Licensed character projects

143/14/24

To Me, My X-Men!

Hey, guess what? I wrote a children’s book titled The X-Men Little Golden Book! It was illustrated by Shane Clester, and it will be published by Penguin Random House on May 7, 2024.

This book is an adaptation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the beloved TV show from the 1990s. Here’s the official publisher description of the book:

Inspired by the 1990’s animated series , Marvel’s mightiest mutants—the X-Men—arrive to save the day in their first ever Little Golden Book! Perfect for kids 2 to 5 as well as collectors and fans of all ages.

Born with amazing mutant abilities and trained by Dr. Charles Xavier, the X-men stand ready to defend the world even though that world doesn’t always trust them. These action-packed full-color pages will introduce Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Cyclops and the other mutants on their team as well as their friends and foes. Kids 2 to 5—along with Marvel fan and collectors—will love this Little Golden Book based on X-Men: The Animated Series.

Find out how to pre-order the book HERE and HERE.

Oh, also, The X-Men LGB marks the third time I’ve worked with the incredible Shane Clester. The first project we collaborated on was an Avengers Little Golden Book titled The Threat of Thanos, which came out in 2018 from Penguin Random House.

And our second collaboration was a Spidey and His Amazing Friends board book titled The Great Food Truck Caper, which came out in 2023.

As always, it was wonderful working with Shane on The X-Men LGB, and I can’t wait for all of you to see how that book turned out!

And please feel free to check out all of the other projects I’ve worked on for Penguin Random House on the “Arie Kaplan” page on the PRH site.

 

191/19/24

Enjoy the Spring Semester with Spidey and Stitch!

Recently, I wrote a Spidey and His Amazing Friends board book titled Search for the Missing Teddy Bear. And I wrote a Lilo & Stitch activity book called Scratch and Sketch with Stitch! Both books are out NOW from Scholastic, just in time for the spring 2024 semester!

(Of school. The spring 2024 semester…of school. Because these are books for very young children. Who are in school. Just wanted to clarify that, in case you thought that these books were for college students or something, as colleges have semesters too. But the fact that one of these books is a board book probably tells you that it’s not for college-age people, right? Hmm. I think I’m doing that thing I sometimes do, where I overexplain stuff way too much. Like, WAYYYY too much. Moving on…)

Here’s Scholastic’s official description of Search for the Missing Teddy Bear:

Missing teddy? Never fear! Team Spidey is here to save the day! In this fun board book, Spidey’s head is a tactile, slow-rise squishy built into the back cover and pops through die cuts on every page! Swing through various locations with Spidey to find the missing teddy!

I just want to emphasize something the above ad copy mentioned: In this book, Spidey’s head is a tactile, slow-rise squishy! Isn’t that adorable? (Yes. Yes, it is.)

And here’s the official publisher description of Scratch and Sketch with Stitch:

Scratch to reveal cosmic colors and supercool patterns as you go on adventures with Stitch, the little blue alien with a big heart!

BTW, many of the aforementioned “adventures” in this Stitch book are games, puzzles, and activities. And one of the activities involves candy hearts, the kind you give and receive on Valentine’s Day. Which of course is quite fitting, since Valentine’s Day is just a few short weeks away!

And just in case you’re interested, the back cover copy for Scratch and Sketch with Stitch tells you a little more about what you can expect from that book:

This Stitch-tastic activity book is brimming with intergalactic illustrations! Scratch away to reveal what outfit Stitch wears on an outer space trip, complete a maze to help him get through a space nebula, draw a new musical instrument for him, and a whole lot more!

The book includes a wooden stylus (for the whole “scratch away” part), 20 scratch-off pages, and 20 notebook pages. Pretty cool, eh?

I should also mention that both of these books are only available for distribution through the school market. In other words, they’re exclusively available through Scholastic Reading Events, so you won’t be able to find them on Amazon.

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, and HERE.

 

21/2/24

“Minecraft: Mobs in the Mansion” is out NOW!

Time is a construct. However, it’s OUR construct. (“Ours” as a society, I mean.) So as we use this imperfect system called a “calendar” to mark our time here on this tainted blue orb we call Earth, I wanted to wish all of you a Happy New Year!

And not to turn these totally warm and earnest new year wishes into a blatant narcissistic plug for a new project, BUT – how to say this non-narcissistically? – I have some news to share:

I wrote a Minecraft children’s book called Mobs in the Mansion, which was published today by Penguin Random House. It was illustrated by the amazing Alan Batson. Here’s the official publisher description of the book:

Journey into the world of Minecraft in this Step 3 Step into Reading, the only official leveled reader series based on Minecraft, one of the world’s best-selling video games!

Minecraft® is one of the best-selling video games of all time! And now learning to read has never been more fun for players of the game ages 4 to 7. They’ll get a great introduction to the game’s most mysterious biomes when two players, Emmy and Birch–and their tame wolf Byte–set out on an epic adventure to explore a dark Minecraft mansion!

And if you want to know more:

Check out the book’s page on the Penguin Random House site.

Check out the Amazon page for the book.

Last but definitely not least, feel free to check out some of the other books I’ve written for Penguin Random House.

 

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