Here is the breathtaking cover of my newest middle grade horror novel, HARU, ZOMBIE DOG HERO which is coming out July 11, 2023! The art is by the brilliant Teo Skaffa who made what is the absolute perfect cover for my zombie book! I love everything about it!

HARU, ZOMBIE DOG HERO

Eleven-year-old Luke and his dog, Haru, are the best of friends. Totally inseparable. But when their nasty landlord falsely accuses Haru of biting her, Haru is kidnapped! As Luke and his friends go on a serious mission to find and bring Haru home again, they discover mysterious experiments happening at the old laboratory at Painted Lake, owned by an evil multibillionaire named Mr. Thomas Sinclair. And Luke and his friends soon fear that Sinclair’s scientists could be doing illegal testing that may endanger Haru and their whole town.

As more strange clues emerge, the boys realize their world is changing fast, and soon Painted Lake is plagued by zombie attacks. Is the love and friendship between boy and dog enough to save them?

I also did a little interview over at the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL who did my cover reveal! One of the questions they asked me was how did the idea for this book come about. And this was my answer:

EO: Well, I’ve always wanted to write a zombie book, ever since I saw Train to Busan. But I wasn’t interested in writing about regular old zombies. I wanted something different; I just didn’t know what that was. Then one day I was just sitting with my dogs, and they were staring at me with such absolute trust and love. At that moment, I thought to myself, even if my dogs turned into zombies, they would never hurt me. And just like that, the idea for Haru, Zombie Dog Hero came to me.

So it is only right of me to include this beautiful drawing done by my youngest of our family dogs, Tokki and Kiko! Proud mama moment  –  My youngest is also a webtoon artist of HOME SWEET GHOST.

I have 2 exciting new books coming up in 2023! First is this amazing anthology which will launch the brilliant Linda Sue Park’s Allida imprint!!

This anthology was so much fun to work on and so important to all of us authors. It is truly a project from our hearts and I can’t wait for it to come out next year!

The second book announcement is for my next scary book! HARU, ZOMBIE DOG HERO!

I wanted to write a book about a dog for a long time. I also wanted to write a zombie book. Somehow these 2 came together to become Haru and I’m really excited for everyone to read it!!

The riveting conclusion to the acclaimed Spirit Hunters series!

We Need Diverse Books cofounder Ellen Oh delivers the final book in her middle grade series Spirit Hunters, a gripping mystery and thrilling adventure, starring a Korean-American heroine and a diverse cast of characters.

Harper is dealing with too many new changes in her house. Her cousin, Leo, is now living with them; her sister, Kelly, has started working at a local makeup store, Jeune; and Harper’s spirit hunter abilities have grown increasingly more powerful and uncontrollable, making her a target for possession.

But when Harper and Dayo uncover a dangerous plot to steal youth from millions of innocent people, Harper must use all her powers to destroy an ancient evil and save her sister.

Can our intrepid spirit hunters rescue Kelly before it’s too late?

A spellbinding, spooky, middle grade series, perfect for Halloween!

Don’t miss the first two thrilling books in this series from Ellen Oh:

Spirit Hunters
Spirit Hunters #2: The Island of Monsters

May 4th, launch day!! I’ll be talking with the amazing Linda Sue Park and brilliant Hena Khan about family and food and culture and why we need to share our stories, especially now. It’ll be at 7pm EDT and hosted by the wonderful East City Bookshop! