Bao Wows Announced!

We’re excited about this new graphic novel series! More on these adorable dumpling dogs soon…

Marshmallow Martians How to Draw Videos!

MUSEUM SLEEPOVER, the 3rd book in the Marshmallow Martians series published by Penguin Random House will be released January 23 2024 and we’re getting ready by kicking off our HOW TO DRAW AND CREATE Youtube series where Neil will show how to draw…and Deanna might throw Neil some wacky “WHAT IFS” to try out.

You can check out our first Marshmallow Martians How to Draw Snug video on our Youtube channel. Subscribe to get alerted with new How to Draw content for kids.

The Marshmallow Martians Show and Smell Land!

The Marshmallow Martians have landed! Our local bookstore, Mosaic books in downtown Kelowna, let us have the kids’ area windows and we had some GIANT marshmallow martians made… The result was a Sunday morning of marshmallow-y shenanigans!

Deanna and Neil set up the Marshmallow Martians Show and Smell book display!

Marshmallow Martians: Earth School! Cover reveal...and a story

We’re so excited to share the cover of the second book in the Marshmallow Martians young graphic novel series! Here is EARTH SCHOOL which comes out Summer, 2023 and is available for preorder now!

There’s a fun story around this book. While we were working on it, we were invited by a friend to visit Galiano Island in BC, Canada on Vancouver Island. (Thank you, Sarah!)

We visited the Galiano Community school and did an interactive session with the amazing kids, educators, and library people (Like you, Lori!) who inspired us to try and capture the community’s enthusiasm and curiosity.

Marshmallow Martians is on sale July 25, 2023.
Please feel free to pre-order your squishy giggles now!
(Pre-ordering is really helpful for creators.)

We’ll be giving updates along the way as we create the Marshmallow Martians graphic novels for young readers. We hope that Snug, Squishy, Woof, Fuzz, and G.L.O.W. —on all their funny Earth adventures—make kids laugh.

@RHKidsGraphic and @RandomHouseKids #welovecomics #comicparty

Marshmallow Martians Book 1 Cover Reveal and Book Trailer!

A tribute to the bedtime-story rituals we had when our boys were small, we hope the Marshmallow Martians book series (for kids 5-8) will provide many squishy, snuggly, storytime giggles.

It is COVER REVEAL and TRAILER day for Marshmallow Martians “Show & Smell”, the first in a graphic chapter book series for young readers coming April 2023. This series idea came to us during the pandemic lockdown when we were feeling anxious and confused—and needed to remind ourselves of the everyday things that are quirky and delightful. The result was a moment at the kitchen table when Deanna stood up and said, “What if… MARSHMALLOW MARTIANS?!” Neil didn’t know what she meant but he laughed, too. (This odd type of “what if…” kitchen table convo happens at our kitchen table more often than you’d imagine.) The result? Wide-eyed, curious characters plopped into the weirdness of Earth. We hope this quirky marshmallow ensemble generates contagious giggles. Here’s the description:

Meet the Marshmallow Martians: sweet, squashy buddies who journey through their backyard portal in search of adventures on their favorite planet—Earth! A hilarious graphic chapter book for the youngest readers that will make kids look at life on Earth through fresh eyes!

In this adventure, the Martians—along with their space cat, space dog, and marshmallow robot assistant—learn about something called "show and smell." (Does that sound right? It sure doesn't smell right!) They go in search of Earth's smelliest smells to bring back to their home planet, Moop. Where will they find the best smells? An amusement park, of course!

This silly graphic chapter book, with its ensemble of lovable Martians, will have kids laughing out loud while gaining confidence in reading. Graphic chapter books serve as a great bridge to graphic novels and longer chapter books.

And the book trailer…

If we do say so, our nephew and nieces are pretty spectacular as Marshmallow Martians character voices in this video! We also had a couple of talented friends help us with the sound and the animation. Neil and I met David and Jenny when we were all working at The Walt Disney Company together. David Fairfield did the audio and SFX treatment for this trailer and Neil and Jenny Weightman worked on the character animation.

Please feel free to pre-order your bedtime story squishy giggles now! (Pre-ordering is helpful for creators).

We’ll be giving updates along the way as we create the Marshmallow Martians graphic novels for young readers. We hope that Snug, Squishy, Woof, Fuzz, and G.L.O.W. —on all their funny Earth adventures—make kids laugh.

@RHKidsGraphic and @RandomHouseKids #welovecomics

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY ANNOUNCES MARSHMALLOW MARTIANS! NEW KENT & HOOSON SERIES

Well, we’re absolutely thrilled to be working with Random House on our third book series—our second graphic novel series. Naturally, Neil is already making amazing sticker designs! Let us know if you ever want stickers…

Born in our kitchen as I struggled with the surreal times near the beginning of the pandemic, we needed a way to look at the world with new, fresh eyes. So Snug, Squish, Woof & Fuzz were born. And they do just that. We hope they make kids giggle. They make us giggle.

ORDER LOCAL, GET FREE BOOK SWAG!

We are THRILLED to be doing a Glam Prix Racers graphic novel presentation to 63 (!!) classes in the Okanagan this Thursday with Okanagan Regional Libraries. That over 1200 kids!

We have pre-signed lots of books at our amazing local bookstores: Mosaic Books and Once Upon a Bookstore. If anyone purchases/orders their books from these locations until May 30, 2021, email a photo of the receipt to Deanna and Neil (deannaandneil@gmail.com) and we’ll send you a free Glam Prix keychain and a sticker!

Ready. Set. Sparkle!

We’re getting excited for the Glam Prix Racers series to launch on May 11, 2021. We’ve been working with the great Macmillan Kids Books team to help introduce it and they’ve created a VERY fun Glam Prix Racers landing page here with a video. Very special thanks to David Fairfield for some of the sound production on this. David helped us with the sound of the Snazzy Cat Capers book trailers, too.

We’ve had a lot of people ask lately how we do books, work full-time, and deal with our 4 kids. All we can say is that we love it. We love making things. We love collaboration. And while this series has been a special kind of challenge—because it’s a really, really labor-intensive format and we’ve somehow managed to do it in the pandemic— all the extra early mornings and the discipline we’ve mustered around some tough deadlines make this launch feel extra good. We’re forever grateful for all the support—whether you buy or borrow our books, say nice things about our books to a friend, or write a short review on Amazon or Goodreads, all of it helps us to keep creating. So thank you.

Glam Prix Racers! Launching a book in the pandemic.

Full transparency, GLAM PRIX RACERS isn’t the first book of ours that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic. Snazzy Cat Capers 3 Meow or Never came out September 2020 and, like the rest of the world, we were pretty anxious about…well, EVERYTHING. Instead of a fun launch party, we found ourselves making an appointment to go into a local bookstore after-hours, (all masked up!) and sign copies in the corner as they were closing. Really nothing at all like the super fun Snazzy Cat Capers series launch with our amazing Kelowna community.

And now, here we are about to launch Glam Prix Racers, book 1, the first in our new graphic novel series. Way back at the beginning of 2019 when we were writing this book, we had BIG plans for the launch. We would go to New York! We would meet up with our publishers and some other Macmillan authors and illustrators we’ve come to admire over the years! We would go back and visit the Barnes & Noble store at Union Square and be awestruck… and maybe sign books! [Insert sudden, jarring record scratch here.]

Nope. None of that is happening. Instead, as we continue to navigate the pandemic life for ourselves and our kids, we’re also spending our evenings giggling at our kitchen table, making posters and putting together some “race packages” with Glittergear Island maps, keychains, and stickers for our incredibly supportive local bookstores. As it turns out the “ZOOMs” in this book are SO.MUCH.BETTER than the daily Zoom calls that are just part of life now.

As May 11 gets closer, despite all the changes in plans, we’re getting pretty excited over here. Because no matter where WE are or what WE’RE doing, we hope that the kids who open this wildly bright book about magical racing creatures and their supercharged motos get totally transported from whatever disappointment they’ve faced over the past year and use their imaginations to ZOOM (the good kind) into the Glittergear Island world we made for them—a world where they can escape to find some sparkle, speed…and fun.

NEW Snazzy Cat Capers 3 Giveaway with Mosaic Books!

Pre-order Snazzy Cat Capers Meow or Never & get snazzy swag!

We’re thinking back to some pretty snazzy launch parties we’ve had with this series and it’s not going to be the same this year…. But we REALLY wanted a way to celebrate our community—and to say thanks for the incredible local support we’ve had for all our creative projects. One day there again will be parties and cake! But for this launch, there’s some fun swag.

1. Use this link to pre-order Snazzy Cat Capers 3 Meow or Never from Mosaic Books

2. On September 15, when the book is released, get your signed copy + a limited edition (oh-so-snazzy) holographic Ophelia sticker and a one-of-a kind, hand-drawn, signed character sketch.

If you’ve already pre-ordered a copy of Meow or Never, email deannaandneil@gmail.com with a receipt of pre-order and we’ll do our best to mail you swag!

ABOUT Snazzy Cat Capers Book 3!

Ophelia and her inventor sidekick Oscar F. Gold are deep in preparations for the biggest challenge the FFBI (Furry Feline Burglary Institute) has to offer: The M.E.O.W. competition!

The fur-and-fin duo show up with the most valuable treasure they can find—and Ophelia’s cousin Pierre von Rascal beats them to the punch with a priceless painting that puts their loot to shame. But Ophelia is certain the expensive artwork is an elaborate fake!

Ophelia will need every pawful of her singular style, winning wit, and purr-fect poise to prove Pierre’s nothing but a wannabe cheetah—before he steals her prize!

Adventure, heists, and teamwork abound in this fun, witty chapter book series brimming with cat-tastic black-and-white illustrations, including graphic novel-style pages!

Check out the whole Snazzy Cat Capers series!
Snazzy Cat Capers
Snazzy Cat Capers: The Fast and the Furriest
Snazzy Cat Capers: Meow or Never

An Imprint Book

“Fabulous, funny, and fin-tastic fun!”
—Mo O’Hara, New York Times-bestselling author of My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish

"Another fun contribution to chapter-book series shelves. Entertaining for fans of cats, adventures, and wordplay."
—Kirkus

Glam Prix Racers

We’re working hard with the stellar Macmillan Imprint team on the Glam Prix Racers graphic novel series. We’re excited for everyone to meet this crew as they race on Glittergear Island to try and win the Glam Prix Cup!

Mio & Mudwick, a mermaid and monster truck, are known for their SPEED!
Flipp & Furie, a fairy and freight train, are famous for their ENGINEERING SKILLS!
Unee & U-Turn, a unicorn and unicycle, know how CHEER!
Sooki & Smoosh, a sprite and soft-serve mobile are exceptionally CREATIVE!
Deelux & Dapper, a dragon and dune buggy, do all the TRICKS!

You're invited to Snazzy Cat Capers 2 book launch party!

"She's the pussycat love child of James Bond and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and who can't love that?" —Kirkus Review of Snazzy Cat Capers

Everyone’s invited to the Snazzy Cat Capers Book launch for “The Fast and the Furriest”—Book 2 in the Snazzy Cat Capers Series. Even if you don’t like stealthy cat burglars, stubborn fish inventors, or pesky robo-dogs, there will be cupcakes.

More than the launch of a book, this gathering is a way for us to celebrate our community for endless opportunities and spaces to exercise our own creativity. From our school and city librarians to all the teams we work with, to the coffee shops, local bookstores, Accelerate Okanagan and the Innovation Centre, there are hundreds of people and places that support making stuff in Kelowna.

Snazzy Cat Capers Book 2 Trailer!

Two months til launch!

The 2nd in the Snazzy Cat Capers book series, “The Fast and the Furriest” will be released September 17, 2019!

