Tag: Welcome to Scare School

FOREST FRIGHTS pub day!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 3 Comments

Today, Forest Frights–the second book in my Scare School Diaries series–finally hits shelves!

Like Welcome to Scare School–the first book in the Scare School Diaries series–Forest Frights is the diary of young ghost Bash, now in his second session at Scare School. And in this session, Bash has to contend with something truly terrifying: a group project! Bash survives the ordeal (spoiler alert!), and in the end has several opportunities to be brave, discovering that everyone is scared of something, and that the most important thing is making sure your fears don’t keep you from doing the things that you want and need to do.

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

Bash the ghost learns to work with trouble-loving vampires in this second book in the sweet and spooky chapter book series by acclaimed author Jarrett Lerner.

At the start of his second session at Scare School, the world’s premiere institution for elementary scare instruction, Bash is feeling a bit more confident and excited about his classes starting up again. But when Vlad and Vicky, the mischievous vampires, join his group project, Bash starts worrying if this mean-spirited duo are going to take a bite out of his good grade!

Just a few weeks ago, Forest Frights got written up by Kirkus Reviews. They called the book “A warmly reassuring tale for those who prefer their scares on the lighter side,” which is basically exactly what I was going for. (If you want, you can read the full review HERE.)

Kirkus’s positive review followed a string of good news for Welcome to Scare School. The book was a featured fall title for Literati book club, appearing at the company’s book fairs across the country. Up north, in Canada, the book was named one of the Best Books of 2024 by Indigo (Canada’s largest bookseller). The book also received love and praise from bookstores and readers as far away as Australia! In addition to all this, I got some news about the book that I am actually not allowed to share yet–but I can tell you that, because of it, Welcome to Scare School will end up in the hands of even more young readers than it would have otherwise. (Keep an eye on my social media feeds to hear the secret news, which I’ll be sharing there as soon as I’m allowed to.)

I think kids who loved Welcome to Scare School will love this second installment of the series just as much, and I’m glad that those who have yet to discover the first book will be able to dive right into Forest Frights should they want even more of Bash and his friends. If you know some of these kids, make sure you let them know about the SCARE SCHOOL DIARIES page of this website, where you can find all sorts of FREE Scare School-related activities. And as always, if you want signed, doodled-in, and personalized copies of Welcome to Scare School and/or Forest Frights, order from my local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn. (Click HERE to do that!)

~ Jarrett

WELCOME TO SCARE SCHOOL pub day!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 3 Comments

Today’s the day! My newest book — and newest series — is officially here. Meaning I can, at long last, say to all my readers… WELCOME TO SCARE SCHOOL!

That, of course, is the title of this first book in my new Scare School Diaries series.

I started playing around with the Scare School concept over four years ago. It took me a long time to figure out just how to present the story. If you’ve taken a look at the interior of the book (either via my social media accounts, or on any online book retailer site that offers a preview of the first handful of pages of the book), you’ll know that it’s a “hybrid” — a blend of text, illustrations, and comics. There aren’t many books out there in such a format, but for me, it is the most natural way of creating and sharing stories. If a part of the story is most powerfully, excitingly, and/or humorously told using words, I use words, and if a part of the story is most powerfully, excitingly, and/or humorously told using pictures (illustrations or comics), I use pictures. I think this sort or storytelling resonates particularly well with today’s kids, too, who are often (probably most often) consuming media that contains/blends both words and images. It also makes for a super absorbing reading experience, as kids, turning the pages, never know what they’re going to see on the next spread. I’m grateful to my editor and publisher for consistently letting me (and even encouraging me to!) create outside of the traditional kids’ books boxes.

Anyway, all of this is to say that this day has been a long time coming. It’s a bit surreal for me that it’s finally here. And now that it is, the thing that I am of course most excited about is finding out what you (and especially your young readers!) think of the book. If you want to learn more about Welcome to Scare School, check out the booktalk I recorded for the book below (you can also find this video at the Scare School Diaries page of this website and on my YouTube page). And if those readers of yours enjoy the book, don’t miss all the FREE Scare School Diaries activities I made (you can download those at the same Scare School Diaries page of this website). Also, a reminder that the NEXT Scare School Diaries book, Forest Frights, will be out on November 5th of THIS YEAR, and is already available for preorder everywhere books are sold. As with all my books, if you order the book from my local independent bookstore, the Silver Unicorn, yours will be signed, doodled-in, and personalized (if you want). You can do that HERE.

Lastly, for my local friends and fans: I’ll be launching Welcome to Scare School THIS weekend at the Silver Unicorn, along with my pal (and absolutely marvelous Middle Grade author) Betsy Uhrig. She’s got a spooky book out today, too. The fun starts at 3:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. And I mean fun — the Silver Unicorn will be turning their store into a HAUNTED HOUSE! Costumes are encouraged for this “Halloween in July” celebration. If you’re around and available, I hope to see you there!

~ Jarrett

A COVER REVEAL and a ONE-MONTH COUNTDOWN!

~ Jarrett Lerner ~ 1 Comment

Happy April 7th?

What am I celebrating?

In just one month, on May 7th, TWO big books of mine are coming out: (1) my next Nat the Cat early reader, Nat the Cat Has a Snack, and (2) the paperback edition of A Work in Progress.

Nat the Cat Has a Snack — the third book starring Nat and his rat pal, Pat — is about SHARING. Both the beauty of it . . . and the difficulty of it. My hope is that kids get a kick out of watching Nat discover that things are almost always better when we share with friends, and also learn that we can share both good things with friends (like snacks!) and also bad things (like hard-to-solve problems!).

If you read this blog and/or follow me, I surely don’t need to tell you what A Work in Progress is about. But I definitely do need to tell you that the paperback edition of the book — which, again, you can get your hands on in just ONE MONTH — is not only more lightweight and portable than the hardcover, it’s also cheaper. (Hooray!) I hope the lower price leads to the book reaching the hands of many, many more kids. And hey — if you plan to get a copy of the book, you can do it now and enter the book’s paperback preorder giveaway, which’ll give you a chance to win a whole class set of the books! Find more info about that in the image caption below.

To enter the A Work in Progress paperback preorder giveaway: Preorder the paperback edition of the book and send proof of preorder to AWIPpreorder@gmail.com. You will be entered to win an additional 20 extra copies! Multiple preorders and/or preorders from independent bookstores are counted as multiple entries.

And now, last but certainly not least, as promised . . . a COVER REVEAL!

Yes, the first volume of my newest series, Scare School Diaries, is not even out yet (it will be on July 16th), but we are already promoting the second volume, because — excitingly! — it comes out just three and a half months after the first. It’s not unusual for kids to have to wait a whole year, and sometimes even longer, for a subsequent installment of a book series to publish. But, along with my amazing team at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, I am always aiming to grow readers and keep kids happy, so we’ve worked hard to keep the books coming.

Forest Frights is about one of the scariest things kids will encounter during their educational careers: the dreaded GROUP PROJECT. Here’s my publisher’s official writeup for the book:

At the start of his second session at Scare School, the world’s premiere institution for elementary scare instruction, Bash is feeling a bit more confident and excited about his classes starting up again. But when Vlad and Vicky, the mischievous vampires, join his group project, Bash starts worrying if this mean-spirited duo are going to take a bite out of his good grade!

You can preorder Forest Frights — along with, of course, the first book in the Scare School Diaries series, Welcome to Scare School — anywhere books are sold. As always, if you order and/or preorder any of my books from my local indie, the Silver Unicorn, I can sign, personalize, and doodle in your copies. Click HERE to do that. And THANKS!

~ 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