Meet Edgar

Friends!

I'm excited to introduce Edgar, the star of my debut picture book, Pay Attention To Me. Isn't he cute?

Illustrator Rob Justus did SUCH a great job bringing him to life, especially since my biggest art note to him of "I really want a big, dumb, happy cat." Do you know what Edgar wants? To be famous so his people won't leave and go to things like "soccer practice" and "work." Edgar takes the stage on May 5th, 2026, published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, and you can preorder him today!

But even more exciting is that Kirkus, who is widely known as being the toughest industry book reviewers gave Edgar a thumbs up! They said:

You can read the whole review here. Getting a good trade review meant so much to me, especially from Kirkus, and especially since libraries and schools use reviews to help decide what to purchase. Reviewers have been very kind to me about both of my books, even on Goodreads, so I do feel very lucky, but it's still nice to get validation from your industry peers.

You might remember hearing about my picture book journey from this post about the real and actual query letter I wrote for this book and in detail in Write Through It. But longtime readers might remember that way back in 2022 I shared the whole text for my picture book that didn't sell, because at that time this hadn't! And at that time, it was a completely different book. When my brilliant editor Jenne Abramowitz got her hands on it, she said to me why don't you write this from the point of view of the cat and I did! So, I'm not worried about sharing the whole text of a book that was wholly rewritten, and when the actual book comes out, it's going to be very interesting to see just how much it changed.

Picture books are strange animals and I know writers have a LOT of questions about them. Let me know in the comments what you'd like to know and I'll add it to the editorial calendar here. I'm planning a bunch of special things to promote Edgar and the book (including a picture book AMA zoom) so stay tuned. And if you want me to come read to your school, library, or story time, email me! kate at katemckean dot com. Does your bookstore have a bookstore cat? Let me know and I'll send them a book!

Thanks for letting me do a little promo here. See, this is just the kind of book promo thing you can do for your book. Every day's a hustle; everything's a lesson.

XOXOXOX,

Kate