Children’s Stories
It’s Two-Book Tuesday!
Guess what? It’s Two-Book Tuesday! That’s because I wrote two children’s books which came out today. They are:
- The Bad Guys Joke Book, which is out now from Scholastic, and which was designed by Stacie Zucker with Sophia La Torre
- The Fantastic Four Little Golden Book, which is out now from Penguin Random House, and which was illustrated by Eda Kaban
Here’s the official publisher description of The Bad Guys Joke 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.
And here’s the official publisher description of The Fantastic Four Little Golden 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.
For more info on The Bad Guys Joke Book, click HERE.
For more info on The Fantastic Four Little Golden Book, click HERE.
To buy The Bad Guys Joke Book, click HERE, HERE, and HERE.
And to buy The Fantastic Four Little Golden Book, click HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Coming in August: Pumpkin Spice!
Last year, I wrote a children’s book called Pumpkin Spice, which was illustrated by the incredible Monique Dong. It will be published by Penguin Random House on August 12, 2025.
This board book is a lavishly illustrated tribute to the wonders of the fall season, from the colorful foliage to the yummy food. And what about autumn holidays? Are they explored in this book? You bet they are!
Here’s the official publisher description of Pumpkin Spice:
A delicious celebration of fall that hits all the senses, complete with a recipe for a homemade pumpkin spice blend! Little ones will love cozying up with this board book and learning all about the delights of autumn. Pumpkin Spice is getting ready to paint the leaves red, yellow, and orange for fall when she meets a talking pumpkin who introduces her to the real reason the leaves change color, before immersing her in the sights, smells, and tastes of the season. Focusing on the senses, this board book celebrates all the reasons to love the fall—from the beautiful foliage to the delicious food to the joyful holidays.
The book is available for preorder HERE, HERE, and HERE.
(And if you go to the Amazon page for Pumpkin Spice, you can even check out an excerpt of the book!)
But if you’d like to see all of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House (including the ones that aren’t about the beauty of autumn), click HERE.
Mort the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah!
Happy Passover to all those who celebrate! Hope you like matzah, and stuff made from matzah meal, ‘cause that’s what you’re getting for the next several days! When this holiday is over, your G.I. tract will be VERY angry with you. That said, matzah meal pancakes are actually pretty good, when done right.
Hey, speaking of matzah, guess what? I wrote a Passover story for Yoto’s 5-Minute Spring Holiday Stories collection, which is out NOW!
The story I wrote is called “Mort the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah”! In it, Mort – who is a morsel of matzah, as you may have guessed, given the story’s title – wishes that he was bread. He’s even built a high-tech device which will transform him into bread. Will he use the device? Will he have a change of heart? Download the story or purchase the story card to find out!
All of the stories in this collection are short audio dramas for kids. Writing the script for “Mort” was like writing a radio play, and I even wrote the sound effects into the script, which was lots of fun.
And guess what? You can see Mort poking out of the basket the skunk is holding on the poster art for this collection!
Oh, one more thing: “Mort, the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah” was performed by a friend of mine, Eli Schiff!
Here’s Yoto’s official description of the 5-Minute Spring Holiday Stories collection:
Spring into the season with five heartwarming tales of joy, renewal, and celebration, told by your friends at Yoto.
Experience Lunar New Year through Kaylin’s eyes, learn what it’s like to be a morsel of matzah who dreams of being bread, deliver Easter eggs with the Easter Skunk, try to fast for the first time during Ramadan with Saleem, and help the elephants and the bees prepare for Holi in these 5 stories celebrating the coming of Spring!
Tracks include:
- Kaylin and the Noisy Lion Dance
- First Time Fast Time
- Holi, Naturally
- The Easter Skunk
- Mort the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah
Read by Triya Leong, Donya Alizadeh; Nikhil Saboo; Billy Bob Thompson; and Eli Schiff
For more info on The 5-Minute Spring Holiday Stories collection, CLICK HERE.
BTW, I also wrote a Hanukkah story called “The Dreidel Thief” for Yoto’s 5-Minute Holiday Stories collection, which came out back in November of 2023. Now, that was a collection of winter holiday stories, even though that’s not really reflected in the collection’s title. This new story, “Mort the Misinformed Morsel of Matzah,” was written for the 5-Minute Spring Holiday Stories collection. The operative word there is “Spring.” I’m just trying to point out that the two collections have similar but slightly different titles, just so that nobody gets them mixed up.
And you can find out more about “The Dreidel Thief” (and how to listen to it) via THIS BLOG POST.
Last but definitely not least, I just wanted to thank Joe Vitale for hiring me to write the “Dreidel Thief” and “Mort” stories! (Joe was the head writer for both the winter and spring 5-Minute Holiday Stories collections.)