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The Fantastic Four LGB Comes Out in July!
Last year, I wrote a children’s book called The Fantastic Four Little Golden Book, which was illustrated by Eda Kaban. It comes out on July 1, 2025 from Penguin Random House.
Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, I should also point out that – although The Fantastic Four LGB comes out just a few short weeks before the Fantastic Four: First Steps movie – it’s not an adaptation of that film. So if this book isn’t based on the movie, what is it? Well, I don’t want to say too much about it at this early date. But I can say that it’s a loving tribute to the 1960s-era Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Fantastic Four comics.
(And honestly, just from watching the FF: First Steps trailer, it certainly looks like that movie is also a tribute to the 1960s-era FF comics. So I guess the movie and this book both have that in common.)
Here’s the official publisher description of the book:
Marvel’s iconic first family of super heroes, the Fantastic Four, arrive to save the day in their first ever Little Golden Book!
When a team of four daring space explorers get bombarded by mysterious cosmic rays, they return to Earth changed forever. Given incredible powers, Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing band together to keep the world safe from super villains and alien invaders. These action-packed full-color pages will introduce these heroes’ amazing powers and their friends and foes! Kids 2 to 5—along with Marvel fans and collectors—will love this Little Golden Book based on The Fantastic Four.
And hey, did you notice that part in the publisher description where it said that this is the first-ever Fantastic Four Little Golden Book? Which is pretty cool! I’m very proud of this book, I had a fantastic * time writing it, and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!
Speaking of which, it’s available for preorder HERE, HERE, and HERE.
And to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House, click HERE.
* Honestly, what other word was I going to use?
The Very Latest In Wearable Tech…
Recently, I wrote a Lilo & Stitch activity book called The Galactic Federation Nighttime Handbook. It’s out NOW from Scholastic! And the reason this is a “Nighttime Handbook” is that many of the activities and writing prompts in the book are sleep-themed. That is, they revolve around concepts such as sleep, dreams, the stars in the night sky, pajamas, your bedtime routine, and that sort of thing. So if you’re looking for a book that will help your kid get into the right frame of mind to power down and get ready for bed each night, this book should do the trick.
Here’s the official publisher description of The Galactic Federation Nighttime Handbook:
Greetings, Citizen of Earth! Welcome to the Galactic Federation! Experiment 626, also referred to as “Stitch,” is away on an interplanetary mission. In his place, he’s recommended you to help the Federation complete some very important tasks! To be a successful Galactic Federation operative, you’ll need to think and act like one. The activities and writing prompts in The Galactic Federation Nighttime Handbook will help you do so. In addition, you’ll be the first to use the Galactic Federation’s newest piece of wearable tech: the Supreme Lateral Energized Exoskeletal Polygonal Multifaceted Auxiliary Sensory Kudzuscope, or S.L.E.E.P. M.A.S.K.
That’s right, the book comes with a free Stitch-themed sleep mask, which is blue, furry, and super-adorable. However, I decided to make the sleep mask part of the book’s narrative. So, as the book’s official description explains, this is no mere sleep mask. It’s actually a piece of wearable tech, called the “S.L.E.E.P. M.A.S.K.” And in order to complete some of the activities in the book, you’ve got to wear the S.L.E.E.P. M.A.S.K. while you complete said activities!
(But that only applies to a handful of the activities in this book. For most of them, you don’t need to wear the S.L.E.E.P. M.A.S.K.)
And I should also mention that this book is only available for distribution through the school market. In other words, it’s exclusively available through Scholastic Reading Events, so you won’t be able to find it on Amazon or on Barnes & Noble’s website.
However, you CAN get it via this website.
Last but definitely not least, if you’d like to see some of the other books I’ve written for Scholastic over the years, you can click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Shirtless Lou Fan Art!
Some time ago, I wrote a LEGO Star Wars book called The Official Stormtrooper Training Manual, which was published by Scholastic in 2016. I decided to write it from the POV of a stormtrooper. So the idea is that an ordinary, lunkheaded stormtrooper is narrating the book. On the spread which deals with the “AT-AT” vehicles, I wrote the following joke (among many others):
“The AT-AT is often the first thing sent into a combat zone. The LAST thing sent onto a combat zone is a stormtrooper named ‘Shirtless Lou,’ who has the words WE WON painted on his belly.”
And I didn’t think anything more of the joke after that. After all, it was just one joke in a book filled with them. BUT…
Before long, there was a Wookieepedia page devoted to Shirtless Lou. Here’s how the folks at Wookieepedia described this hapless stormtrooper:
“Lou, nicknamed ‘Shirtless Lou,’ was a human male stormtrooper of the Galactic Empire. He was considered to be the last thing sent into combat zones, as he had the words ‘WE WON’ painted on his belly.”
And among the customer reviews for The Official Stormtrooper Training Manual on Amazon, there was one review that was largely about Shirtless Lou. Here’s an excerpt from that review:
“The text is full of silly jokes that crack my 5 year old Star Wars superfan up. There’s a reference to ‘Shirtless Lou,’ the last stormtrooper to go into battle, that made him laugh so hard that I
ordered the Batman-in-swimsuit minifigure and swapped that torso with a stormtrooper so he could have his own Shirtless Lou, and he plays with him all the time. Shirtless Lou is always doing something silly during stormtrooper training and causing Captain Phasma all kinds of headaches.”
Pretty cool, eh?
(Now, if all this sounds weirdly familiar to you, that might be because I wrote a blog post on May 4, 2023, in which I talked about the Shirtless Lou Amazon customer review and the Shirtless Lou Wookieepedia page. You can read it HERE.)
But now there’s a NEW chapter in the saga of Shirtless Lou, because Graham Allen put up some Shirtless Lou fan art on cohost.org. You can see it on that website if you click HERE.
And I’ve also pasted Graham’s Shirtless Lou fan art immediately below. Just FYI: if you’re wondering what those glyphs on Shirtless Lou’s stomach are, they’re the words “We Won,” written in Aurebesh, a writing system which is used to represent Galactic Basic Standard, the most commonly-used language within the Star Wars universe. Thanks for the wonderful drawing, Graham!
What’s next? A Shirtless Lou comic book? A Shirtless Lou prose novel? Will Shirtless Lou turn up in season 2 of Andor? Who knows?