Author Archive | Kelly

I’m so excited to share the first glimpse of Sauerkraut with you!

Isn’t that cover amazing?!? You might recognize artist Paul Davey‘s work from comics, but I think this is his first book for kids. I can’t wait to see the rest of his illustrations for Sauerkraut!

Sauerkraut will be coming to bookstores across the country this fall, on September 10th, 2019. I can’t wait to hear what you think of HD, a young maker, who wants to build his own computer and show everyone what he can do. Trouble is, he meets the ghost of his great-great-grandmother, who needs his help with a different project…

Like the Unusual Chickens books, this is a funny novel for readers ages 8-12 (or anyone who loves middle grade novels!) about a kid with stuff to do, and how his family and community help out (and sometimes get in the way.) It’s not written in letters — but it does have some lists and plans… It doesn’t have chickens — but it does have two goats names Rodgers and Hammerstein… And readers can see what happens in illustrations throughout by Paul Davey.

Want to hear more about what’s coming next? Sign up here to hear more about HD’s story as we get closer to September!

— Kelly

PS Want to make sure you won’t miss it? You can preorder a signed copy here! Add a “Signed copy for [the person’s name]” note to the instructions box if you’d like it signed and personalized by me.

I’m so pleased to share the amazing cover that Katie Kath and Knopf Books For Young Readers created for the sequel to Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer!

Get ready for Sophie’s next adventures with even more magical chickens!

ARE YOU READY TO HATCH AN UNUSUAL CHICKEN? (UNUSUAL CHICKENS #2)
written by Kelly Jones, illustrated by Katie Kath
coming to bookstores on November 6, 2018!
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Preorder a signed copy!
(Just add a note in the instructions box requesting it be signed by author Kelly Jones when you place your preorder.)

Excited to read my second novel, Murder, Magic, and What We Wore, out today from Knopf Books for Young Readers?

You can order a signed hardback copy from the legendary Secret Garden Bookshop, who will be helping me celebrate its launch on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 7 pm!

Just add a note in the instructions box when you order saying you’d like it signed, and if you’d like it personalized for a library, a classroom, or someone special.

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Excited to read my second novel, Murder, Magic, and What We Wore, coming September 19th from Knopf Books for Young Readers?

Now you can preorder a signed hardback copy from the legendary Secret Garden Bookshop, who will be helping me celebrate its launch on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 7 pm!

Just add a note in the instructions box when you order saying you’d like it signed, and if you’d like it personalized for a library, a classroom, or someone special.

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My chickens aren’t easy to photograph — they are very suspicious of anything new, and they don’t like the look of my camera or phone. But here’s a very short video from last fall, of my chicken Ada.

Click to see a very short video of Ada pecking at an apple on a tree in my backyard.

Note: the apples have socks on them to protect them from apple maggots. The maggots can’t get through the socks to reach the apples. But Ada learned how to pull them off… Ada is a very smart chicken, although she doesn’t always do what she’s supposed to!

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So there’s a real live publisher web page for my second novel, Murder, Magic, and What We Wore…

And a Goodreads page…

And an Indiebound page…

This is starting to feel exhilaratingly, terrifyingly real!!

*takes a deep breath*

My second novel, Murder, Magic, and What We Wore, will be coming out September 19, 2017 (*not panicking at all, nope, not me*) from Knopf Books for Young Readers.

If you’re excited as I am, ask your independent bookstore when they’re taking preorders for Fall publications, and maybe take a day off or so to enjoy it…

I plan to!

I’m so pleased to share the gorgeous cover of MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE with you!

The artwork is by the amazing Sarah Watts, who really brought the spirit of this story to life.

MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE will be published September 19, 2017 from Knopf Books for Young Readers.

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Unnamed sources have informed me that my second book, now titled MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE, is currently making its way to the very first reviewers. (My spies are everywhere!)

So, a little more about the book, and how it came to be…

MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE began more than ten years ago as a book I called GLAMOUR, and it came from my great love of novels set in Regency England, and my inability to write anything without magic. It wasn’t the first novel I ever wrote — it was the second. I spent years and years working on it, and held my breath, and submitted it… And it didn’t work for anyone. It didn’t go anywhere.

So, I set it aside. I flailed around, wondering if I was really a writer at all. While I flailed, I wrote a bunch more books. (Lesson learned: keep writing, even if you’re not sure why.) I taught myself how to tell a story. And I wrote a very odd book that I loved, and I sent it out into the world… and it became my first published novel, UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER.

And then my awesome editor asked me what else I was thinking about, and I confessed I still had a story I couldn’t get out of my mind…

Trouble was, I knew those early versions really were a disaster. So, I took a deep breath, left the originals in the drawer, and rewrote the story from scratch, without looking at them. (Note to writers: in my experience, this is not easier or quicker than writing a new book.)

This time, I really thought about what happened during the years when King George III was deemed unfit to rule (due to mental illness) and England was instead ruled by his son, the Prince Regent. Technology was changing daily life, countries were at war, and class divisions ran deep. I looked at what was happening in other parts of the world, and at some of the astonishing real people who lived then. And my story grew, and changed.

Sixteen-year-old Annis Whitworth is a very different fish out of water than Sophie Brown, and the world of historic fashion and spies is vastly different than modern farming. But I hope you may see some similarities in the ways both girls step forward to do what they know is right, however much it scares them — hopefully giving you a laugh or two along the way.

MURDER, MAGIC, AND WHAT WE WORE, for readers age 12+, will be coming out from Knopf Books for Young Readers on September 19, 2017!

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I’m ecstatically pleased to announce that my second book will be coming out in June of 2017 from Knopf Books for Young Readers!

The new title is: How to Sew a Glamour — or — Murder, Magic, and What We Wore

It’s about sixteen-year old Miss Annis Whitworth, who has a talent for sewing glamours: magical garments that can disguise anyone who wears them completely. When her father dies under suspicious circumstances, she decides she’d much rather become a spy like he was than a governess. Unfortunately, the other spies don’t quite see things her way — at least, not yet.

It’s set in 1818 in England, during the Regency period, and may best suit readers age ten and up. And no, there isn’t a single chicken in it — but there is some fun magic, some parts that I think are awfully funny, and a few letters here and there (including messages in code!)

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Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, written by me and illustrated by Katie Kath, will be coming out in paperback from Yearling Books on Tuesday, March 8, 2016!

Not that Henrietta is impressed or anything. (Hilarious Henrietta commentary by the awesome Katie Kath, as always!)

You can order it through Third Place Books near me, so I can sign it for you (just add a note requesting it be signed by author Kelly Jones when you place your order), or find it at your local independent bookstore!