For the last two years, I’ve been working with the team at Epic Originals to help curate a line of short stories for the series Animal Rescue Friends. While the individual stories have been releasing digitally on the Epic app, it’s also been announced that the stories will be collected in a book!

Coming this fall, Animal Rescue Friends: Learning New Tricks is all about…

“The Animal Rescue Friends gang is back with ten sweet tales about their furry, feathered, and flying friends!

Join Bell, Maddie, Noah, and the rest of the Animal Rescue Friends as they learn to love an affectionate rat named Whiskers, find Sergio the tortoise a forever home that’s just his speed, fall for the antics of a chatty parrot with a familiar name, and more! Along the way, they make a few new friends and learn that everyone—even insects—can sometimes use a helping hand.”

Doesn’t that sound delightful?! That’s because it is! It features creators like Megan Kearney, Barbara Perez Marquez, Ellen Crenshaw, Shadia Amin, Gillian Goerz, Katie Longua, Brian McLachlan, and more! You can preorder a copy now to have it the moment it’s available!

ANIMAL RESCUE FRIENDS: LEARNING NEW TRICKS will be available on November 7, 2023.

PRE-ORDER NOW!

Hey everyone! My first release of 2023 is here. I’ve been working with Epic! Originals on a number of wonderful projects as a writer and editor. One of those projects was a new science series called Master Hamster Super Science. And I got to write about one of my fave things: DINOSAURS!!!!

The official synopsis is this: “Why don’t dinosaur fossils look like the real thing? Did they have fur, hair, or feathers? Master Hamster doesn’t know, but he’ll find out!”

Written By: Stephanie Cooke
Illustrated by: Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb
Colors by: Warren Wucinich

Master Hamster Super Science: Dinosaurs is AVAILABLE NOW on the Epic! app. Click through the gallery below for a sneak peak at what’s in store.

It’s been a while since I’ve got a chance to share big book news, so I’m excited to be able to share not one thing but three! You may or may not be familiar with Epic Originals. If you are, amazing! If not, it’s a wonderful digital platform aimed at young readers. It not only turns reading into a fun activity but incorporates an educational component for parents, teachers, and librarians. It helps to gauge reading comprehension and more…all with wonderfully delightful stories!

I’m genuinely such a big fan of everything they’re doing. Since early last year, I’ve been editing a spinoff to their series Animal Rescue Friends, curating short stories within that universe with all-new creators and characters. Those are starting to roll out now, with Rats Are Good Pets Too as the first to be released.

But on top of that, I’ve been working as a Staff Writer for Epic too! Myself, along with Matt Cody, Marcie Colleen, Paul Ritchey, Nick Murphy, Steven Scott, and Rana Bumbardatore, are the new writers on three books there:

AND A BRAND-NEW SERIES!!!

I am beyond excited to share more about these wonderful and delightful series as we get closer to their release dates. It’ll still be a little while before they’re out, but this has been a dream come true. I can’t wait to share what we’ve cooked up.

Stay tuned for more soon!

For over a year now, I’ve been working with Epic Originals to launch a line of short stories for Animal Rescue Friends. It’s a delightful series that revolves around a group of kids who volunteer at an animal rescue and learn all about what it takes, as well as the animals they look after.

And the first that I edited is here. It’s called Rats Are Good Pets Too by Katie Longua. The art is by Ellen T. Crenshaw with colours by Whitney Cogar.

“A rescued rodent might be more than Bell can handle! Can she overcome her fear and learn that rats deserve as much love as any other animal?”

SCRIPT: Katie Longua
ART: Ellen T. Crenshaw
COLOURS: Whitney Cogar
EDITS: Stephanie Cooke
PUBLISHER: Epic Originals

It’s such a wonderful story and if you the Epic app, it’s available to read right now. You can visit here to check it out.

More to come soon!