Toon Books, the publishing company that specializes in publishing innovative and highly creative graphic novels for young readers, has a major release coming out this fall that should truly appeal to comic book fans of all ages.  Little Nemo’s Big New Dreams, which is due out in September, uses more than 30 dreams created by cartoonist Winsor McCay in 1905 as a starting point for graphic ruminations by some of today’s very best comic creators, who both expand upon, and pay homage to McCay’s original visions.

Joshua O’Neill, Andrew Carl, and Chris Stevens who published the spectacular broadsheet-size edition of Little Nemo in Slumberland under their Locust Moon imprint, have provided the original McCay designs.  The “Who’s Who” of contemporary comic creators who riff on McCay’s original dreams includes Charles Vess, Yuko Shimizu, Mark Buckingham, Art Spiegelman, Peter Diamond, Roger Langridge, Paolo Rivera, Carla Speed McNeil, Cliff Chiang, Craig Thompson, David Mack, R. Sikoryak, Marc Hempel, J.G. Jones, and many others.

In-depth forewords by Francois Mouly and Art Spiegelman put McCay’s pioneering work in context, and make this a volume that will be as interesting for older comics fans as it is for younger readers.  Plus an index of contributors gives readers more information on the contemporary cartoonists involved in the project and provides further opportunities for those who want to learn more about McCay and the history of American comics.

Other Toon releases for the fall of 2015 include the October-shipping The Suspended Castle: A Philemon Adventure ($16.95), a classic European kids comic created in the 1960s by Fred (Frederic Othon Theodore Aristides) that will delight readers 8 and up with an imaginative and colorful tale set in a delightful fantasy world.

Toon Books has pioneered graphic novels for very young readers, and two fall 2015 releases follow in this tradition, Flop to the Top by Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing, a modern-day fable perfect for ages 5 and up, and Written and Drawn by Henrietta, a celebration of the creative process created by the Argentine cartoonist Liniers (Ricardo Siri Liniers) that is also designed to appeal to readers as young as 5.  In addition to the English language edition of Written and Drawn by Henrietta, Toon Books is also publishing a Spanish language version (Escrito y Dibujado por Enriqueta).