HCCB reveals ghostly new book from 'visionary' Jeffers

HarperCollins Children's Book has revealed There's a Ghost in This House, the new picture book from “visionary” creator Oliver Jeffers.

His “captivating” new title, which will publish across the globe on 14th September 2021 in a £20 gift hardback edition, follows a game of spooky hide-and-seek.

The publisher explained: “Jeffers regularly turns the expected into the unexpected. With There’s a Ghost in This House he brings a unique and disarmingly witty take on the traditional ghost book that will go far beyond Halloween.

"Oliver’s iconic style, featuring his characteristically bold hand-rendered text, has an inventive format that invites readers to find the ghosts hidden in the book. With every turn of the page, readers will delight in making ghosts appear and disappear with the translucent paper pages that overlay Jeffers’ incredible mixed-media illustrations.”

Jeffers said: "Nothing grasped my imagination more as a kid (in good and bad ways) than creepy old houses. They fascinated me, and the idea that ghosts might wander the halls enthralled and terrified me in equal measure; I’m the sort of person who can only watch a scary film at noon with all the lights in the house turned on, and from between my fingers. For years I have collected old furniture catalogues, and publications of grand old houses, all filled with photographs of empty rooms. So perhaps it was always inevitable that I would one day populate them with ghosts.

"It is also a well-known character trait of mine that I’m terrible at looking for things. I honestly was unable to locate the other end of a hose once, and there is something intriguing about the notion that sometimes you can want for something too much to ever be able to find it."

Jeffers has sold more than 14 million copies of his titles in 46 territories, according to the publisher, winning numerous awards. His Lost and Found was animated for film by studio aka and won a Bafta for Best Animation. In 2020, Here We Are was also made into an animated film for Apple TV, narrated by Meryl Streep.

Beyond making books for children, he has exhibited in museums and galleries across the globe, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Palais Auersperg in Vienna and the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York. In December 2020, he launched two major international installations, at the Rockefeller Center in New York, and Harrods, London.

Ann-Janine Murtagh, executive publisher at HarperCollins Children’s Books, said: “Oliver continues to push forward the art of the picture book, breaking boundaries between illustration and fine art. Oliver is a master of invention, bringing his breathtakingly bold and brilliantly wry wit to every page of this superbly original new book. We are immensely proud to publish Oliver Jeffers on the HarperCollins Children’s Books list.”