I’m excited to announce a new middle grade book coming out March 2nd, 2027! Sarah in Charge is about 12 yr old Sarah whose life is disrupted when her grandmother gets romance scammed, loses all her money and home, and moves in to Sarah’s house. It’s based on the real life experiences of my own mother who lost her life savings and home to elder fraud. It was a truly devastating time but I was able to channel all my grief and rage into a novel that I hope will resonate with readers.

I’m in love with my JIN YOUNG IN BETWEEN cover by the incredibly talented artist Robin Har! She really perfectly nailed what I had hoped for for this book!

And once again the amazing Kelly Wang did the most gorgeous art cards for JIN YOUNG IN BETWEEN! And she did little meta touches where you can see the cover for Colliding Worlds and Jin Young in the art card!

Kelly also made me this adorable little sticker!

And of course my awesome son made this gorgeous sticker for me based on Robin’s beautiful cover!

If you want some stickers and an art card, just show me a pre-order receipt and I’ll mail you some swag!

Excited to share the cover for my newest book coming out May 2026!!

The House Next Door launch events were lovely! I spoke at People’s Book in Takoma Park, MD with my amazing daughter Skye and many of her students came to see us both! It was a fantastic event!

And we had another book launch at Barnes and Nobles Fairfax in VA with the awesome Caroline Pritchard Kusin where we had the best conversation and lovely attendees!

And a big shout out to CLE READS YA in Cleveland where this wonderful festival gave out almost a 100 copies of The House Next Door to the nicest and most enthusiastic group of readers! What a fabulous launch month!!!

I also had a wonderful time at Chappaqua book festival and Collingswood Book festival and even a fabulous virtual event with the Singapore International school! It’s been a wonderful book launch month!! Next I’m off to AASL in St. Louis!

COMING SOON!!!!

I’m excited to share the preorder swag for my newest book coming out this September 30th, 2025! This adorable enamel pin and sticker sheet are available when you preorder THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR as follows:

1. From People’s Books in Takoma Park, MD, 7014 Westmoreland Ave Suite A, Takoma Park, MD 20912 – you can get a signed book along with your swag when you preorder from this link. And if you are in the DMV on September 30th, 2025, I will have my book launch event at People’s Books at 6pm!
2. From Barnes and Nobles Fairfax, 12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Dr, Fairfax, VA 22033 – I’ll be signing books and giving out preorder swag on October 12th, 2025 at 2:00PM. Make sure to reserve your copy before the event in order to get swag!
3. You can also get preorder swag if you order THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR from any independent store, B&N, or Bookshop.org and email me a copy of your preorder receipt and your address to ellen@ellenoh.com.

Offer good while supplies last!

Here is the final cover art afrom the incredibly talented illustrator, @mcrockefeller for my newest middle grade horror novel titled THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR!
📖 ABOUT THE BOOK 📖

For fans of “Not Quite Ghost” and “Ghost Squad”, acclaimed middle grade author Ellen Oh of Spirit Hunters and an APALA Honoree delivers a new spooky novel about young hero Rory and the creepy house next door.

Home is where the sinister lives.

Rory Parker knows not to step a foot in, on, or around the house next door. He’s seen things creeping in the shadows, has had encounters with spirits, and lost a best friend to the house’s malevolence. But when his new neighbors, Jack and his lovable family, move into the house next door, Rory makes it his duty to protect them at all costs.

But the vicious forces lying within the house are plotting something evil, something that puts Jack’s little sister in extreme danger. Soon, Rory understands he’ll need the help of his new friend and some friendly ghosts in order to stand a chance at defeating whatever lurks within its walls for good. But what exactly lives in the house next door, and will Rory and Jack find out in time to save the day, or can its evil never be evicted?

📅 Releasing September 30th, 2025
💻 Available for pre-order now!

The following is an interview with Matt where he talks about how he approaches cover designs from the ground up, how the tone of the story influences art design, and how the cover evolved from start to finish.

1. What is the process in approaching a cover for a book?

For me, the first step is always to read the manuscript of the book I’m illustrating. I love to get a feel for the story, the setting, its characters, and any other details that could really make the cover feel unique and specific to the story the author has envisioned in the text. If I can get immersed in their world, it is always so much easier for me to get excited about conveying the story visually through the cover art. I always get so frustrated when I get a cover brief but don’t have access to the manuscript because it’s not ready yet! If I can read and give time to the story, the cover almost always is more fun to make and turns out better in the end.

My first step towards creating the art is thumbnailing– a process in which I often create dozens of tiny little rectangular, loose doodles that explore different concepts and scenarios for the cover. At this stage, the idea is to not get too wrapped up in details and really just let myself get any and all ideas out on the page. Finding something that works at this scale is the key to the cover working well once the art is fully fleshed out, but to most onlookers these drawings likely look like a bunch of scribbles!! Afterward, I’ll pick a handful of thumbs that feel like a good possible direction, scan them, and then use them as a foundation to create more detailed, digital sketches. At this stage I really try to consider the style and placement of the title and any other text that will need to appear on the cover as well as the overall lighting and mood of the piece. These sketches are the first art I will share with the designer or art director from the publisher that I am working with, who then will take them to the broader team to select which direction will make the strongest cover. Next I implement any notes/edits as I create a rough color sketch, while also finalizing the sizing, formatting, and bleed. Finally, it is time to create the final art! For this cover, my process involved printing out the sketch and using a light box to create pencil drawings that comprise several layers (Usually background+ characters) that I later compile and color digitally.

2. How much involvement does the author have in the cover process?

Typically, I have little to no direct communication with the author during this process. However, they will often fill out a cover form that provides many details or even concepts of what they would like to see on the cover. In Ellen’s case, she compiled so much wonderful information on both the setting and characters, including reference pics of actors or other real kids who might look a bit like who she was envisioning for each role. This is always SO SO helpful and an excellent resource that I will continue to reference all the way through to the end of the process. Once the ball is rolling on the art, the author will communicate with their editor and can give input and feedback on my sketches, which I will often receive alongside broader notes or edits from the team. Sometimes, the author will make special requests, or correct/ provide details on character appearance, setting, etc.

 

3. Can you share some initial sketches or other comps for the cover? What was your inspiration?

Having illustrated several of Ellen’s other fantastic middle grade books (many of which were also horror or contained horror elements), I really wanted to create something that could stand apart from the others but still convey that great sense of creepiness that oozes from all of her stories. For this one, I was really looking to do something with strong lighting that conveyed the dreadful feeling of peering down into the dark basement and not being sure of what shapes you can make out in the shadows. (you’ll see some of my other sketches focused on looking down rather than up as in the final art) I was coming up from the basement in my own house when I got the idea to reverse the perspective as if you are standing down there with all the creepies and looking up at those vulnerable kiddos at the top. I felt inspired by that super intense angle and the feeling it gave to the cover art, so I took a couple reference pics and started going from there!

4. Can you visually share how the cover evolved from a sketch to final?

 For this cover, the main changes that were made between the sketch and color sketch phase were the size and proportion of the characters at the top of the stairs (they needed to be more prominent). The one additional change that was made in the transition to final art was changing the water guns to a frying pan and tennis racket. While the water guns are present in the text, it was a good call to avoid anyone who thought the kids were holding actual guns when first glancing at the cover of the book. (thanks to Ellen for the suggestions!) I would say that the whole process from start to finish took roughly 20-25 hours including thumbnailing, sketching, the color sketch, edits, and final art.

For those educator’s looking for the YOU ARE HERE educator guide. Here it is YAH EducatorsGuide (2)!