I’m happy to announce that I’m heading back to the baseball diamond for some chapter books for kids aged 7-10. The series doesn’t have a title yet, but will involve a batboy named Chad and his efforts to improve his team, the Pine City Porcupines, one player at a time, relying on his vast collection of baseball cards to come up with facts and stats that help the players overcome jinxes, superstitions, and other setbacks. The books are being published by Abrams & Topps. One awesome aspect of this series is that each book will include collectible cards based on the Porcupine players. I’ll post more details as they become available!
My fourth novel will be called The Half Street Horror. It’s about four eighth graders who build a gigantic killer robot-like machine to conquer an equally gigantic robot-like monster lurking in an illegal junkyard in their North Minneapolis neighborhood. It’ll be out in 2013, I think, and has the same great editor and publisher as my first three novels.
I decided before I had a plot that it was time to set a book in North Minneapolis, where I live. This one’s for you, NoMi!
Update: the book’s final title is The Winter of the Robots. Check recent updates for more information.