Papercutz is expanding its original graphic novel program for tweens with two releases planned for Fall 2015. 

The Red Shoes and Other Tales is by Metaphrog, which Papercutz VP-Marketing Sven Larsen described as “…a Scottish creative team probably best known for their Louis graphic novels, which have been nominated for an Eisner in the past (see “2011 Eisner Award Nominees”) and for a YALSA [Great Graphic Novels for Teens] award.” 

“The Red Shoes and Other Tales are three different stories, two of which are adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales The Red Shoes and The Little Matchstick Girl, and the third is an original story from that team called The Glass Case,” Larsen said.  “That is going to be a hardcover quarter-bound book coming out in Fall, I believe in November.”

Scarlett, another Fall 2015 title, is by John Buller and Susan Schade, who’s the co-writer.  Like their Fog Mound Trilogy for Simon and Schuster, Scarlett will be a hybrid title, a mix of sequential art and illustrated prose.  “It’s really fun,” Larsen said. “It’s the adventures of a talking cat who’s a movie star and gets overwhelmed by fame and goes on the run.”

The Red Shoes and Other Tales and Scarlett will be the second and third releases in the new Papercutz OGN line; Lunch Witch, due out in March, will be the first (see “Papercutz Announces More Releases”).    Formats will not be the typical Papercutz (roughly) 6” x 9” trim size.  “It’s going to be more like what we’ve done with Ariol, which is a little bit different,” Papercutz publisher Terry Nantier said of Lunch Witch.  “It’s going to have the flaps and will be a little more square.”

Page counts will vary.  Scarlett will be formatted closer to Lunch Witch, with 128 pages, while The Red Shoes and Other Tales will be 64 pages. 

“This is a fun, new element for Papercutz now; we’re going to do author-based properties,” Nantier said of the new program.  “[Lunch Witch] looks very promising. [Papercutz book trade distributor] Macmillan was very excited when we presented this to them….  It’s really quite funny and has a great sense of humor.  It has a style that’s reminiscent of Gorey. I think we’ve got a look here and a story that’s a winner.”