We had a lot of fun with book 2 because we had a bit more room to send Ophelia to a few international places. The stakes are high as the world’s #1 cat burglar needs to outsmart her ambitious, devious cousin Pierre AND the CCIA (Central Canine Intelligence Agency) to save cat-kind. We’ll do a few posts on the making of this middle grade novel. There are graphic novel pages throughout and about 100 illustrations.

Check out the trailer!

Snazzy New York Adventures

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York. It was our first time there! We did a lot of New York-ish things and fell in love with the city and its people. (Also its food, the Barnes and Noble bookstore, and a MAGICAL place called Eataly—but that’s a whole different post.)

The most thrilling thing we did was meet our publisher, Erin Stein, and a lot of the other people on the Macmillan Imprint team who are amazing—and making the Snazzy Cat Caper book series happen.

Macmillan’s Imprint Team in the Flatiron

Neil and I left our hotel really early and breathed in the Flatiron district before we met the team. We ooh-ed and aww-ed at the glorious architecture and spent some time in the Lego store there where Neil DROOLED over the James Bond car set.

Top Secret: The original FFBI (Furry Feline Burglary Institute) Headquarters is the NY Flatiron Building! You’ll discover more about the FFBI’s history in Snazzy Cat Capers book 2—the Fast and the Furriest.

The beautiful NY Flatiron Building!

The fabulous Erin Stein. Her office is glorious—a cornucopia of all the best, most fun things.

The whole visit with the Macmillan Imprint team is a bit blurry because we were so nervous to finally meet them. But we came away with a few things you might be interested to know:

• Erin Stein’s office is as legendary as she is.

• #teamworkmakesthedreamwork is so real in this industry. LOTS of people from different disciplines are involved in creating a book! And what I think this means for people who are publishing/want to publish a book is that you really, really want (and need) people who genuinely believe in your work to be championing for it.

• Publishing teams sometimes appreciate help! For book 1, we’d offered to make a “toolkit” of assets for the marketing and sales team (something Neil and I learned how to do in our Disney days for different brands we worked on) and the Imprint team used them for some marketing. We’re going to do the same for book 2. If you’ve got a book coming out and if its within your means to help with creating assets, it doesn’t hurt to ask if they’d like extra stuff! And if you’re an artist and want to know more about making an asset toolkit, drop us a line and we'll try to help!

• IF you have the opportunity to meet your publishing team in person (or if you don’t have a publishing team yet, but you have the chance to go to a conference and meet people you might want to be your publishing people one day), it’s so wonderful to actually see real faces.

One of the highlights of the trip was holding the Snazzy Cat Capes book 2 (The Fast and the Furriest!) Advanced Reading Copies. They’re real!! And they’re coming September 2019. Stay tuned to see those beauties unboxed.

Us! In front of the MET. This place was so amazing. The Egyptian stuff! The paintings! And a da Vinci sketch!

The things we loved about NYC: The architecture! The people! The energy! The art! The doorways and buildings and food!

Barnes and Noble bookstore at Union Square in NYC! It was BEAUTIFUL and we signed a few books.

A fun Snazzy Cat Capers review!

We’re pretty thrilled with this nice review from Booklist Online!

Snazzy Cat Capers

By Deanna Kent. Illus. by Neil Hooson

Sept 2018. 224p. Macmillan/Imprint, $13.99 (9781250143433). Gr. 2–5

World-renowned cat burglar Ophelia is the best the Furry Feline Burglary Institute (FFBI) offers (and she always looks fabulous, too). Director Mew thinks she needs a sidekick, but the independent thief disagrees. No one is good enough to work alongside Ophelia and her greatness. She’s rejected 16 inventors in just one year: one was smelly, one too boring, one told bad jokes, and the last one threw fart bombs. But the director has a trick up his sleeve. When the FFBI offers the ultimate challenge—to steal a giant Himalayan diamond—Ophelia must work with her newly appointed inventor, Oscar Fishgerald Gold, to become the best catnapping team. She needs to learn to trust her partner and his skills of invention, all while foiling her rival's plans. Black-and-white, graphic-novel-style panels, complete with dialogue bubbles, break up the text and add to the action. This first book in the Snazzy Cat Capers series is full of humor, mystery, and adventure. — Rosie Camargo

Snazzy Cat Inktober 2018!

