A Klassen act: Candlewick bags two more from picture-book star
Candlewick Press has acquired two new books from “visionary” multi-award-winning picture-book creator Jon Klassen, both follow-ups to his upcoming The House with Nobody In It.
Emma Ledbetter, Candlewick’s executive editorial director for picture books, and Ann Stott, executive creative director, bought world rights to The Castle with Nobody In It and The Cave with Nobody In It from Steven Malk at Writers House. The titles are due for a 2028 and 2029 release, respectively, and will be published simultaneously by sister companies Walker Books in the UK and Australia.
The publisher said the two new titles would “further break boundaries and subvert expectations of the board-book format as readers explore mysterious rooms and caverns within two clever new spaces that are totally and completely empty… or are they?”
The publisher’s relationship with Klassen goes back 15 years, when his debut as an author-illustrator, I Want My Hat Back, won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award and claimed several book-of-the-year accolades. His numerous prizes include a Caldecott Medal and a Kate Greenaway Medal. His books have sold close to 12 million units worldwide and have been published in more than 30 languages.
Klassen said his new titles were an “idea of a space between a narrative story and a game, and even a physical place, that you ask the audience to move through with you [that] has so much more to explore, and I can’t wait to get into it”.
The Walker group’s CEO Belinda Ioni Rasmussen called Klassen “a singular talent. The quiet confidence and emotional truth in his books speak directly to children across borders. We’re thrilled to be building on that energy with these new books, collaborating with our brilliant publishing partners around the world”.
