Agatha Award for Best Children's/YA Mystery of 2023
A huge, mysterious creature is hiding out in the woods near Jake Nelson's new home. He's sure of it. He and his mom recently moved from Florida to live with his grandfather in Washington State, dashing any hopes he had of ever meeting his equally mysterious father. Starting sixth grade at his new school hasn't been easy, either.
When word gets out that Jake is a Sasquatch hunter, will he be mercilessly teased like he was at his old school? Or will his new friends Jasmine and Lanny help him track down an elusive Bigfoot that might be living in the local park?
K.B. Jackson lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest. A full-time writer and part-time genealogist, she loves to craft stories with elements of history and family dynamics. She modeled the character of Jake after her youngest son, now a teenager, who has been fascinated by cryptids since kindergarten.
Lorenzo Conti is an Italian artist. He was born in 1988 in Tivoli and lives and works in Rome. After graduating at Officina B5 School of Illustration, he started working as a freelance illustrator for Italian and international clients in editorial, publishing, advertising, and music artists. In 2020 and 2021, his works were selected for the Annual illustration award, one of the most authoritative and comprehensive Italian publications of the illustrated image in Italy and Europe, and in 2016, he received the popular prize at the Tapirulan illustration contest. In 2015, he worked on background illustrations for an animated short film called "Black", produced by So What Pictures. Some of Lorenzo's clients include Mondadori, Edizioni EL Einaudi Ragazzi, Eli Publishing, Pelledoca Editore, Datum Magazine, So What Pictures, Shanghai EP Books, Enable Leisure and Culture, Boston University Today website, and Il Foglio Sportivo.