During the month of October, Neil participated in the snazziest Inktober. Inspired by each prompt, he drew an Ophelia and Oscar (and sometimes P.U.G.!) original ink and people could write and request one. We’ve sent them out all over Canada and the U.S. (and even one to Brazil, because one of our old Disney Club Penguin fans REALLY wanted one and he’s so awesome and supportive). Check it out. And if you didn’t get one and you want one (or MANY, LIKE ME), keep your eyes out for other contests like this. It’s been really cool to connect with people who like the snazzy cat.

Inktober!

Snazzy Cat Capers Book Launch Fun!

Thanks to so many of our friends and the supportive Kelowna community (including the Innovation Centre and Mosaic Books!), the Snazzy Cat Capers book launch was SO MUCH FUN! We had over 150 people come to celebrate with us and check out the art installation we created that showcased the process of how Snazzy Cat Capers went from idea to a published series with Macmillan’s Imprint.

Here’s a short video of the event made by our friend Rob LeLacheur. We couldn’t be more grateful for the support and love we’ve got with the Okanagan Tech community.

Snazzy Cat Capers book 'process' display is up!

Yesterday, with the help of a couple of friends, we set up our Snazzy Cat Capers art display in Kelowna's Innovation Centre! It will be there for the whole month of September and we hope you'll go take a look at it. If you're planning on coming to the Snazzy Cat Capers Official Book Launch, you can take it in then.

While there's some cool "final" art on display, it actually aims to show the messy process of idea to publication. Everyone's publication and creative process is different. Snazzy Cat Capers started as a graphic novel with the fish as the protagonist and morphed into a chapter book series with the villain cat, Ophelia von Hairball as the protagonist.

The display shows rough art, rejections, rough drafts, and talks about some of the adventures along the way. It's a glimpse into our personal journeys with this book series. We hope you can check it out... and we hope you'll come to the book launch party! 

Inside the okanagan innovation centre on doyle ave. in Kelowna, with the help of one of an art gallery professional, we put up the process display. 

we showcase rough art, rejections, the editing process, and some concept art that was never used.

Prepping for Snazzy Cat Capers art display at Kelowna's Innovation Centre! Laser cutting! A four floor animation! And a golden T-rex!

Snazzy Cat Capers Art Show—Focus on the journey

When we first talked about doing a display in the Kelowna Innovation Centre atrium for the month of September 2018 (the month that Snazzy Cat Capers gets launched), we really wanted to make sure it was more than a 'snazzy' display.

People are always asking us about the whole mysterious journey—what happens when you want to write and publish a book, so we decided to try showcase the whole wacky, crazy process of how this Snazzy Cat Capers book series came to be—from the first glimmer of an idea in the middle of the night—through rejections and fatigue and rejuvination—to publication. (Book 1 publishes September 18, 2018!)

Planning for the Innovation Centre display! NEIL designed the art frames in Adobe Illustrator, and we had to figure out how we'd construct them so we could build and install overtop of the thrift store frames we'd purchased. The pic on the top right is the cool staircase in Kelowna's Innovation Centre. We're doing a custom animation using the fancy projector in the building! 

Snazzy Cat Capers Art Show—Using the structure of the Innovation Centre space

We got the go-ahead for the book journey display from the gracious Kelowna Innovation Centre team. We also had (and have!) a LOT of support from the super-smart Accelerate Okanagan team. Our hope was to tell our book's story—idea to publication—in a linear way, so we considered how the physical building space might work with this. Since there's a left to right 'progression' that's pretty natural to the space (ending with a connection to the Kelowna Public Library!), we were really excited to make it work this way!

We'll start with wall #1 on the diagram and move left to write—just like how you'd read a book! the very last bit (hallway #6) leads right into the library.

