In this all-new adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders series, Peter Lerangis, four kids discover an alien artifact in Central Park that turns them into animals. The clock is ticking for them to find a cure—before the park’s predators find them first!

BEASTIES #1
by Peter Lerangis
HarperCollins, April 2025
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

On a field trip to Central Park, Riley and his classmates accidentally encounter a supernatural artifact that looks a lot like, well, honestly… a piece of poop. But one of them gets too close, there’s a blinding flash and suddenly the five friends are turned into various critters. Riley’s sister’s a hawk, the school bully’s a raccoon, and Riley? He’s transformed into everyone’s least favorite animal, a New York City rat.

Their once-dull morning quickly turns into a fight for survival. The kids have stay alive long enough find a way to turn themselves back to normal. But as it turns out, they’re not the only humans-turned-into-animals on the loose in Central Park…

As it turns out, Riley and his friends have accidentally thrust themselves into the center of a dangerous Manhattan-wide plot. And now they must use all their animal abilities to stop the bad guys, find the cure, and get back home without, you know, getting eaten on the way. It’s a wild adventure of a lifetime—because if they fail, these beasties will stay beasts forever.

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than one hundred and seventy books, which have sold more than six-and-a-half million copies and been translated into thirty-five different languages. These include the five books in the New York Times bestselling Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises, Lost in Babylon, The Tomb of Shadows, The Curse of the King, and The Legend of the Rift; two books in the 39 Clues series; and the Max Tilt and Throwback trilogies. He lives in New York City with his family.