I’m thrilled to reveal the cover for Tinker (RoboTales, book 1). This is the first in an eight-book series that my son and I have been working on for the past three years. It’s so exciting to finally have a book cover! What do you think?
The RoboTales books are advanced chapter books/early middle grade. Tinker (book one) is a retelling of Cinderella for boys—though my daughter really liked it too. Tinker won’t come out until late August 2015.
Why, you ask?
That will be announced tomorrow.
That’s right. Exciting news coming tomorrow!
Today, I wanted to give you a little backstory on how this project came to be.
The dream began in 2012. Luke was in fourth grade. That year I spoke to his entire elementary school to promote the local public library. The books I’d published at that point were best for readers in middle school and up, yet my visit got kids wanting to read my books anyway. Several checked out the 500-plus-page tomes. Some of the fifth and sixth graders stuck with it and read the stories, but most the younger kids lost interest. It made me want to write something for readers ages 7-13.
I went to Luke for help.
Over the course of the next six months, our family brainstormed. Luke had been studying fractured fairytales in his class, so we decided to write a children’s chapter book series of fairytale retellings. The series would take place in a fictional solar system, and the stories would be tied together by a lost robot dog who was trying to find his way home. We called the series RoboTales.
There were already so many fairytale retellings for girls. We thought it would be fun to target this series to boys, though girls would like the books too. I read the first three stories to my daughter Kaitlyn, who particularly loved Robo and the creatures he met along his journey.
As I worked on the books, Luke became my writing partner, naming characters, creatures, and helping to plot out the stories in detail. He even designed Robo out of LEGOs. I couldn’t have done it without him. He’s quite creative.
But with my other writing contracts, my speaking schedule, and the busyness of life, the series hovered at the bottom of my priority list. I just couldn’t find the time to get them written.
From the fall of 2013 to the spring of 2014, I made time. With Luke’s brainstorming support, I finished the first three books in our planned eight-book series and we plotted out the other five. It was every writer’s dream to have someone to brainstorm with constantly. Luke and I can’t wait to get these books into the hands of young readers!
Stay tuned tomorrow for that exciting announcement!
This is so awesome!
Thanks, Angela. We really like how it turned out. 🙂
Exciting!! The cover is amazing!!
Thank you!!!
Ooh! Cute/cool/intriguing cover! 🙂
You had me at “fairytale retelling”. 😉
Ha ha, nice. There are a lot of fairytale retellings out there, but this series is pretty different, I think. 🙂
I am SO excited! Love the cover! Definitely can’t wait to read it and it’s very eye-catching!
Thanks, Laura!
This looks great, Jill! Love the cover design and excitement surrounding this release! So cool you and your son got to collaborate on this together! This is defiantly on my wish list for my boys! They will love it!!
-Cory
Thanks, Cory! It has been a lot of fun. 🙂
This is a really cool cover its a really cool design and its really detailed im exited to read it and im exited to see whos artwork gets published in the book! Good Luck!
-Hannah
Thanks, Hannah! I’m excited too! 🙂
This looks awesome, Jill! Love the cover. Can’t wait to get this book for my little sister. 🙂
Pretty cool!
was trying to find your listia to post feedback on the pokemon cards – you can msg or email me a link to the post so i can post the feedback – thanks!