The Next Round

I’m not a huge fan of sports analogies. Oftentimes, these clichés come out of left field and fail to hit their mark. That said, I’m also not someone who lays off a perfect pitch. I mean, everyone knows you gotta take a few cuts if you’re ever going to connect, right? So, if I WAS going to use a corny sports analogy to describe the graphic novel process, I might say it’s a lot like boxing: match up an author and an illustrator, promote their event, and hope the outcome pleases the audience.


At Stone Arch, we’ve already started our next round of graphic novels, scheduled for release in Fall 2009. One title, FLOAT AND STING: ONE ROUND WITH MUHAMMAD ALI, matches up celebrated author Davis Miller with illustrator Andres Esparza. In the book, Miller is a puny little mouse at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At least that's
what the other students call the 4' 7" senior. After years of being depressed, the sickly teen decides to take on an impossible dream. He decides to become a boxer. Then one day in 1975, Miller gets a chance to spar with Muhammad Ali — a bout that changes his life.


Unlike some matchups, Miller and Esparza haven't clashed with each other in these opening rounds (trust me, as an editor, I’ve refereed a few battles in the past); their combination of writing talent and visual storytelling has created a tale of excitement and inspiration. So for now, enjoy a few sneak peeks or, you might call them, pregame warm-ups. This book is sure to be a knockout! (Okay, that was a little corny.)



Donnie Lemke
Senior Editor
Stone Arch Books

Stone Arch Books's Fall '08 Catalog

Our new catalog is here! The marketing team finished working on it just two weeks ago, so it was a great surprise when finished copies showed up on our desks on Thursday afternoon.

This season, our catalog is full of tons of new books we’re really proud of. Our new series, Graphic Spin, does for fairy tales what Graphic Revolve did for classic stories—in each Graphic Spin book, a fairy tale is lavishly told in graphic-novel format. You’ve never seen fairy tales like this before!

In Graphic Sparks, we have new books in our Eek and Ack, School Zombies, Time Blasters, and Buzz Beaker series. We also have the first two books in a brand-new series, Zinc Alloy, written by our own Donald Lemke. Kids will love the escapades of Zack Allen, the world’s newest superhero.

Our Graphic Flash set has grown by four new books—all stories of war that will fit in wonderfully to American history classes. And Graphic Revolve contains four new classic stories.

Jake Maddox is back with twelve new books—four boy stories, four girl stories, and four new extreme outdoor adventure books. Our bestselling and well-reviewed Claudia Cristina Cortez set is back, too—with four more stories from Claudia’s point of view. We also have four new Vortex mysteries (including Curtains!: A High School Musical Mystery by our own Michael Dahl) and six new Shade Books, perfect for the kid who’s looking for a little bit of creepy suspense (that’s still safe!)

And we’ve mentioned the We Are Heroes series before on this blog. This new series contains six high-low books about ordinary kids making extraordinary changes in their communities. Whether it’s planting trees at school or painting a room in a house built by Habitat for Humanity, these books show real ways kids can make differences. (And, of course, proceeds from the book Kids Against Hunger will go to the nonprofit organization Kids Against Hunger™.)

These books aren’t available yet, but they will be on July 15. Keep your eye on this blog for more information about all of our new products over the next couple of months! Take a look at all of our books, or request a catalog of your own, at www.stonearchbooks.com.

Graphic Novels in New York City (and your library)

Are you still having trouble getting your administration behind your graphic novel purchases? We know that not everyone understands why and how graphic novels are revolutionizing reading. But here’s more ammunition if you need help convincing the powers-that-be: the New York City Department of Education has launched a new program focusing on graphic novels. (Check out the SLJ article here.)

Our graphic novels even have curriculum hooks, like our Graphic Flash books, fiction based on major events in American History, and our Graphic Revolve, which retell the world’s best stories in graphic novel form. Science classes will love Buzz Beaker (use any of the Buzz books to get kids fired up for science fairs), and units on outer space will be brightened up by a visit from Eek and Ack, two twins from the Great Goo Galaxy.

See? Graphic novels aren’t such a stretch after all. New York City knows it, and soon, your school will too.

Educators at NY Comic Con

At the Comic Con convention recently held in New York City, I noticed a surprising change. During the preview hours, before the general public is allowed in and when people with professional tickets wander the floor, the folks crowding the aisles weren’t only collectors and artists trying to hunt down some exclusive, Comic Con-only action figure or hoping to corner one of their idols for an autograph (the likes of Stan Lee, Joe Kubert, and Neil Gaiman were in attendance). Rather, their numbers had been infiltrated by librarians and teachers. They were hoping to either build or add to a graphic novel collection. They were also searching for the latest trends in comics.

Along with the big names like Dark Horse, Marvel, and DC Comics, many independent publishers were represented at the convention. And it was at the booths of these smaller publishers, such as Stone Arch Books with our ever-popular “safe graphic novels” message, that the true treasures were found. People were especially thrilled about our Graphic Flash books, which are a hybrid of sequential art and traditional paragraphing, and also have curriculum appeal with their historical fiction stories.

Of course, once the preview hours were over, the aisles of the convention floor filled with Manga characters, Strom Troopers, and an assortment of superheroes, along with aspiring artists willing to show their portfolios to just about anyone involved in the publishing business. That’s typical fare for a large convention. But I was pleasantly surprised to see the professional crowd include those who matter most to us, the people who help kids reads: teachers and librarians. It’s a sure sign that the literary merits of graphic novels are being embraced as their popularity grows.

If you feel like you missed out by not making it to the New York Comic Con, don’t worry; there are several other large comic conventions yet to be held this year. The largest international convention is the San Diego Comic Con, July 24th – 27th. Stone Arch Books will be there—we’ll give you more details as we get closer, but we hope we’ll see you—and other teachers and librarians—there!


--Blake Hoena
Production Manager, Stone Arch Books