Cover Reveal: Paul Coccia's The Bear Fairy

 

Author Paul Coccia

 

award-winning writer of middle-grade and YA novels including

 

 

Cub (2019)

The Player (2021)

On the Line (with Eric Walters; 2022)

I Got You Babe (2023)

Leon Levels Up (2024)

The ANNEthology: A Collection of Kindred Spirits Inspired by the Canadian Icon (contributor; 2024)

Recommended Reading (2025)

 

 

 is set to release, in February 2026, 

his first picture book 

and I am delighted to help promote it with this cover reveal.

 

 

So, let's celebrate the start of Pride Month 

with this marvelous cover reveal for

 

 

The Bear Fairy

Written by Paul Coccia, The Bear Fairy is a picture book with a little bit of everything, including queer elements, body positivity, and big gay uncle energy, along with a whole lot of whimsy. With illustrations by Fred Blunt who, according to the copyright page, used cheap paper, pencils, tatty brushes, ink and a computer, The Bear Fairy will charm with its positive messages and magical humour.

🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈⭐ 🌈

 

For more details, here is the book blurb from The Bear Fairy's publisher, Tundra (an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada):

Meet an unlikely fairy and his new best friend in this laugh-out-loud picture book about acceptance, being yourself and standing up to anyone who tries to diminish your sparkle.

Fairies should be pretty and sparkly and dainty . . . not chubby, not fluffy and NOT lured in by potato chips. But when Spencer catches a fairy in the park, he's shocked to find that's exactly what he’s got!

The Bear Fairy is no delicate Tinkerbell: he hogs the remote, drops crumbs everywhere and snores like a truck. But he's still a fairy, and when Spencer's friend insults the Bear Fairy's appearance and hurts his feelings, Spencer must step up to defend his new friend.

With wit, charm and hilarity, author Paul Coccia and illustrator Fred Blunt have created a modern classic about being proud of who you are and fighting for the people you care about.

(From https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/744594/the-bear-fairy-by-paul-coccia-illustrated-by-fred-blunt/9781774885581) 

If you are interested in pre-ordering The Bear Fairy, book details and links to a couple of retailers are posted here:

The Bear Fairy

Written by Paul Coccia

Illustrated by Fred Blunt

Tundra Books

978-1-774885581 

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

February 17, 2026

 

Chapters/Indigo

Amazon 

or 

Local Booksellers (via "Shop Local" link on book's webpage )

 

🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈 ⭐🌈⭐ 🌈

THE FACTORY: Cover reveal

Time to get excited about an upcoming book.

 

Let's get that buzz started! 

 

📘📘📘📘📘

Catherine Egan is the author of middle grade & young adult novels including Sneaks, The Witch's Child series (Julia Vanishes, Julia Defiant and Julia Unbound) and The Last Days of Tian Di series (Shade and Sorceress, The Unmaking, and Bone, Fog, Ash and Star).

 

Soon, Catherine Egan will have a new middle grade novel which will be coming out in January 2025. I'd like to help get everyone talking about this new book of speculative fiction for middle grade readers with this cover reveal.

Voila!

THE FACTORY

Written by Catherine Egan

Scholastic

978-1339034218

336 pp.

Ages 8-12

January 7 2025 

 

• • • • • • •

 

Here is a blurb about The Factory from Catherine Egan herself:

 

You make a bargain—this for that.
You think you know what you're giving up, what the risks are, and you believe the payoff will be worth it.
Some bargains are riskier than others.
Some payoffs are hard to resist.
But what if there’s a lie at the heart of the bargain? What if you’re wrong about the thing you’re giving up?

Welcome to The Factory.

Meet Asher Doyle: He made this bargain to save his mother. A dreamer with problems of his own at school, he thinks the Factory might be the answer. But he was specially recruited, and the question of who wants him here and why becomes more and more pressing.  

 
Meet Faith Ford: She made this bargain to save her family. Smart and determined, Faith thinks she can tough it out, power through, like she always does. She's wrong this time.

 
Meet Troy Sanchez: He made this bargain to save his brother. A gentle soul, Troy is nonetheless a survivor, but the price he pays will be greater than any of them, and the Factory might be one thing he can't survive.

 
Meet Violet Shu: She made this bargain to save herself. Vi is a force to be reckoned with. She doesn't wait for the fight to come to her—she brings it. Also, if anyone messes with Troy, she will end them.

Every day the kids at the Factory are shut in Extraction Containers as part of a highly classified experiment in harvesting electromagnetic energy from the human body. A risk, a bargain. The process is terrifying, but the payoff is huge. They all signed up for this. They all have their reasons. They are desperate, and this might be their only chance to change their circumstances. But the machines aren't really extracting electromagnetic energy. So what is being extracted?

