Books
Rave Reviews Of My “Superstitions” Book!
As I mentioned in a recent blog post, I wrote a book called The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions. It’ll be published by Quarto on July 15th, 2025. But in the meantime, the first two reviews of the book just came out!
First, there’s a glowing write up of The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions over at Foreword Reviews. Here’s an excerpt:
“A delightful mix of education and entertainment, The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions is a spirited salute to humanity’s quirks—proof that even our silliest beliefs have something to say.”
You can see the whole Foreword Reviews write-up HERE.
And the second write-up comes from Publishers Weekly. It’s also a rave review! Here’s an excerpt:
“Written in an appealingly chatty style, this packs an impressive amount of research into an entertaining package.”
Click HERE to read the whole PW review.
And just in case you don’t have a subscription to Publishers Weekly and therefore cannot read the PW review via the link above, here it is in its entirety:
The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions: Ancient and Remarkable Traditions That Will Captivate Your Mind
Arie Kaplan. Wellfleet, $19.99 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-57715-462-4
Comedian Kaplan (The Encyclopedia of Epic Myths and Legends) wryly and informatively catalogs superstitious beliefs across history, spotlighting the many that are still prevalent in the modern world. According to Kaplan, “superstitions are more deeply enmeshed in contemporary life than you might think.” He notes that certain common practices are actually superstitious at their core, from traditions like throwing a bouquet at a wedding to everyday etiquette like how to speak to a baby (in much of Asia and Eastern Europe, one should never call a baby “cute,” as it might provoke the evil eye). Arguing that the contemporary conception of “superstition” as based on “ignorance, fear…. or a false conception of causation” is “a little judgmental,” he looks instead for the logic behind superstitious beliefs, ranging from the origins of the taboo against opening an umbrella indoors (likely handed down by the ancient Egyptians, who used umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun and had reasonable concerns about doing things that might offend the sun god) to the explanation for the nearly universal belief (documented in Asia, Native America, and early modern Europe) that pointing at a rainbow will bring bad luck (probably just an easy way to teach kids the good manners of not pointing at things). Written in an appealingly chatty style, this packs an impressive amount of research into an entertaining package. (July)
Oh, and one more thing: you can preorder The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The Caitlin Clark “96 Facts” Book Comes Out Next Month!
The next “96 Facts” book will come out from Penguin Random House on Tuesday July 8th, 2025. That book is called 96 Facts About Caitlin Clark. Like all of the previous “96 Facts” books, this one was written by yours truly and illustrated by the amazing Risa Rodil.
Here’s the official publisher description of 96 Facts About Caitlin Clark:
The ultimate fact book and journal for fans of Caitlin Clark, the WNBA star and point guard for the Indiana Fever. Packed with fun facts, quick quizzes, and bonus pages for journaling, this is a must-have for any basketball fan. Learn more about the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, who was also named to the 2024 All-WNBA First Team, in this perfect gift book that dives into Caitlin’s career and accomplishments.
The book is available for preorder HERE, HERE, and HERE.
BTW, if you’re keeping track, you’ll notice that 96 Facts About Caitlin Clark is the eleventh book in the “96 Facts” series. To find out about the tenth book in the series – 96 Facts About Beyoncé – check out this blog post.
Also, I talk about the entire “96 Facts” series in this “Book Q&A” interview with fellow author Deborah Kalb.
And if you’d like to learn about all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House (“96 Facts” and otherwise), click HERE.
Hey, Check It Out: I Wrote a Joke Book!
As you may know, in addition to my work as a children’s book author, I’m also a television comedy writer. And for quite some time now, I’ve wanted to write a children’s joke book, which seemed like it would be a nice way to combine those two disparate sides of my career: the “kid lit” side and the “joke writer” side. Call it a short-term goal. Well, a few months ago, I got a chance to realize that goal.
That’s because I wrote a children’s book called The Bad Guys Joke Book, which will be published by Scholastic on July 1st, 2025.
Now, I should mention a couple of things, just because I don’t want to give you the wrong idea here: This book is not set in the world of the Bad Guys books written by Aaron Blabey. It is set in the world of the Bad Guys animated movies (and Netflix specials) which are based on those books.
You also might’ve noticed that the book is coming out on July 1st, just a few short weeks before the Bad Guys 2 movie opens. (That movie comes out on August 1st.) Does this book tie into that movie in any direct way? I’m afraid I can’t quite answer that question at this early date. You’ll have to read the book to find out!
And in the meantime, here’s the official publisher description of the book:
Get ready to laugh out loud with Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Ms. Tarantula, Mr. Piranha, and Mr. Shark! Packed with puns, funny fill-ins, limericks, and so much more, this joke book is the perfect companion to the Bad Guys Movie 2.
The Bad Guys Joke Book is available for preorder HERE, HERE, and HERE.
But if you click the link to the Scholastic Kids site – aka the third “HERE” link directly above – you’ll have to scroll down on that link to find The Bad Guys Joke Book, which is listed on that website as “Bad Guys Movie 2 Joke Book.” That’s the way it’s listed on most other book-related websites as well. I think the folks at Scholastic phrased it that way in the listings on these websites in order to make it clear that this joke book is set in the continuity of the Bad Guys movies, and also to remind readers that it’s coming out roughly around the same time as the second Bad Guys film. After all, as the official publisher description says, this book is the perfect companion to that movie!
I couldn’t agree more.