There’s a bit of news that we’ve been keeping unusually quiet about. We published our first two Mega Mash-up titles last week: Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars and Robots v Gorillas in the Desert.
Each book is a really innovative combination of a novel and a doodle-book. They’re proper – and very funny – stories, divided into chapters and with relatively little text per page. Each page is illustrated in an accessible but zany style, and the reader is invited to complete the pictures, add to the speech-bubbles, and draw their own additional characters.
It’s fiction, Jim, but not as we know it… and there’s nothing else like it.
The first two books are being promoted by Waterstones and Sainsbury’s and we’ve sold the rights to translate the books to several countries already.
It’s early days, so we’ve had just a couple of reviews… but they’re really positive:
The Library Mice review said, “Seriously, check this out this series, whether your little readers at home are reluctant, struggling or more than willing! This is exactly the kind of books us parents need to be able to hand in to our offspring in school holidays or on long car journey!”
The Parents in Touch review said of Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars, “In this hilarious story, imagine Romans and dinosaurs harmoniously living together on Mars – and a gigantic asteroid about to crash into the planet. Readers, especially boys, will revel in the funny story while having fun completing the pictures. Ideas are given to help creativity, making this fun for everyone.”
And now there’s a lively reader-orientated website up and running, with videos and printables as well as information about the series.
We’re really proud of this series, and these two books are the first of many: the next one is Aliens v Mad Scientists under the Ocean, publishing in June.
Nikalas and Tim, the creators of the series, have events lined up at Chelmsford and at the Big Write festival at Discover, in Stratford, East London and then later at the Hay and Edinburgh Literary Festivals.
And we’re still really keen to find reviewers for the books – so far, we haven’t shown them to anyone who hasn’t really liked them – so if you’re a children’s book reviewer or blogger and would like a copy, we’d love to hear from you, so do contact us.
