Candlewick Press announces new picture book by Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen,THE ROCK FROM THE SKY,with global publication set for March 2021

September 12, 2019 – SOMERVILLE, MA– Best-selling and award-winning picture book creator Jon Klassen will publish a new book releasing worldwide in March 2021. The Rock from the Skyis a hilarious meditation on friendship, fate, and that funny feeling you get when there’s something off but you just can’t put your finger o
n it. Merging broad visual suspense with his trademark wry wit and existential silliness, Klassen has created a wholly original comedy for the ages. Candlewick Press executive editorial director and associate publisher Liz Bicknell acquired world rights to the book from Steve Malk at Writers House.

“I love Klassen’s proud, somewhat petulant turtle and his friends
armadillo and snake. This book is Shakespearean in its portrayal of human frailty,” says Bicknell.

Klassen’s picture book career spans fewer than ten years, but already he has achieved both critical and commercial success, with almost four million books in print in twenty-seven languages worldwide. Klassen burst into the children’s picture book arena in 2011 with the publication of I Want My Hat Back. His story of a bear who has lost his hat launched a new generation of subversive, sophisticated books for young readers. A companion title, This Is Not My Hat, became the first book to receive both the Caldecott Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, among many other honors, and the third book in the trilogy, We Found a Hat, received rave reviews.

In addition to a Caldecott Medal and a Kate Greenaway Medal, Klassen has received two Caldecott Honors, four E. B. White Read-Aloud Awards, aTheodor Seuss Geisel Honor, an Irma S. and James H. Black Award, and a Governor General’s Literary Award. In 2018, he was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, recognized “for his transformative contributions to children’s literature as an illustrator and author.”Klassen’s other books include the bestsellers Triangle,Square, and Circle; The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse, an E. B. White Read-Aloud Award Winnerand a New York Times Book ReviewNotable Children’s Book of the Year; and Sam and Dave Dig a Hole, a Caldecott Honor Book and an E. B. White Read-Aloud Award Winner, all created with longtime friend and collaborator Mac Barnett.

A global laydown and marketing campaign forThe Rock from the Skyis planned.

ABOUT CANDLEWICK PRESS
Candlewick Press is an independent publisher based in Somerville, Massachusetts. For more than twenty-five years, Candlewick has published outstanding children’s books for readers of all ages, including books by award-winning authors and illustrators such as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature emerita Kate DiCamillo, M. T. Anderson, Meg Medina, Jon Klassen, and Laura Amy Schlitz; the widely acclaimed Judy Moody, Mercy Watson, and ’Ology series; and favorites such as Guess How Much I Love You,Maisy, and Where’s Waldo? by Martin Handford. Candlewick is part of the Walker Books Group, together with Walker Books U.K. in London and Walker Books Australia. The Walker Books Group enjoys a unique ownership structure that includes employees from around the world and more than 150 long-term authors and illustrators. Visit Candlewick online at www.candlewick.com.

 

Media contact
Karen Walsh
Executive Director of Publicity, Brands & Key Titles
617-588-4516 / karen.walsh@candlewick.com