Children’s Stories
The Adventures of YOU and Stitch!
Hey, look what came in the mail! This is an author copy of a children’s book I wrote. It’s called The Adventures of YOU & Stitch, and it will be published by Scholastic in September 2023. As you may have guessed from the title, The Adventures of YOU & Stitch features the characters from the 2002 animated film Lilo & Stitch.
The Adventures of YOU & Stitch! is written as an in-universe book in which you – the reader – go on a series of adventures with everyone’s favorite fuzzy blue alien, Stitch. The book also functions as a celebration of all things Lilo & Stitch, and I do mean ALL things Lilo & Stitch. That means that there are references in this book to not only the first Lilo & Stitch movie (2002), but also Stitch! The Movie (2003), Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003-2004), Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (2005), and Leroy & Stitch (2006). Whenever I work on a project I commit to it 110%, and this book is no exception. There are some serious deep cuts in here that Lilo & Stitch superfans will definitely appreciate.
I’m really proud of this book. It’s filled with secret codes, puzzles, ciphers, jokes, guided journal entries, and various other fun activities, all of which are Lilo & Stitch-themed.
And as you can see from the image I’ve posted here, the cover of this book even looks like Stitch! The cover has Stitch’s eyes, nose, mouth, and floppy ears, and it’s made of fuzzy blue plush fabric, so it even feels like Stitch. (That’s a guess on my part. I’ve never held Stitch in my hands, because – spoiler alert – he’s fictional.)
I should also mention that this book will only be available for distribution through the school market. In other words, it’ll be exclusively available through Scholastic Reading Events, so you won’t be able to find it on Amazon.
I had a Stitch-tastic time writing this book, and I hope you enjoy reading it! And by “you,” I mean “kids.” You ARE aware this is a children’s book, right? Hey, grown-ups: this book is NOT for you!
Don’t Feed This Book After Midnight!
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai started streaming today on Max. I didn’t work on that show. But if you’re looking for a Gremlins-related project I did work on, you’ll be happy to know that I wrote The Gremlins Little Golden Book, which comes out on September 5, 2023 from Penguin Random House.
The Gremlins LGB is a retelling of the classic 1984 movie Gremlins, written as a Little Golden Book for very young readers.
When I was a kid, Gremlins was one of my favorite movies. So it was a real thrill to write The Gremlins Little Golden Book. (Also, working on this book was a good excuse to re-watch Gremlins several times in a row.)
Here’s the official publisher description of the book:
Whatever you do, don’t get this Little Golden Book wet! The first ever Gremlins Little Golden Book based on the classic film features those mischievous Gremlins as lovable Funko Pop figures! Follow the wild misadventures of those trouble-causing Gremlins in this delightful retelling of the classic movie. Illustrated in the quirky and loveable Funko POP! art style, kids 2 to 5—and their parents—will love this love this light-hearted reimagining of one of the funniest films of all time as a collectable Little Golden Book! Little Golden Books enjoy nearly 100% consumer recognition. They feature beloved classics, hot licenses, and new original stories. . .the classics of tomorrow.
As you may recall from an earlier blog post, I also wrote The Goonies Little Golden Book. But what you might not know is that I wrote the Goonies and Gremlins LGBs back-to-back. Which was SO much fun. It also made me compare and contrast the two films, especially since they’re both written by the same screenwriter (Chris Columbus). And both films feature Corey Feldman, and are Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg. Also, both films involve a character who’s an inventor (Data in Goonies and Rand Peltzer in Gremlins). There’s even a line of dialogue in Goonies that references the plot of Gremlins! Do the two films take place in a shared universe? I wouldn’t go that far. But they’ve got quite a lot in common.
Anyway, that’s the sort of thing you think about when you’re working on a project like The Gremlins Little Golden Book.
Check out the book’s page on the Penguin Random House site.
Check out the Amazon page for The Gremlins Little Golden Book (where you can also see a few of the interior pages from the book!).
And click HERE to find out more about some of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House.
Milton Makes Things!
For a little over a year now, I’ve been writing children’s stories for a company called Chapter One. (I talked about it in an earlier blog post.) You can find my stories on the Chapter One website, in the Global Free Library section, which is an online collection of stories and materials that celebrate the world’s diversity.
One of my more recent Chapter One stories is called “Milton Makes Things.” I think it may have just gone live on the Global Free Library yesterday, so I wanted to spread the word about it. “Milton Makes Things” was illustrated by the amazing Monique Parlevliet, and you can read it right HERE.
And if you scroll down on that page, you can also see a few of the other Chapter One stories I’ve written.
Here’s the official description of “Milton Makes Things,” from the Chapter One site:
“Milton helps the environment by making old things into new things. He specializes in making these new things out of paper. Soon, there’s a mile-long line of children who want him to make them one of his ultra-stylish paper creations!”
I’ve also made short videos for all of the Chapter One stories I’ve written. In these videos, I explain what inspired me to write the story in question. You can see the “Milton Makes Things” video once you scroll down after reading the story of the same name. But you can also see the “Milton Makes Things” video right here:
Monique Parlevliet, who illustrated “Milton Makes Things,” also made a video about the story, and it’s really great. In Monique’s video, she talks about how much she identifies with the Milton character. You can check out her video on the “Milton Makes Things” page of the Chapter One site (it’s right next to my video for that story). But I’ve also put Monique’s video right here:
One last thing I wanted to mention about “Milton Makes Things”: When I was writing that story, I did quite a bit of research into cardboard furniture, cardboard toys, and all of the other cardboard stuff Milton makes. I wanted the story to be somewhat grounded and realistic, so I thought I’d see whether it was really possible to create (for example) a cardboard chair which is sturdy enough for an adult (or even a child) to sit in. Turns out that it’s very possible.
I’m explaining all of this because I want to make it clear that everything Milton makes in this story – whether it’s a cardboard table, a cardboard marionette, or a cardboard bookshelf – is something you can actually make out of cardboard. If you build it a certain way, that is. And as with almost anything in life, it’s largely about planning and designing it carefully, so that it’ll actually work in the way you’ve intended.