Summer Sizzle or a Little Drizzle?

The forthcoming picture book, "Bus Driver! Bus Driver!" is going to be a different type of book than what's come before here at Stone Hollow Press. For one, it's not a spider book. When we launched in 2021, the main focus was The Little Brown Spider book series. And it's still the main focus, but just not the only focus.

The first Little Brown Spider book came out in June and the second one in August, both in 2021. The third in the series will be published this September 2022. Along with LBS, we have other books in various stages of development, including another spider book. But those are stories for other posts.

Something a Bit Different

"Bus Driver! Bus Driver!" departs a number of ways from the Little Brown Spider books. As I mentioned, there aren't any spiders in this book. Not a one (unless there's one hiding in the nice and naughty toy pile that I missed).

Visually, the illustration style is very different. There's a bit of a manga influence to the style and the colors are a little more muted. The page layout is also different. Word balloons and captions share equal billing and are mixed together throughout. It's shorter than a LBS book. It's a different trim size. It uses a couple of different rhyming techniques, which in and of itself could be problematic if not done right. Hopefully, we did it right.

So, there are a lot of changes here for a short, 24-page story.

A page in development for "Bus Driver! Bus Driver!"

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Like the old saying goes, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Now, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much of a risk doing a book like this. There's nothing controversial here. The story is fun and cute, and the artwork is solid. But given the nature, reach, and limited resources of a small, independent publisher, any new book release is a risk.

With final artwork, text, and presentation being worked on now, "Bus Driver! Bus Driver!" should ship sometime in October 2022. When Lilly finally does make her debut, I hope you give her story a read!

Now I need to get back to reviewing the last proof of a proof of our able arachnid so we can get his next adventure out!

- DennisD.

SpiderWriter