The Lost Hero cover unveiled!

This morning, Entertainment Weekly provided an exclusive sneak peek at the cover for The Lost Hero! The book will launch my new series The Heroes of Olympus on October 12, and I have to say this cover may be my favorite yet by master illustrator John Rocco. The EW article also provided the secret password (newhero) to unlock the first two chapters of the book on the Heroes of Olympus site.

I hope you enjoy the sneak peek! Heroes of Olympus will be a five-book series. It is set in Percy Jackson’s world, and Percy has an important role to play in the series. At different points in the series, you will get to catch up with most of the characters from the first series, but The Lost Hero also features a new cast of main characters, so I’m being careful not to call it a “Percy Jackson series.” It’s a little bit more than that. I’m also not calling it a “Camp Half-Blood series,” because it’s a little bit more than that, too . . . Ah, but that’s as much as I can say for now. When the book comes out in October, you’ll see what I mean.

Meanwhile in the world of the Kane family, The Red Pyramid is still going strong! In its sixth week on the New York Times bestseller list, it is the #1 children’s hardcover in the country. Thanks to all of you who have read and enjoyed the adventures of Carter and Sadie, and don’t worry, I’m working on the second volume of The Kane Chronicles right now. If all goes as planned, it will be out May 2011. I’m doing my best to produce a Heroes of Olympus book every fall and a Kane Chronicles book every spring for the next few years so you guys don’t have to wait any longer than necessary. That’s twice as fast as I usually write, so wish me luck – and yes, I am crazy. Thanks for asking!

The Red Pyramid got a nice review today in The Washington Post. It will also be the Washington Post’s first selection for their kids’ summer reading program. Hope you all enjoy the book. D.C. plays an important role in the book, as you may know! And if you missed it, The Red Pyramid was recently reviewed in the New York Times.

And in the world of The 39 Clues, I’m so excited that the final book, Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix, will be released August 31. It’s hard to believe almost two years have passed since I started the series with The Maze of Bones. It’s even harder to believe the team of authors has written ten great books in such a short time! If you’re sad to see the series end, don’t worry. Scholastic is planning to publish The Black Book of Secrets in October, with a behind-the-scenes look at everything Cahill. I wrote the introduction (well, it’s kind of a fun little story, actually) and had a blast doing it. I think you’ll really enjoy the surprises in store.

If I’m not blogging very much this summer, it’s because I’m furiously working on The Kane Chronicles, book 2, but I’ll keep you updated as more news comes in. The next tour, for Heroes of Olympus, will happen in October, and as soon as I have details on that, I’ll post them!