With the support of the publisher, Shelf Awareness celebrates the newly developed Stonefruit Studio, an imprint dedicated to developing “stories that refuse to be eaten politely.”

Ben Rosenthal

Ben Rosenthal and Mabel Hsu are co-editorial directors of Stonefruit Studio, an imprint of Sourcebooks.

Mabel Hsu: Ben! What should we tell folks about our new imprint?  

Ben Rosenthal: How about why we’re doing this?

Hsu: Why are we doing this? [Existential]

Rosenthal: We want a place where storytellers have the freedom to take risks and push boundaries—a studio for artists to feel at home. We want it to be fun.

Hsu: Wow, yes! The fun is a big part of it. It’s an important guiding light for us.

This imprint has been a chance to start fresh, set our priorities, and bring a playfulness to our publishing approach. And it has been fun!

Mabel Hsu

Rosenthal: I’ve loved experimenting with the types of books and formats we’re publishing.

Hsu: We’ve been lucky to have such brilliant creators join our imprint! Lots of new ideas and exciting projects from debut and award-winning authors.

What do you think readers can expect from our list?

Rosenthal: It goes back to our imprint name: Stonefruit Studio. Books kids can devour. That taste delicious. Books for every reader.

Hsu: Say the tagline.

Rosenthal: Stories that refuse to be eaten politely.

Hsu: Nice.

You forgot to say we’ll be doing books across all genres and age ranges: board books, picture books, middle-grade, graphic novels, YA novels, and even new adult.

Rosenthal: We really need a different term for new adult.

Hsu: For the aspiring adult.

Adults in a transitional period.

Adults still on their parent’s healthcare plan?

Rosenthal: There you go.

For all the young readers and adults still on someone else’s healthcare plan, we’ve got an incredible slate of books coming up this summer. So please

Hsu: —please—

Rosenthal: Enjoy this peek at our first list!  

Associate Creative Director Erin Fitzsimmons on designing the Stonefruit Studio logo:

Design began with the imprint name itself. I was inspired by the incredible variety of stone fruits—peaches, olives, raspberries, plums, lychees—each with its own textures and colors. That diversity felt like the perfect metaphor for an imprint committed to bold, innovative storytelling and fresh new voices. In my research, I explored fruit shapes and terrazzo patterns, which offered a playful double meaning: fruit fragments that also resemble stones.

The greatest design challenge was striking the right balance between youthful freshness and graphic sophistication so the logo could flex across all ages: from board books to YA and graphic novels. The dual-slice structure also echoes the partnership at the heart of the imprint, a visual nod to Mabel and Ben’s shared creative vision. My hope is that our authors and illustrators feel happy, inspired, and emboldened when they see it—a symbol of a creative team dedicated to supporting bold ideas and taking chances together!

Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly is a two-time Newbery Medalist, National Book Award Finalist, and Newbery Honoree. Kelly has an MFA from Rosemont College and is on the faculty of the Hamline University MFA program in writing for children and young adults. She lives in Delaware. Eliot Schrefer has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, received the Stonewall Honor for best LGBTQIA+ teen book, and received the Printz Honor for best young adult book from the ALA. He has an M.A. in Animal Studies from New York University, is on the faculty of the Hamline MFA for writing for young people, and lives with his husband in New York City. Here, Kelly and Schrefer discuss their first collaboration, Fatal Glitch: Camp Zero, available July 21.

Eliot Schrefer: Erin! You’re one of my favorite humans and favorite writers, and co-authoring this new series with you has been a total career highlight. Want to tell readers what Fatal Glitch is all about?

Erin Entrada Kelly: I’ve been pitching it as “technology horror.” Goosebumps meets Black Mirror. Fast-paced standalone stories about tech gone awry. It’s a series for young readers who want dark and eerie plot lines with unexpected endings.

When I was a kid, I would have devoured Fatal Glitch. What about you? Did you have a high threshold for scary things when you were younger?

Eliot Schrefer

Schrefer: Yes and no. I was fascinated by scary material but also got uncomfortable if it went too far. (Exhibit A: little Eliot loving the first 10 minutes of Aliens then covering his eyes for the rest of the movie.) This is something you and I have been keeping in mind as we’ve worked on this series: how to provide catharsis for the anxieties kids have, while maintaining good bumper lanes so “scary” doesn’t tip over into “terrifying.”

