The Book Aunt raves about The Familiars

Read this great review of The Familiars from children's lit lover The Book Aunt Blog!

Rick Riordan Tweets about The Familiars!

@camphalfblood What a great idea for a book. THE FAMILIARS: http://bit.ly/d2Z57G Haven't read it, but I'll be checking it out. Pubs 9/7.

Woke up to this very exciting tweet this morning from Rick Riordan, best selling author of the Percy Jackson series and 39 Clues.





Seeing as how he has written two of the most successful and highly entertaining middle reader book series of all time, this was obviously quite flattering. And now he has another hot title in bookstores, The Kane Chronicles.



We can only dream of having a share of his success (tens of millions of books sold).

Thank you, Rick Riordan. We can't wait to hear what you think of the book!

A Familiars-Themed Birthday Party

Before the book has even come out, we have a young Familiars fan who wants to have a Familiars-themed 10th birthday party. So, here are some ideas I'd like to suggest, per the birthday boy's mom's request:

A familiars scavenger hunt -- Send the kids on a hunt for magic and animal related items like cell phone pics of an exotic bird, holding a wand or wearing a wizard's hat, and a paperback copy of The Hobbit.

If you don't want to pay for an exotic animal trainer or magician to come to you, how about a trip to the local zoo or neighborhood magic store?

See if a local animal shelter needs 6 youngsters to volunteer for an afternoon, helping bathe or walk the rescue dogs.

A familiars movie marathon -- Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Golden Compass. Watch any or all!

Pick up a Mr. Wizard's potion kit and see what kind of magic the kids can conjure.

Make your own familiars -- if the kids are feeling crafty, have them draw or paint their familiars. Pick an animal and give them a special talent and a story. If you send pics to the blog, we'll post them!

Have an epic Dungeons and Dragons game!

I'd love for you to pitch in any ideas you have for a familiars-themed bday party. Which one sounds like the most fun?

EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK

It's the UK cover of THE FAMILIARS.





We think this is pretty awesome! How about you?

Sneak Peek at the first four chapters of "The Familiars"

Hey Everybody! I know this is what you have been waiting for. It's the first four chapters of the book on the HarperCollins website. Browse inside and then let us know what you think. We're so glad to show you it two months in advance of the book hitting shelves.

Click here to read the first four chapters!

The Familiars Movie - Update

Back in April, we first told you about the Visual Development process taking place behind the scenes at Sony Animation for the film adaptation of The Familiars. This involved a team of artists creating the visual look of the film, from characters to locations to actual sequences from the book and screenplay. Since then, another artist has developed what is known in the animation world as a "beat board." These are a series of single drawings that each represent a scene of the movie. The drawings tell a complex story in a single picture and serve as a guide for the director to pitch the film to studio executives. We have also heard that the talent department at Sony Ani has begun their preliminary search for voice talent! Once you've read the book, we can't wait to get your opinion on which actors and actresses should voice our familiars. If all goes well in the coming weeks, we hope to be moving on to the next stage of development, known as "storyboarding." All is on pace for a fall 2013 release, which for a 3D animated film means The Familiars is on the fast track!