To be released May 4, 2027.
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“This is one wild, crazy, unforgettable, laugh-yourself-sick, wonderfully weird book. I loved it. And you will, too.”—Katherine Applegate, author of Newbery Medal Winner The One and Only Ivan
“Frogboy is everything its swashbuckling cover promises. Kennedy delivers both mythic and downhome storytelling, helmed by a cheer-worthy hero, up against a whole heap of hoo-doo, scallywagging scoundrels, and a swamp-load of peril. As outrageous as our hero is courageous. A non-stop rollicking ride through and through.”—Rita Williams-Garcia, author of Newbery Honor Book One Crazy Summer
“If you can’t handle funny funky phantasmagorical storytelling, do not read this book. The combination of words and perfectly preposterous art will blow your mind. Consider yourself warned. Or maybe now enchanted.”—Jon Scieszka, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Emeritus
“A swamp fever-dream of a tale including everything you need to know about gator choirs, monster judges, lost cities, flying jails, houseboat repair, and the melancholy life cycle of the eel. As a crawfish bellows early, ‘It’s the season of strange and we’re lucky enough to be there at the very beginning, in the front row seats, for the best and wildest part!'”—M.T. Anderson, author of Newbery Honor Book Elf Dog & Owl Head
“Behold the most bizarre and lovable cast of characters you’ve met in ages. The Legend of Frogboy is charming, disgusting, heartbreaking, and snort-out-loud funny, and will have kids screaming for one more chapter.”—Jacqueline West, author the NYT bestselling Books of Elsewhere
“Behold! James Kennedy returns to middle grade with a delicious gumbo overflowing with all the ingredients that makes a story great—songs! Swamp monsters! Zepplins! Zealots! and, of course … toenails! There has never been an adventure quite like Frogboy!”—Jonathan Auxier, NYT Times Bestselling author of Sweep, The Night Gardener, and the Vanished Kingdom series.
To be released May 4, 2027.
PREORDER NOW!
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2023
The Guardian Best Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror (September '23)
New Scientist Best Sci-Fi (August '23)
SciFiNow Best Sci-Fi (August '23)
Bookriot's 10 Don't-Miss Horror Novels (August '23)
Powell's Bookstore Pick of the Month (August '23)
2024 American Book Fest Best Book Award for Visionary Fiction
"A genre-bending horror thriller that grapples with adolescent desire and existential dread... Gooey, gory, and frightening, Kennedy's latest will appeal to fans of coming-of-age horror."—Booklist
"An eerie, surrealist twist on the American Midwest, highlighting everything unusual about small-town living... the focus on creating a desolate and strange atmosphere pays off. Horror fans who value ambiance over jump scares will want to check this out."—Publishers Weekly
"A Lynchian sense of creeping nastiness, rooted in the way small-town life can be stifling, pervades a novel that, as its various plot strands come together, has a whirlwind energy that's hard to resist. Four stars."—SFX Magazine
"Strap yourselves in for a super-storm of psycho-sexual intensity: American gothic, full-blown horror, wrapped up in an adolescent coming-of-age tale... Don’t try to understand, just get swept up and enjoy the ride."—Daily Mail
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Indie Next List Pick (September '21)
The Times Best Book of 2021
"Worth the cover price for sheer insolence alone... Essential reading for the gathering dark." —The Times Saturday Review
"A voraciously readable page-turner of a novel, part creepypasta, part thought-experiment." —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother and Radicalized
"Explores questions of free will, psychology and human history in a fascinating, compulsively readable thriller."—The Guardian
“An entertainingly mind-bending read.”—Financial Times
"Audaciously clever and well written... [a] superb piece of storytelling: vivid, thought provoking and unsettling. After you finish it you’ll want to go back to the start and read it again." —SFX Magazine
"A razor-smart sci-fi corporate noir nightmare. Dare to Know is what happens when Willy Loman sees through the Matrix. A heartbreaking, time-bending, galactic mindbender delivered in the mordantly funny clip of a doomed antihero."
—Daniel Kraus, co-author of The Shape of Water
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"Hilarious . . . Readers with a finely tuned sense of the absurd are going to adore the Technicolor ride."
—Booklist
"Fantasy done to a clever, grotesque, nonsensical turn." —Chicago Sun-Times
"A work of mischievous imagination and outrageous invention." —Time Out Chicago
"An extraordinary and delightfully weird romp that’s one part China Mieville, one part Lemony Snicket, with trace amounts of Madeline L’Engle and Roald Dahl . . . Kennedy has filled 400+ pages with a series of strange turn-ups and adventures that grow progressively more outlandish and funny, such that when you think he’s surely run out of runway and must crash, he finds new, unsuspected weirdness to explore.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, For The Win, and co-editor of Boing Boing
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