One of our other priorities has been to have the books in the series be short and addictive, so that even hesitant readers can experience the joy of starting and finishing a book. Has the process of writing in this shorter form led you to any discoveries?

Kelly: Fatal Glitch has forced me to think about pacing in a different way. I’m much more focused on how to keep the story moving at a faster pace as compared to the traditional coming of age stories I’m known for.

Schrefer: I’ve found that horror is a great match for short-form storytelling. So much of getting scared is your brain wondering what’s really going on, and that’s all about brevity. In Camp Zero, we have kids who are snatched away from their summer camp by mechanical vultures without elaboration or explanation. I think I was biased by those giant Stephen King tomes I devoured as a teenager; I assumed that the scariness came in the elaboration, but it might be the opposite.

I’m sure readers will be wondering who’s responsible for what parts of the series. Are there any trademark Erin Entrada Kelly flourishes you can tip them off to?

Kelly: It’s interesting you mention King because all the stories I wrote as a teenager were King knockoffs. King’s greatest gift as a storyteller is his characters. That’s why his books are so frightening. When you’re invested in a character, the stakes are even higher.

I think that's what I’m known for, too—writing textured characters. Not that I’m comparing myself to Stephen King, mind you. But that’s what comes most naturally to me as opposed to, say, worldbuilding.

Schrefer: Well, I’d compare you to Stephen King, so there. Now, let’s go scare a bunch of kids!

J. A. Morgenstein

J. A. Morgenstein has been a competitive ballroom dancer and instructor for much of his adult life. His debut, The League of Dangerous Young Ladies, will be available June 2. When not being bossed around by his pets, Morgenstein enjoys dancing, watching British mysteries, and convincing himself that he can still eat the same things that he did when he was 21.

Ben Rosenthal: Tell us a little bit about your book, The League of Dangerous Young Ladies.

J. A. Morgenstein: Basically, it takes the most famous villains of Victorian literature...and tells the story of their daughters. It’s full of action and adventure, as well as mystery, romance, and lots of humor; kind of like Enola Holmes meets Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. I think of it like a fun blockbuster movie for the entire family.

Rosenthal: What makes you choose that comparison?

Morgenstein: When I first developed this story, I would watch it in my head, scene by scene, like a movie. So, my first draft was essentially a screenplay in manuscript format. While the plot and characters grew with every edit, I realized that this cinematic quality was fundamental to the way I like to write.

I naturally tend toward shorter, fast-paced chapters. I love coming up with plot twists and cliffhangers. Most of all, I love writing dialogue, getting to have my characters banter and tease and flirt.

Rosenthal: Tell us a little about your characters.

Morgenstein: There’s Rose Moriarty, daughter of Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis. She's trying to save the world while struggling with loss. There’s Sefina Moreau. Her father’s cruel experiments have left her with incredible powers and a rage which threatens to consume her. And then there’s Clara, whose joyful ridiculousness contradicts the fact that she’s actually...well, that’s all I can really say here.

Rosenthal: What inspired you to write this book?

Morgenstein: I’ve spent most of my adult life as a ballroom dancer, but during the Covid-19 lockdown, the dance world came to a halt. A friend inspired me to use that time to write, and this started me down the path to The League of Dangerous Young Ladies.

Rosenthal: What has it been like going from dancing to writing?

Morgenstein: The biggest challenge was figuring out a way to make both artforms work together. Then I visited Books on the Square in Providence, R.I., where manager Jennifer Kandarian suggested I use dancing to help promote the book.

Whenever I visit a new bookstore, I’m going to find a volunteer from the staff and teach them to dance...but we only get five minutes. Then we film the results. We’ll call it “Dancing with the Stores.” The goal is to promote local bookstores along with the message that everyone can learn to dance. This idea helped me to go from being nervous about promoting my book to being excited about it.

Rosenthal: What are your hopes for this book?

Morgenstein: Obviously, I’d love for it to do well enough that I can keep telling the story of these dangerous young ladies. Beyond that, I hope my more-cinematic style can help reach reluctant readers and teens who prefer their phones to books. I want to show them that the right story can be just as entertaining as anything they might find on social media.

