Excerpt! Patrick Ness and Tim Miller’s CHRONICLES OF A LIZARD NOBODY

Woohoo! There’s a fun new middle grade series coming from Patrick Ness and Tim Miller about a reptile just trying to survive middle school. Monitor lizard Zeke navigates bullies, friendship, grief, and self-image in this series starter, out September 24, 2024.

Check out this excerpt of the first five pages!

CHRONICLES OF A LIZARD NOBODY. Text copyright © 2024 by Patrick Ness. Illustrations copyright © 2024 by Tim Miller. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.

About the creators

Patrick Ness is the New York Times best-selling author of A Monster Calls (inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd), which won both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and was made into a major motion picture for which he wrote the screenplay. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy, More Than This, Release, Different for Boys, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, and Burn. His many accolades include two Carnegie Medals, an Olivier Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Book Trust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Patrick Ness lives in Los Angeles.

https://patrickness.com

https://www.instagram.com/patricknessbooks

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Tim Miller is the author-illustrator of Moo Moo in a Tutu, What’s Cooking, Moo Moo?, Tiny Kitty, Big City, and Izzy Paints. He is also the illustrator of Horse Meets Dog by Elliott Kalan, Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book) and Snappsy the Alligator And His Best Friend Forever! (Probably) by Julie Falatko, Margarash by Mark Riddle, and the middle-grade series Hamstersaurus Rex by Tom O’Donnell. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three rescue cats.

https://www.timmillerillustration.com

https://www.instagram.com/tm_illustration

About Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody

Author: Patrick Ness

Illustrator: Tim Miller

Series name: Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody

When Principal Wombat makes monitor lizards Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia hall monitors, Zeke gives up on popularity at his new school. Brought in as part of a district blending program, the monitor lizards were mostly ignored before. Reptiles aren’t bullied any more than other students, but they do stick out among zebras, ostriches, and elk. Why would Principal Wombat make them hall monitors? Alicia explains that it’s because mammals are afraid of being yelled (hissed) at by reptiles. The principal’s just a good general, deploying her resources. Zeke balks, until he gets on the wrong side of Pelicarnassus. More than a bully, the pelican is a famed international supervillain—at least when his mother isn’t looking. Maybe the halls are a war zone, and the school needs a hero. Too bad it isn’t . . . Zeke. Smart, relatable, and densely illustrated in black and white for graphic appeal, this middle-grade series debut by a revered author returns to his themes of grief, bullying, and negotiating differences—but with zeal and comic relief to spare.

From the best-selling author of A Monster Calls, this funny, wise middle-grade series explodes every stereotype—including what it means to be a hero—in a brilliant reptilian take on surviving school.

Suggested retail price (U.S./CAN): $17.99 / $0.00

On sale date: September 24, 2024

Age range: 8 yrs – 12 yrs

Grade range: Grade 3 – Grade 7

Subjects: Animals; School & Education; Social Themes

Filed under: Guest Post