Extra Projects, More Indie-Published Children's Books

This year, I've done six extra books that I didn't plan on. How did that happen?

When I start a new year, I have certain books planned for release.

In 2025, it looked like this:

• February: Jeremy, the English Garden Snail: Heredity, Citizen Science, and #snaillove, Book 7 of the Extraordinary Animal Series

• May: Climate: How Wladimir Köppen Studied Weather and Drew the First Climate Map, Book 10, Moments in Science series

• July: NOT EXTINCT: The Przewalski’s Horse Returns from Extinct in the Wild

• August: The Water Kitten: PittyPat’s Story, book 5 The Kittytubers Series

  

Adding WRITE A BOOK FOR KIDS SERIES

As I described yesterday, I added on the Write A Book for Kids series. These were older books that needed to be revised and merged into a coherent series. Still, it was lots of work.

And here’s what I realized: I do NOT like working on multiple titles in a series at a time. I get confused with ISBNs, descriptions, exact titles, and so on. It’s a tedious process for me. I’ll avoid doing five books at a time again. (Of course, that’s what I said when I created the Spanish versions of my picture books. And here I am, doing it again!).

An Unexpected Email - Reprinting

This summer, I received an unexpected email from an Education Company. They had used my book, THE JOURNEY OF OLIVER K. WOODMAN, as they rewrote a literacy lesson on how to write a friendly letter. The new curriculum had just been published and they contacted Harpercollins to order books for their warehouse. And were told that the book was going out of print. OLIVER has been in print for 23 years, first with Harcourt and then with Harpercollins (who bought out Harcourt). That’s a long, happy life for a children’s book.

But the Education Company wanted to buy 100 paperbacks to support their new curriculum. Would I be reissuing the book myself, they asked?

That began a lengthy correspondence with Harpercollins, making sure that they reverted rights. And then, they offered to sell me the print files for $250! Wow! That would make it simple to republish the book under the Mims House imprint. Yes!

I contacted the illustrator, Joe Cepeda, and we negotiated a contract. The book will officially publish later this year or early next year—exact date TBD—but we have already sent 100 copies to the Education Company.

This was an opportunity that I could not pass up. I LOVE this book, and it won lots of recognition during its years at Harcourt/Harpercollins.

• BCCB Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards

• Starred BCCB review

• Starred Kirkus Review

• Autumn 2003 Children’s Booksense 76.

• Child and Nick Jr. Family Magazine Best Books of the Year 2003.

• Irma S. and James H. Black Picture Book Award Honor Book.

• Nutmeg Media Children’s Picture Books on Video, June 2005.

• 2006 ALA Notable Video.

• 2008 Houghton Mifflin Journeys reading series.

Because it was included in the Houghton Mifflin Journey’s reading textbook, it is well-loved at TeachersPayTeachers with 178 lesson plans associated with it.

I am thrilled to bring it to Mims House Books.

Harpercollins has essentially ignored it for years. Here’s the Amazon detail page for that version. I’ll need a total refresh on the detail page and other marketing ideas. I won’t be able to bring over any reviews from that version, because the Mims House version will require a new ISBN. Stay tuned! If there’s interest, I’ll do a post later about the new detail page, and other things I’ll be doing to support the book. And there’s a lot! Let me know if that would be of interest.

So - that’s been my 2025 year. I thought I’d publish four books. Then, I added in the five new titles in the Write a Book for Kids. And finished up with a new version of my beloved book, THE JOURNEY OF OLIVER K. WOODMAN. What a year! 10 books!