Tag: The Super Roomies: Lake of Slime

NAT THE CAT SETS A TRAP, NAT THE CAT FIVE BOOKS IN ONE, and THE SUPER ROOMIES: LAKE OF SLIME pub day!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ Leave a comment

As you can see from the title of this post, today is BIG day for me. I have not one, not two, but THREE books coming out.

First up, my sixth Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Sets a Trap. Yes, the trap is for Pat the Rat. But don’t worry, as Nat says in the book–it’s a nice trap.

Nat the Cat Sets a Trap provides readers with another dose of the Nat the Cat format they have come to know–the usual silliness, the emotional roller coaster of it all, and a bit of sweetness to close things out–but also develops the characters and their increasingly caring relationship (which, by the way, is all carefully done to lead the way into Nat and Pat’s new series of early graphic novels, which launch this November with Nat the Cat and Mysterious Thing. More on all that soon…).

This book has also has an extra layer of personal meaning for me, as it’s dedicated to my wife, Danni. Like Pat the Rat, Danni is someone who thoroughly enjoys and celebrates the little, often overlooked things in life. She’s changed how I see and approach the world for the better, in countless ways. Nat the Cat Sets a Trap is, in part, me sharing that with my readers and the world.

Next up, another Nat and Pat-related book: Nat the Cat Five Books in One! This is exactly what it sounds like: five Nat the Cat books all bound-up in a single volume–and, my publisher would probably like me to add in here, all for one very reasonable price, especially when compared to what it’d cost to buy five Nat the Cat books individually. The five books collected in Nat the Cat Five Books in One! are the first five Nat early readers: Nat the Cat Takes a Nap, Nat the Cat Takes a Bath, Nat the Cat Has a Snack, Nat the Cat Has a Hat, and Nat the Cat Finds a Map (in other words, the bind-up is only missing Nat the Cat Sets a Trap).

This past weekend, at the Silver Unicorn’s Kids Graphic Novel Festival, the shop got the go-ahead from my publisher to sell this book a few days early, and it was, I’m pretty sure, my bestselling title of the day. Even kids and families who already owned the first five Nat the Cat books were purchasing a copy of Nat the Cat Five Books in One!, both for the ease of having them all together, and because young readers who can read the Nat the Cat books on their own were delighted and proud to own a book as thick as this bind-up is.

And last of all–but DEFINITELY not least of all–the third book I have coming out today is… drumroll please… The Super Roomies: Lake of Slime.

If you follow me on social media, you’ve been hearing A LOT about this book. Lake of Slime is the start of not only a brand-new series, but a brand-new line of books: Star Chapter Books, from Simon Spotlight/Simon & Schuster. These books are all “early graphic novels,” and every single one of them is 112 pages long, split up into six to eight chapters, with each page containing between one and four panels and, typically, no more than a sentence or two per panel. If that sounds very specific, well, IT IS. But for very good reasons. Simon Spotlight (who also publish all my Nat the Cat books, and all the other Ready-to-Read titles out there) endeavors to make high-interest books that not only delight young readers, but help them learn and grow as readers, building their capability and confidence with each and every turn of the page. All of the Simon Spotlight editors, art directors, designers, and creators are extremely thoughtful about the choices made in these books, wanting to be effective about turning kids into readers by making books that are both FUN and helpful at the same time. These Star Chapter Books fill a hole in the marketplace that has become more and more apparent as we learn more about kids’ reading and observe more about this specific generation of kids’ book-related wants and needs.

I’m so grateful that I was asked to be a part of the Star Chapter Books crew and to help launch this new line, because Simon Spotlight’s core mission perfectly aligns with mine and the goals of my career from the get-go. And, to toot our own horn a bit, I think we absolutely NAILED IT. But you don’t have to listen to me. You can listen to everyone else! Because over the course of the past few months, The Super Roomies: Lake of Slime has been racking up good press and high praise. It received TWO starred reviews (one from School Library Journal and one from Publishers Weekly), and both of those reviews were packed full of wildly kind comments and comparisons. The book was also named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and just this past weekend was named an Amazon Editor’s Pick and Best Book of the Month.

Lake of Slime will be quickly followed up, in August, by the second installment of the Super Roomies series, Paint the Town Pink, with a third book to follow in 2027. Below, you can get a sneak peek at the interior of Lake of Slime. If you want to see more, you can get your hands on the book anywhere books are sold. As always, if you order any of my books through my local indie, the Silver Unicorn, I can sign, doodle-in, and (if you want) personalize the books before you pick them up (if you’re nearby) or they ship them out to you. Click HERE to get shopping for my books at the Silver Unicorn!

~ Jarrett

And here’s that sneak peek at the interior of LAKE OF SLIME (please note: these pages are not in order, but just a handful from here and there that my publisher opted to share to show what readers can expect to find inside the book). Enjoy!

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