In the wickedly funny tradition of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl, this fast-paced, illustrated middle grade trilogy introduces Cole and Willow—daring twins racing to find their missing parents while fleeing all kinds of unpleasant, mostly awful grownups on their trail.
MOSTLY AWFUL GROWNUPS
written by River Clegg
illustrated by Lúthien Leerghast
Stonefruit Studio, September 2027
(via Writers House)
Twin siblings Cole and Willow are smart, kind, and brave. But they are not safe.
When they return home to a door left ajar, the house ransacked, and their parents missing, the twins are suddenly pulled into a fast-moving mystery involving a shadowy organization called the Keepers.
Cole and Willow must face uncountable obstacles in their journey—a woefully incompetent newspaper, adults who cannot identify alpacas, a malicious (and hungry) piranha named Reginald, and worst of all, the chilling question: did they ever really know their parents?
No one is who they say they are. No one is to be trusted. The two will need their wits, their courage, and perhaps a few unlikely allies. After all, every good mystery needs someone clever enough to solve it. Might that someone be you?
River Clegg has written for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Opposition with Jordan Klepper. He writes humor for outlets including The New Yorker, The Onion, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He has won a Peabody and a Writers Guild of America Award and been nominated for three Emmys. MOSTLY AWFUL GROWN-UPS is his first novel. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.
August Levy and Reed Horowitz have always done everything together. Neighbors born a month apart, they were destined to be best friends, and they’ve been by each other’s sides through childhood scrapes, awkward preteen years, and high school drama, even while they’ve dated other people. It’s ridiculous, really, that their friends think they’re secretly pining for each other—they’re mature. Evolved. They’d never let themselves be that cliché. Now it’s senior year, and there’s one major milestone they’re hoping to hit before they start college: have sex for the first time. Their school spring break trip to Europe provides the perfect opportunity, with no parents, considerable freedom, and the fact that both their crushes will be there. There’s just one tiny snag: August has already lost her virginity, something she’s been keeping from Reed for reasons she can’t quite admit to herself.