Book Trailer Premiere: Pirasaurs! by Josh Funk and Michael Slack

Happy Monday, Josh Funk! 

Good morning, Mr. Schu! 

Thank you for dropping by to finish my sentences and premiere the book trailer for Pirasaurs! I predict the song featured in the trailer will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. 

Before you watch Pirasaurs!’s book trailer, make sure to eat a healthy breakfast. And brush your teeth. In fact, you should brush your teeth before watching any book trailer.

Captain Rex and Bronto Beard are fierce and colorful characters. They each play an important role aboard the ship. Captain Rex keeps everyone in line, doing their duties (hee hee. I said duties). Bronto Beard is the ship’s lookout. Everyone else has an important role to play, too. Veolocimate helps navigate. Triceracook, unsurprisingly, is the ship’s cook. I’m not quite sure what the Parronadon is up to, though. Something’s fishy with that one.

I think Michael Slack’s illustrations are better than I could have ever dreamed (note that the idea for this story came in a dream). Michael Slack took the text and hoisted it to the next level. I mean, I like the words - but Michael’s genius additions truly make this story a perfect blend of art and text. I think kids are going to LOVE the characters that Michael created.

Explore Michael Slack's website. 

On August 30, Pirasaurs! will be celebrating its birthday. To celebrate, Scholastic, has arranged for me to time travel back 100 million years into the past and to the Caribbean Sea.*

*UPDATE: Apparently Scholastic lent their time machine to Little, Brown and Dan Santat has yet to give it back. Instead I will be visiting several indie bookstores across New England starting on August 30 (including An Unlikely Story, Porter Square Books, The Concord Bookshop, Blue Bunny Books & Toys, and more).

School libraries are great places to hang out. Not only are the librarians friendly, but there are usually comfy chairs, loads of books, and if you ask politely, you can usually get an adult to read you a story.

Also, if the light is just right, you might catch a glimpse of the Book Fairy. You do know about the Book Fairy, right?

Picture books are for everyone. A picture book is a complete story that can be read in ten minutes or less, but the best ones stay with you forever. Picture books are filled with a several dozen pages of glorious artwork created by the world’s finest artists. Some picture books might remind you of your childhood. Others might inspire future actions. And many might simply entertain.

But stories and pictures – those are two things that everyone can appreciate.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me about the strangest place I’ve ever given a book talk. That would be in line for souvenirs at Fenway Park. The man in front of me handed a Red Sox cap to the cashier when his daughter shouted, “I WANT MY HAT BACK!” You can guess what happened next. 

Thanks so much for letting me share the Pirasaurs! book trailer!

Thank you, Josh! 

Josh Funk writes silly stories and somehow tricks people into publishing them as picture books - such as the LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling), as well as the forthcoming picture books PIRASAURS! (Scholastic 8.30.16), DEAR DRAGON (Viking/Penguin 9.6.16), and more.

Josh is a board member of The Writers' Loft in Sherborn, MA and the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conferences.

Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes picture book manuscripts.

Find out more about Josh at www.joshfunkbooks.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, or hiding in the restricted section at the library.

Look for Pirasaurs! on August 30, 2016.