My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast by Zoje Stage illustrated by J.E. Larson
Zoje Stage’s debut, Baby Teeth was a breakout psychological thriller when it was published in summer 2018. It was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, a Goodreads Choice Award (and came in second behind Stephen King!), became a USA Today and international bestseller, named one of the best books of the yer by Forbes Magazine, Library Journal, PopSugar, Barnes & Noble, Bloody Disgusting, and Book Bub, named a People Magazine Book of the Week, a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book, awarded four starred trade reviews, praised by The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, Forbes, PopSugar, HelloGiggles, and others.
In Dear Hanna, published August 2024, fans of Baby Teeth finally got the follow-up novel they’d longed for from “master novelist” (Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle) Zoje Stage. Dear Hanna —”one of the best, most squirm-inducing portraits of a deviant schemer this side of GONE GIRL” (Nat Cassidy, Mary and Nestlings)—also marked the return of the UnderSlumberBumbleBeasts. For the first time in MY UNDERSLUMBERBUMBLEBEAST (Bad Hand Books; Dec. 3, 2024) these misunderstood “monsters” are the stars of their very own book.
Nine-year-old Pru has many hobbies: inventing things, collecting stuff, and learning new and interesting words. But her newest passion is discovering the source of the weird sounds she hears at night—coming from beneath her bed.
Ever since she was very little, Pru suspected there might be a special kind of creature making a home in her room. But because UnderSlumberBumbleBeasts only come out in the dark, she had never seen one.
That all changes one day after Pru’s mom asks her to clean her room—an ordinary request that sets off an extraordinary chain of events. And Pru’s life will never be the same.
Adult readers of Baby Teeth and Dear Hanna will delight in seeing this book-within-a-book finally come to life, and young readers will fall in love with this imaginative girl and her strange but wonderful friends. (Grade level 2 – 5; Enjoyment level ages 5-125)