Asher. Faith. Troy. Vi.
They team up to figure out the real cost of the bargain they've made.
But they're running out of time.

My new middle-grade novel THE FACTORY will be out January 2025 and I am so excited to share this creepy, evocative cover with you all - I GASPED when I first saw it! The artwork is by the brilliant Angelo Rinaldi (https://www.artistpartners.com/portfolios/angelo-rinaldi/). Much more to come, but keep your eyes out for THE FACTORY next winter! 

~ Catherine Egan

• • • • • • •

From the cover and Catherine Egan's blurb, there is much promise in The Factory for an epic read of speculative fiction for middle grade readers. Only 7+ months until its release! So put it on your TBR list and/or pre-order it to ensure you have your copy to visit The Factory in January 2025.

• • • • • • •

On the Line: Cover and trailers reveal

 

🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

Authors

 

 Paul Coccia 

and

 

 Eric Walters 

are set to release their first collaboration

and I'm pleased to reveal its cover here 

and a video about the book.

 

Voilá!

 

 

ON  THE  LINE

Written by Paul Coccia and Eric Walters
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-45982-713-4
312 pp.
Ages 9-13
March 15 2022

Reviewed here

From my review of December 24, 2021:

What's on the line for thirteen-year-old Jordan Ryker? Everything. His parents can't stop arguing. The auto plant where his dad works, being the town's major employer, is shutting down. Even basketball, which is everything to Jordan and his best friend Junior, is somewhat tenuous with the school's new basketball coach who really doesn't know what he's doing. And now Jordan has to figure out how to work with new kids brother and sister Aaron and Tammy who are very different and both want on the boys' basketball team.  

...

This is the first writing collaboration between Paul Coccia and Eric Walters and, having reviewed books by both previously, I can attest to a new synergy to their writing as they bring their strengths in plotting, character development, and voice and meld them with LGBTQ+ issues and sports into something new and important. They've given us a story that challenges young readers to see beyond themselves and from different perspectives and with compassion for the struggles that others may be experiencing. With heart and intention, they've put themselves out there and helped us see from that angle what's really meaningful: friends, family, and fair play for all.

 🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

 

I'd also like to share a couple of videos about the book. This first was prepared by author Paul Coccia and has been posted by publisher Orca at https://youtu.be/lHMFkieD4ZQ.

 

Posted by Orca Book Publishers on January 31, 2022 on YouTube.

 

 

This second book trailer, created by Daniel Rolo, has also been posted on the Orca YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/KjyDne1gJ7Q.

Posted by Orca Book Publishers on February 7, 2022 on YouTube.

 

🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀

 

March 15, the release date for On the Line, is just 6 weeks away 

so be sure to get your pre-orders in via Orca 

or your favourite book store.

He Must Like You: Upcoming release

We all 💕 Danielle Younge-Ullman's 

Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined

Written by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Razorbill

978-0-425-28759-0

368 pp.

Ages 13-17

2017

Reviewed here

(It did win the White Pine Award and
was nominated for
a Governor General's Literature Award and
 the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.) 

Now we can look forward to her newest YA novel,

one that blends that same depth of issue with the humour that made Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined such a hit.

He Must Like You

Written by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Penguin Teen

July 14 2020

Read this excerpt to get a sense for why you're going to want to read this one!

“I have the item” is the first thing I hear when I walk into work on Sunday night.

The item in question is my duvet, and the person winking at me about it is Kyle.

Kyle, who is standing behind the host stand in the cheery foyer of the Goat wearing a mini cowboy hat with plush horns curling out of it—the latest in his growing collection of goat-themed apparel. He looks hilarious, cute, and deceptively harmless.

“It’s in my truck. I’ll give it to you after?”

“Sure. Thanks,” I say, with what I hope is a neutral-seeming nod.

I’ll have to wash it in hot water. Twice.

“Or we could go for a drive, climb into the back, get cozy,” Kyle suggests, with a waggle of his white-blond eyebrows.

My insides take flight like a flock of startled birds, and then I’m doing this awkward thing where I’m cringing and trying to smile at the same time. But smiling might be too encouraging and so I stop, because even after three weeks of my ignoring his texts and generally avoiding him as much as possible, Kyle continues to look at me with those stupidly hopeful, flirty eyes.

Still, I don’t want to be rude. We work together, and in that capacity Kyle has been fine. In fact, except for the one (admittedly problematic) incident, he’s been great. Not to mention, I’m the one who asked him to bring me the duvet when my mom finally noticed it was missing today. I’m also the one who let him wear it home from my house in the first place.

“I’ll just grab it from you after,” I say. “I have a lot of homework.”

“Your call,” he says with a shrug.

“Right.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” I say, with another too-bright smile. “Um, what’s my section?”

