Ninja Kitties Insight

The new children's illustrated chapter book, Ninja Kitties, has recently released, and now I'd like to take a moment to talk a little more about the project. For those of you who have finished the Velcro the Ninja Kat series, you'll already know from the series' final scene that I was setting this story up well before Velcro even ended, as that's where these characters were first introduced. I had the initial concept ready at that time, and I had put together an outline for their spin-off story, though it wouldn't be until last year that I was finally able to sit down and write the story out in full.

Focusing on a younger cast of characters, I wanted to similarly write a story that felt more age appropriate for our cast, so it was written with a younger audience in mind as compared to the main Ninja Kat books. It was certainly fun returning to this world with that mentality, and these characters were definitely a blast to write. As with the original books, the characters are based on real life animals, pets that we had acquired in the years since Velcro's passing, and the book aims to capture their unique personalities and bring them to life in this world.

I also collaborated with Christine Celenski for the artwork again, who returns after having previously done the original cover art for Polluted War, The Egg Hunters, and Kip. I gave her the manuscript and worked with her on character designs, but outside of that, I really wanted to give her free reign to do her thing, and to not be as much of a dictator as I can sometimes be in these collaborative works. I was very pleased with the end result. I definitely feel her art helps really makes these characters pop off the page, and I hope that readers will be just as pleased as I am.

Early readers have all enjoyed this little adventure so far, and I hope your little ones will similarly find joy in it as well. I like to think it has a genuine heart and a positive message, in addition to fun characters for the family to enjoy. Pick up a copy of Ninja Kitties for your family today!