Matthew Burgess

Matthew Burgess is a poet, educator, and the author of many picture books, including The Bear and The Moon, Words with Wings & Magic Things, and Fireworks. Burgess taught poetry programs in New York City public schools for more than 20 years and is now a professor of literature and creative writing at Brooklyn College. Burgess lives in Brooklyn and Berlin.

Matthew Forsythe is the author and illustrator of Pokko and the Drum, Mina, and Aggie and the Ghost. He was lead designer on Adventure Time and has worked on several other animated projects. He lives in Los Angeles.

Their picture book collaboration, If the Moon, goes on sale August 4.

Matthew Burgess: As a writer yourself, what draws you to illustrating other people’s picture book texts? How is the process different?

Matthew Forsythe: This project in particular was exciting for me because I treated it like a series of painting prompts. Painting is meditative for me, and your vignettes were so immediately evocative of worlds I wanted to paint. When I saw your poem, I felt like I could see most of the book right away. I knew I would enjoy painting all these little worlds, and I did. 

Matthew Forsythe

I think also that illustration—when it’s working best—is a form of writing. So, I tried when I could to illustrate a second or B-narrative that hovered over your A-story. Floating above it, weaving in and out of it. Hopefully gently pushing and pulling against your words in an evocative way. 

Burgess: Absolutely. When I first sent you the poem, I imagined our collaboration would play out in this way. Do you remember a bedtime book from your own childhood that left an impression on you?

Forsythe: I think there are some obvious nods to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, and to Winsor McKay and his Little Nemo comics, which I loved when I was younger. For me, this book is all about that liminal adventure we go on between waking and sleeping. And I think all three of those works describe that time. What were some of your inspirations? 

Burgess: Well, the poem was written in response to your invitation. I had written to you about Mina, a book I love, and during the conversation, you invited me to send you something. I remember taking a screenshot of one of your paintings—a fragment of a boy holding a wand above a dragon-scribe character wearing wire-rim glasses—and I carried it around with me as the wallpaper on my phone. The first draft of If the Moon emerged shortly thereafter.

Forsythe: Would you say the story comes from your own childhood experience?

Burgess: When I was a kid, I would become swarmed with fears while lying in bed in the dark. So, I think of this picture book as a kind of antidote to the dreaded “what-ifs,” and your paintings demonstrate this so beautifully. “If” can lead us down a dark path, but with a bit of effort and imagination, we can harness the power of our wondering in a dreamier, more poetic direction.

Princess Pony Says Nay by Jordan Morris, illus. by Charlie Mylie ($18.99, hardcover, September 1, 2026)

Does Princess Pony want...Fancy food? NAY. A sparkling gown? NAY. A big parade? NAY NAY NAY. In a kingdom of horses, in a land far away, Princess Pony’s coronation is a grand, special day! Now King High Horse’s plans can get carried away, so he might be surprised when the princess says—“NAY!” A hilarious picture book and charming read-aloud about a child’s desire for quality play time with her dad over any royal horsey delights.

Firstborn by M.J. Hastings ($19.99, hardcover, September 1, 2026)

This first title in a dystopian fantasy trilogy was acquired in a competitive, multi-house auction. Government surveillance, family separation, a forced birthing program, epic battles of tactical magic, and fear-mongering war propaganda all reign large in this saga that combines awe-inspiring fantasy with power struggles of the modern world. Readers should prepare for brilliant world-building, romance, and shocking plot twists.

Words That Go Ooo; Words That Go Eee; Words That Go Ahh by Jess Hannigan ($12.99, board book, October 6, 2026)

The Words That Go board book series introduces sound and visual concept connections through hilarious illustrations in a punchy and design-forward package by author/illustrator Jess Hannigan. Even the littlest learners will “read” as they sound out each rhyming word and giggle over the accompanying illustrations in these one-of-a-kind board books.

This Is a Door by Daniel Nayeri ($19.99, hardcover, October 27, 2026)

A groundbreaking hero’s journey from National Book Award and Newbery Honor winner Daniel Nayeri! A young boy, a mouse, and a dog set out to find their purpose in this fairy tale adventure told in an innovative visual format that offers a one-of-a-kind reading experience. The text on each page snakes, climbs, jumps, and explodes into shapes and forms that unravel the story, creating an artistic and inventive package that is a wonder to behold.

To learn more about Stonefruit Studio’s upcoming front list, click here.