“The patio,” Kyle says, gesturing at the giant, erasable seating chart that sits on the host podium.

“Alone?”

“Yeah. That okay?”

It’s a big section to handle solo but more tables means more tips, so I say, “Totally.”

“By the way, Perry’s coming in, and he asked for you specifically,” Kyle says, looking at me like he expects this to make me ecstatic.

Perry Ackerman is a handful, and high on the list of people I’d rather not have to deal with right now. But he’s a great tipper, and a regular, so I give Kyle a thumbs-up and say, “Awesome.”

“I knew that’d make you happy.”

“So happy,” I say, and walk away taking deep breaths.

On my way through the restaurant I wave at my fellow servers Brianna and Kat, both of whom are working in the front tonight. Kat seems not to see me, but Brianna gives me a thumbs-up and pulls a comically panicked face that tells me she’s already in the weeds.

The patio is at the back of the restaurant, and is, in fact, not a patio at all, but a windowless, rectangular space tricked out with fake plants, paper lanterns, an anemic fountain, and painted “windows” on every wall that do not fool anyone.

I have just enough time to tidy the section, tally my float, and gulp down a half cup of hideously bitter coffee behind the wall of the service station before I hear, “Libbyyyyyyyy!”

“You got the ol’ perv?” Brianna gives me a wry, dimpled grin as she comes through with a stack of dirty plates. Her amazing crown of black braids adds at least three inches to her diminutive stature.

“Yep.”

“All right, tits up,” she says, which I’ve come to understand means some combination of “chin up” and “good luck.”

I snort and square my shoulders.

(Retrieved from

 http://www.penguinteen.com/penguin-teen-cover-reveal-bonanza-2/

on October 16, 2019.)

Cover Reveal: Earth & Sky

Young Adult author

Megan Crewe

whose

The Fallen World Trilogy

was reviewed here at CanLit for LittleCanadians

The Way We Fall

Hyperion Disney Group

308 pp.

Ages 12+

2011

The Lives We Lost

Disney Press

288 pp.

Ages 12+

2013

The Worlds We Make

Disney Hyperion

288 pp.

Ages 12+

2014

has revealed 

the cover of her newest young adult book

Earth & Sky

by Megan Crewe

Razorbill Canada

9780670068128
336 pp.
Ages 13+
Release date: October 28, 2014

Here is a blurb about the book, as shared on YA Books Central:

Seventeen year old Skylar has always been haunted by the fleeting yet powerful feelings that something around her has gone wrong. Those impressions have never seemed to reflect anything real, and have only earned her stares and whispers behind her back. But after she meets a mysterious boy named Win, she learns an unsettling truth: We are not alone on Earth. In fact, visitors from beyond the stars are manipulating our planet and the essential fabric of our world; life as we know it is starting to unravel. And Skylar - and her heightened awareness - just may be the key to our salvation.

Giveaway too!

If you go to YA Book Central, where the cover was first revealed, 

there is a giveaway for Canadian and US readers here.

Good luck!

Cover Reveal: The Night is Found

The Magdeburg Trilogy 

by author Kat Kruger

published by Fierce Ink Press 

began with

The Night has Teeth

reviewed here on January 13, 2013

by Kat Kruger

Fierce Ink Press

978-0-988-10671-0

294 pp.

Ages14+ 

2012

followed by

The Night has Claws

reviewed here on September 14, 2013

by Kat Kruger

Fierce Ink Press

978-0-9917937-5-4 (pb)

978-1-927746-02-8 (ebook)

269 pp.

Ages 14+

September, 2013

The trilogy is set to be completed 

with the publication of the final book

The Night is Found

to be released in July

but the spectacular cover 

has just been revealed 

by Fierce Ink Press

and here it is!

Isn't it amazing?

And just to get you really excited about its July release, 

here's the final paragraph from my review of 

The Night has Claws, 

so that you know (sort of) what's coming.

Hold onto your book or device because The Night Has Claws may start with the emotional and physical clean-up of story-lines fromThe Night Has Teeth but it ends on an even messier closing. I don't mean messier as in confused but rather in terms of catastrophic ruin.  It breaks apart with secrets revealed, relationships and alliances exposed and shattered, and upcoming hostilities and combat forecast. The reader may still be hopeful for reconciliation between Connor and Madison and Arden and Amara but surprisinglyKat Kruger has you cheering for the motley band of protagonists and even laughing along at times. (Honestly, how often can a writer use the admonishment "Bite me" as a double entendre?) And there's even more action, surprises and affairs of the heart coming because we know that where The Night Has Claws leaves off, Book Three will launch and continue to thrill.

So, make a notation on your calendar for the release of 

The Night is Found,

my review on July 8th, 

and 

 guest post by Kat Kruger on July 9th. 

I can hardly wait!

Can you?