THE ZOMBEES JACKET REVEAL
Invading Bookstores July 15th, 2025 with Simon & Schuster BFYR
Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you’re already loading up on Candy and blasting’ some spooky tunes. I’m listening to this song while drafting my first real newsletter today, and it’s an exciting one.
On this spooky day, I’m stoked to share the book jacket of my next picture book, THE ZOMBEES (illustrated by Kaly Quarles). Here’s the pitch and some promotional text:
A swarm of zombie bees invades an unsuspecting town on Halloween night in this delightfully spooky and highly charming picture book from the author of The Quacken—perfect for fans of Creepy Carrots and Los Gatos Black on Halloween.
What’s that creepy buzzing sound coming from the graveyard ground?
ZOMBEES!
When these undead insects invade, they send everyone fleeing in fright.
Are they hunting for a snack?
Do they like the taste of veins?
Have they come to eat your brains?!
Find out in this rhyming Halloween tale with an unexpected twist!
But first, some quick backstory . . .
(let’s change the music before we do. Here’s a throwback: Click Here)
THE CRASH
Like a true zombie tale, The ZomBees died and was re-animated many times. It took nearly a year of revise and resubmits (r&rs) and complete overhauls before the good people at Simon and Schuster BFYR agreed to a version they were excited to publish. Advice: Seeing honeybees die and transform into zombies before rising from their graves THRILLER-style only to later be eaten by some other creature might be too upsetting for a picture book. Luckily, it all clicked one fateful day when I wrote a huge chunk of the story in rhyme from my shower (it was a very long shower). Despite the challenges, I’m grateful it all worked out this way.
To avoid the book’s publication being delayed a year, my agent, editor and I had a group call. Then my editor had some internal discussions with her team. Within a day or two, we got the green light . . . we were going to “CRASH” the book. Sounds EPIC!
This meant we would speed up the production/publication process. And to do that, we needed to attach an illustrator immediately. There was little room for error, experimentation, or extensions. We needed someone skilled, someone available, someone dependable. We needed fellow Halloween aficionado, Kaly Quarles.
KALY QUARLES REPORTS FOR DUTY
Familiar with Kaly’s work (since we’re repped by the same agent), I suggested her to my team. Within a few days of that initial group call, the logistics were sorted out and Kaly signed on to illustrate. Project ZomBee Book Crash was a go (catchier name suggestions are welcome).
Cue the ominous ticking clock. Kaly had 3.5 months to illustrate the entire book (from the day of hire to the day final art was due). No easy feat, but she would be in great hands, as she would be working closely with Lucy Ruth Cumins, who is not only an art director, but an acclaimed author-illustrator, too (her book Stumpkin is an especially great read for today). That’s me and Lucy below (with Jessie Sima, Not Quite Narwhal and Cookie Time) on a panel together at New York Comic Con two weeks ago.
And that’s Kaly smiling below (before she would soon have a horde of zombees heading her way and the fate of a book resting in her illustrator hands).
Photo Courtesy of Kaly Quarles
THE BIG REVEAL
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I saw that cover on a shelf, I’m picking it up first. Not just because I wrote it, either. And let me tell you, what’s inside is just as exciting—it’s a real celebration of the holiday.
I was pumped when Editorial Director Kendra Levin, Executive Art Director Lucy Ruth Cummins, and Illustrator Kaly Quarles presented a book featuring the following elements:
FIVE-COLOR PRINTING: In other words, the cover, endpapers, and rest of the book will be glowing with neon green (something I imagined as I wrote the book).
SPOT GLOSS: That title’s going to shine, baby.
ALL BLACK COVER & FRONT MATTER: The dedication/copyright page and title page
BOLD, HAND-LETTERED TYPOGRAPHY: I was inspired by classic horror films and their retro vibes while working on different versions of this book, so the title was a big hit for me.
*I was also a big fan of the tombstone version Kaly shared as part of her potential covers. So much so, I suggested it as a different book underneath the jacket above. I don’t know if it happened, but it would certainly be a pleasant surprise.
Kaly also presented several unique hand-lettered fonts for the title that I loved. Hopefully (hint hint) we’ll get to feature them in future promotional graphics, because they’re really cool.
In the end, the team made the right call, and I’m really pleased with this cover, and I’m confidents readers will be, too.
FOLDED AND GATHERED (F&G’S)
And, what are the chances this proof would arrive the day before Halloween and our cover reveal?
PRE-ORDER INFO
I plan to launch a pre-order campaign with free book swag featuring Kaly’s spooky art around spring for all who pre-order. And there’ll be a fun book trailer, activity sheets, educator guides, and more. But for now, it’d mean a lot if you add the book to your Goodreads TBR pile. Just click here to get started.
It's perfect. Congrats, Justin & team!
Looks so good. Kaly rocks. Congrats to you both! 💪