You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Magic Cat to publish Jonathan Drori's first children's book
Magic Cat is set to publish Jonathan Drori’s first children’s book. The Independent Publisher of the Year will publish The Stuff that Stuff is Made of: Plants, by the prize-winning author, educator and science communicator.
The new book tells the stories of the surprising everyday "stuff" that is made from plants, "unravelling the ways that humans and plants have transformed each other through history".
Magic Cat co-founder and publisher Rachel Williams acquired the world rights to the book from Ciara Finan at Curtis Brown.
The book has been written for a reader 8 years and up, and features 30 different plants, and will be illustrated by Filipino artist Raxenne Maniquiz. Publication is set for autumn 2025.
Drori’s previous adult titles, Around the World in 80 Trees and Around the World in 80 Plants have been published in 21 languages, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year.
Drori said: "Every time I think about it, this new and special privilege of writing for children makes me shiver... twice. First with anxiety, at the monumentally high standard that Magic Cat expect. And second, with delight. To have the opportunity to inspire a journey of discovery about the plants we depend on—that’s thrilling."
Williams added: "Every young person should have the opportunity to understand how their t-shirt was made from a cotton plant; that chocolate begins as a ‘bean’ and that huge structures can be built of bamboo. Jon makes the everyday world a dazzling place with his beautifully-crafted stories that blend history, technology and science."
