Comic books
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.
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?
Who’s Ready For Some “Potato Pancake” News?
Happy Holidays, everyone! Of course, one of those holidays is Hanukkah. As I type this, we’re smack-dab in the middle of Hanukkah. Well, not exactly the middle. Somewhat past the middle. But not quite the end. It’s eight nights long in total, and tonight is night six. So Hanukkah is still chugging along like a festive frolicking freight train, and that means that this blog post is still thematically relevant…for the next two days. Perhaps I should’ve posted this a few days ago. Oh, well. Better late than never, I guess?
All of the above is a very awkward prelude to this: I wrote a Hanukkah-themed graphic novel for kids called The Day I Became a Potato Pancake, which was illustrated by the super-talented Beilin Xu. It’s out now from Behrman House. The book has been getting mentioned – and reviewed – in a few different publications recently. So I thought I’d mention some of ’em.
Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly said about The Day I Became a Potato Pancake: “This speculative, character-focused graphic novel highlights aspects of Jewish identity and culture through multiple lenses to craft a goofy yet nuanced read.”
Read the full Publishers Weekly review HERE.
PW also included the book on its list of Jewish holiday books for children, which you can check out HERE.
The Day I Became a Potato Pancake was included in Booklist’s Fall Youth Preview for 2024, which you can see RIGHT OVER HERE.
It was mentioned in THIS ARTICLE from Book Riot titled “5 Awesome Jewish Children’s Books About Hanukkah.”
And it was mentioned in THIS ARTICLE from The Jewish Telegraphic Agency on new children’s books for Hanukkah.
Here are some other reviews of the book:
THIS is one from The Texas Jewish Post.
And HERE is one from The Jewish Book Council.
THIS is a review of the book from The Reporter, a publication of the Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton.
And HERE is one from The Sydney Taylor Shmooze blog.
That just about does it for my press roundup for The Day I Became a Potato Pancake. However…
If you’d like to find out about some of the other Hanukkah-themed comic book stories I’ve written, you can click HERE.
And if you like reading humor pieces, I wrote THIS LIST of Hanukkah-themed horror movie titles (all of which I made up).
Lastly, HERE is a blog post where I talk about a Hanukkah-themed audio script I wrote for Yoto’s 5-Minute Holiday Stories collection (which came out in November of 2023). In that same blog post, I talk about two Christmas-themed children’s books I’ve penned.