On the left wall, we're starting with the first part of our Snazzy Cat Caper journey—which was the creation of a graphic novel about a fish! So, the first wall will be dedicated to Oscar Fishgerald Gold, the ever-enthusiastic fishy character who (eventually) shows up on Ophelia von Hairball's doorstep as an inventor. He wasn't always an inventor though! In the first rounds of our book, Oscar, the protagonist, was a superhero! The cat was his nemesis....

Oscar was the focus of the first iteration of this book series. Obviously, it's a whole different thing now! But you can see that sneaky, snazzy cat in the background? Eventually, that cat, Ophelia von Hairball, stole the show and became our protagonist—and Oscar F. Gold stepped into his role of fin-tastic sidekick.

This first phase in the development of our book took over a year. We've got a busy family and great jobs we love, so this was a passion project, and the creation took place during really early mornings, late nights, and ridiculous amounts of time stolen in school gyms and hallways while the kids were practicing their sports.

When we finally fleshed out the graphic novel, we reworked and revised, then choose a literary agent (the amazing Gemma Cooper of The Bent Agency) and sent it off! You'll get to see some of our first rejections. And if you haven't published before, creating books (or really anything at all) means you need SO MUCH resilience and a healthy pair of rose-colored glasses. (Also a spare pair for when you smash them. Or when they get soggy from tears and sweat.)

The first wall is about Oscar... but the rest of the Innovation Centre atrium walls will show the journey of the publication of Book 1 with Ophelia von Hairball V of Burglaria as the superstar. We're sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly. Some rough writing drafts, some post-it-note art, and a lot rough art. This part of the process took a couple of years. But in the end, we ended up with an absolutely stellar team at Macmillan's Imprint. We're SO GRATEFUL for the creativity, collaboration, and learnings that we've been lucky enough to experience with them. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

Snazzy Cat Capers Art Show—Frames, animations, and the practical stuff

We're currently designing the animation for the Kelowna Innovation Centre staircase with the help of Jenny Weightman—a very talented animator friend (and old co-worker of ours at Disney). We have SO MUCH art in all kinds of stages to display that we decided we'd need to create custom frames to help us pull the look and feel of the space together. So we're getting help from our maker friend. (Ross Ladell is amazing—he's got a company of super-smart software engineers and developers and does he have the BEST TOOLS EVER in his shed.) 

We used his laser cutter to cut out the unique designs that Neil created for our custom frames. We've done only one prototype and we'll put it together and paint it to see how it looks before we cut out the rest of it. We're using a total of ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO separate pieces of wood for our frames. And that's just for 12 frames! Our display will have approximately 23 framed pieces in total. (Neil just counted and almost fainted.)

We're gluing together the prototype this week! And then we've got a bit over a month to go before the show goes up. We hope you'll join us for the book launch September 21, 2018 in the Kelowna Innovation Centre from 5:30-6:30 pm. Kelowna's own Mosaic Books will be there with fresh copies of Snazzy Cat Capers! Please check out the journey on display during the month of September.

What's a good maker space without a GOLD T-REX?!

Snazzy Cat Capers at SDCC San Diego Comic Con 2018!

If we tried to pretend we were all cool about Snazzy Cat Capers visiting the San Diego Comic Con 2018, it would be a big, fat, furry LIE.

We're so excited the Macmillan's Imprint will have Ophelia von Hairball (and crew) there. They'll be giving away Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) to kids and also this fun "Create Your Own Purr-Fect Disguise" sheet so kids can make their own snazzy mask.

Also, we're lucky enough to be part of the "Action Packed Animals" book series in the great company of Spy Penguins and Thundercluck! All are there in San Diego for Comic Con.

Macmillan took a few pictures to show us how much Ophelia was loving that con!

If you couldn't go, here's a copy of the Mask Making page to print out so you can make your own Ophelia von Hairball mask! Because we all need a good disguise now and then. https://www.snazzycatcapers.com/fun-stuff/

Stay Snazzy,

Deanna & Neil