Boaz Has
a Face

For months, Boaz has only existed in two places — the pages of Book One, and my head.

That changed this week.

I opened the cover up to a design contest. Artists from all over answered it. Some were beautiful but weren't Boaz. A few got close enough that I sat with them for days, going back and forth, trying to work out what was missing.

It came down to four.

Wings out, ears back, grinning like he knows exactly what trouble he's about to get Steve into. And down on the trail below, small against all that swamp — Steve Massey, walking into Book One.

That's what the others missed. Boaz isn't a monster or a mascot. He's a friend. You can see it in his face. That's the whole book, right there on the front.

To the artist who drew him: thank you. You gave a story its face.

Thirteen books are coming. This is the first one, and now it looks like something you could hand a kid.