than four months ago, and at that point, while the cover was done, the interior had yet to be finalized. Now that’s finally, officially done though (and possibly even being printed as you read this), I can say that this installment of the Nat the Cat series is without a doubt my favorite yet. I think it most fully captures Nat the Cat’s and Pat the Rat’s personalities and their (continually developing) relationship. I also think the book most perfectly hits the combo/balance of humor and heart that I strive to achieve in all my books. And I’m not just tooting my own horn here, either — a big part of Nat the Cat Finds a Map was actually thought up by my oldest daughter, Isla. It’s why the book is dedicated to her. For helping me find the most elegant solution to a problem I couldn’t work out myself, she definitely deserves it!

Next up, in March, I have a very special Middle Grade novel coming out — Roohi and Nate Are Not on the Same Page. Looking at this cover, you might notice something unusual about it: it’s not just my name down on there on the bottom! That’s because I co-wrote and co-illustrated this book with Supriya Kelkar! Supriya and I debuted together way back in 2017, and have been good friends ever since. And when, one day, my agent offhandedly asked whether I’d ever be into co-authoring a book with another creator, Supriya was the person who immediately popped to mind. We’d never worked together like this before, but it came naturally, and went wonderfully, resulting in a book that we couldn’t be more excited to share with our readers, both young and old. It’s a book about friendship, about the power of stories, about being true to yourself, and about the importance of school libraries and their librarians. Early next year, Supriya and I will make some announcements about virtual visit opportunities with the two of us. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you, watch this space (as well as my social media feeds), to make sure to see that info when we share it.

A couple months after Roohi and Nate releases, at the beginning of May, I’ve got a whole slew of fun stuff coming your way. On the first Tuesday of the month (May 5th), I’ve got three books you can get your hands on: my sixth Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Sets a Trap; a bind-up collection of the first five Nat the Cat early readers, Nat the Cat Five Books in One!; and the first installment of a new series of early graphic novels, The Super Roomies: Lake of Slime.

The latter is part of a brand-new line of books coming out from Simon & Schuster’s Simon Spotlight imprint. These books, called “Star Chapter Books,” are all, in fact, early graphic novels — 112 pages, split up into six to eight chapters, with one to four comic panels on each page. Simon Spotlight is the home of the super successful Ready-to-Read lines of books, and these Star Chapter Books are intended to serve as a sort of next step for young readers who have worked their way through books in that program. But the most important thing I can tell you about ALL of the Star Chapter Books (there will be several others releasing right along with my first one) is that they are FUN. Spotlight’s editors and art directors gave us creators the green light to be as silly and wild as we wanted, and we went for it.

The Super Roomies are superheroes who also happen to be roommates — and not very good ones. In each book, the crew are called upon by their city’s mayor to stop one or another bad guy from committing some sort of reprehensible act, but their roommate-related troubles are always threatening to get in the way of them actually accomplishing their mission. For instance, in Lake of Slime, the deranged Dr. Slimepeople has plans to drain Big City Lake of all its water and replace every last drop with slime, thus making it impossible for the city’s citizens to go swimming. (Like I said: reprehensible.) It’s up to the Super Roomies to figure out just how Dr. Slimepeople is going to do all this draining/replacing and stop him before he can. Which they have plenty of time to do — if, that is, they can stop squabbling about who finished their apartment’s milk and then put the empty carton back in the fridge and stay focused… Below is a sneak peek at some spreads of the book’s interior.

One week after all of that — on May 12th — my fourth book of the month hits shelves: another bind-up, this one of my first-ever series of books, EngiNerds. When I learned that my publisher wanted to rerelease these books in this form, I was beyond delighted. The EngiNerds series is comprised of three Middle Grade novels, all of them just under 200 pages and featuring fun, funny, fast-paced storytelling. For all kinds of reasons, books at this length and with such so-called “high-interest” content are needed now more than ever, and I am so excited that this bind-up will introduce a new generation of readers to the EngiNerds and their epic showdowns with a fleet of bottomlessly hungry, aggressively flatulent robots.

After the EngiNerds 3-in-1, I’ve got a bit of a break, though things ramp back up at the end of the summer and for the end of the year. None of the covers of the remaining books I’ve got coming out have been revealed yet. So, since I can’t show you much, I’ll just tell you about them.

— In August, you’ll be able to get your hands on the second installment of the Super Roomies series, which is called Paint the Town Pink.

— In October, the third book in my Scare School Diaries series, The Un-Hauntable House, comes out.

— In November, I’ve got a second series of Star Chapter Books early graphic novels launching, this one featuring Nat the Cat and Pat the Rat. The first book in this series is called Nat the Cat and the Mysterious Thing.

— And finally, in December, it’s not another book, but a box of them — a boxed set, to be specific, of all my Nat the Cat early readers.

Whew! That’s it for 2026. Looking ahead at it all like this, I’m feeling incredibly grateful that I get to do this work, and also incredibly excited to share all these books with my readers. If YOU are one of those readers: THANK YOU. It’s because of your support that all of this has been and continues to be possible. As always, if you want signed/personalized copies of any of the books mentioned above (or ANY of my already-released books), you can order/preorder them from my wonderful local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn. Click HERE to do so.

Again: THANKS!!!

~ Jarrett