I’ve been writing for kids since 2010, or before the dawn of the known universe for most of my young readers. At this point I’m the author or coauthor of fifteen books for teens and tweens. For a full list of my books, check here or here, and if you’re interested in a school visit, send me a note and I’ll reply with details. In the meantime, scroll down and check out a few highlights.
Fish in a sea of gold.
My first book for young readers, a pirate adventure called Fish, was a Scholastic Book Fairs bestseller and nominated (I never win) for a bunch of awards. In 2023, Amulet Books released a revised, updated, and re-titled version called Sea of Gold. Same core characters, better story. Why rewrite it? Because I figured I could make it just a little better, and I couldn’t give up on the characters, or the kids and teachers who kept asking what was next for Fish. So naturally I’m pretty excited that the sequel, Sea of Gold: The Duke’s Curse, is coming out in September, a full fourteen years after the original Fish.
I’m the narrator of both the audiobooks, too. Preorder today and I’ll be grateful!
An epic collaboration.
After an impromptu meeting in an LA coffee shop, and a follow-on surf lesson, Bill Nye and I decided it might be fun to work together on a project. We ended up writing three globetrotting, science-packed mystery novels starring Jack and his genius siblings. Once we wrapped the Jack adventures, which were bestsellers translated into a bunch of languages, we worked together on a nonfiction opus, Bill Nye’s Great Big World of Science, another NYT bestseller.
The one that broke my brain.
I really wanted to write an easy-to-understand book on the history of the universe, so I pitched a publisher, and they told me they loved the proposal, but that it would have to be written by a scientist. Dismayed, I shelved the idea. Then Neil deGrasse Tyson and his reps reached out, wondering if I’d be interested in helping him turn his own book on the cosmos into a story for younger readers. I ditched my project and dove right in. The result was translated into 15 languages and nominated for major international prizes.
Grab a copy and understand the cosmos in just under five hours.
My science fiction paradise.
When I was younger, I wanted to be able to breathe underwater. Maybe I still do. The two books that make up my Atlantis duology take readers to a reimagined version of the mythical undersea kingdom. Instead of the Atlantis we usually see on screen, this one features a technologically advanced culture that has evolved in vast subterranean cities beneath our oceans. Lewis, his scientist father, and teen genius Hannah track a mysterious signal to an entrance to the hidden world, where they meet an Atlantean girl and are promptly mistaken for invaders. Oddly, I think these are my funniest books.