Cover Reveal for Lauren Magaziner's Pilfer Academy: A School So Bad It’s Criminal

I am excited to share the cover for Lauren Magaziner's Pilfer Academy: A School So Bad It's Criminal. I think young readers will be drawn to illustrator Andrew Bannecker's funny details. 

Confession: I have never stolen anything in my life.

Okay, that’s not actually a crazy confession to make, but it seems like it when I’m coming out with a book about a school for thieves.

I started writing Pilfer Academy: A School So Bad It’s Criminal in 2013, and I must have had a case of the sillies because I ended up with a book that has:

-an ice cream truck kidnapping

-classes where you learn 15 uses for a toilet plunger

-Dean Dean Deanbugle (a dean whose first name is Dean and whose last name is Deanbugle)

-and my personal favorite: Triple-diple Ultra-deluxe Melty Creamy Creamer Rainbow Swizzle Milk Munch ice cream, the best ice cream in the world.

I always wondered—would a cover ever be able to capture the book's humorous tone? The answer to that is YES! Today, I’m delighted to shout from the rooftops how much I love this cover! Artist Andrew Bannecker's playful art has completely stolen my heart!

But hey! you’re probably thinking. Show don’t tell. And so without further ado:

On sale date: February 16, 2016, Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House

And here's the book's flap copy:

Fans of Escape From Mr. Lemencello’s Library and Roald Dahl will gobble up this hilarious story about a secret boarding school for thieves-in-training!

Troublemaking George has never heard of Pilfer Academy, a top-secret school for cultivating young crooks, until he's kidnapped as its newest student. The teachers are kooky at best, and naughty does not even begin to describe his sneaky, smart, and morally bankrupt new classmates. Between disguise classes, cracking safes, and DIY gadgets, George becomes an expert bandit and finds true friendship with Tabitha, his new partner-in-crime. But everything is ruined when George comes to a shocking realization: He is just too good-hearted to be a thief! 

Unfortunately, not thieving is not an option at Pilfer Academy, and "misbehaving" students face Dean Deanbugle's favorite punishment—the Whirlyblerg! In order to gain their freedom, George and Tabitha must pull the biggest heist the school has ever seen and reveal their true colors not as thieves, but as kind (and, okay, mischievous) kids.