Piccadilly Press bags ‘hilarious’ middle-grade debut from Jones

In a two-book deal, Piccadilly Press has acquired Andy Jones’ debut middle-grade comedy Bob vs. The Selfie Zombies, to be published in February 2023.

In her first acquisition for the press, senior commissioning editor Ruth Bennett acquired world and audio rights for two books from Mark Stanton at the North Literary Agency. 

Bob vs. The Selfie Zombies sees a rock band and a genius inventor go head to head at a school talent show, only for zombies and time travel to threaten the world. 

Bennett said: “We’re delighted to be publishing Andy Jones’ Bob vs. The Selfie Zombies, launching him as a major new talent in funny middle-grade fiction. Bob bounces into the future and back again, but he has bounced into my heart to stay. As my first acquisition for the Piccadilly Press list, this book aligns perfectly with our plans to publish fantastic stories that children will be begging to read, filled with friendship, fantasy and a whole lot of fun.” 

Jones is also the author of children’s creative-writing guide Unleash Your Creative Monster (Walker Books). 

He said: “Bob vs.The Selfie Zombies started as a character sketch written in the back of a notebook over 15 years ago. It lay there, not entirely forgotten, until my two daughters graduated from picture books to ‘proper stories’ and I decided to write something for them. I started with a list of the things I found most interesting as a child (and, truth be told, still get a huge kick out of as an adult). The first two items on the list were time travel and zombies. I didn’t get to number three! I’m so grateful to my agent Mark Stanton for his support, and to Ruth for seeing the potential in our story and bringing Bob (and the zombies) to life.”