Cover Reveal with Lisa Katzenberger

To celebrate the cover reveal of Lisa Katzenberger’s new picture book, National Regular Average Ordinary Day, we sat down with Lisa to find out more about her latest triumph.

First, tell us about your book! 

In NATIONAL REGULAR AVERAGE ORDINARY DAY, Peter loves holidays: National Waffle Day, National Bow Tie Day, even National Underwear Day. But when he wakes up one morning, he looks at the calendar only to discover there’s no special occasion that day. So Peter comes up with a plan: He’ll create his own holiday! However, he soon learns that’s easier said than done. Nothing seems to go right—until he realizes that even a regular, average, ordinary day can be something worth celebrating.

What is your connection to The Writing Barn? 

I attended the picture book writing intensive in 2017 and instantly fell in love with The Writing Barn’s warmth and magic. I had an amazing weekend filled with writing, joy, and new friends. Then I attended the Barn’s Picture Book II online class and another PB writing intensive in 2018. At that intensive, I dug through some of my older manuscripts and freshened up one that I had always loved. Good news about that story coming soon!

When and how did you see the cover? Did you see initial sketches or designs, or just the final version? 

I didn’t see the cover for NATIONAL REGULAR AVERAGE ORDINARY DAY until it was final. So, I reached out to my editor to see where things were in the production schedule and what milestones (final cover, pre-order available) I could start to plan marketing around. I was very pleased to hear that the cover was almost complete! Then a couple weeks later the final image popped into my email. 

Time for props to the team behind the cover! 

The illustrator is Barbara Bakos, the art design team consists of Lynn Portnoff, Kayla Wasil, and Taylor Abatiell, and my amazing editor is Renee Hooker. I am so happy and grateful for the entire team at Penguin Workshop for the love and care they’ve given my little story.

Where can readers pre-order your book? 

It’s available for pre-order now at IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Penguin. You can even request it from your local library with ISBN 9781524792404.

Where can we follow you online? 

Twitter: @FictionCity
Instagram: @lisakatz17
Website: www.lisakatzenberger.com
Perfect2020PBs Debut Group: https://perfect2020pbs.weebly.com/

As the youngest of eight siblings, Lisa Katzenberger has been making up stories to entertain herself since she was a child. She loves to write books that make children laugh, escape, and dream.

Lisa lives near Chicago with her family in a 100-year old Victorian house with sloping hardwood floors and the tiniest bathroom you’ve ever seen. When she’s not writing or taking care of her kids, she spends way too much time on twitter as @FictionCity.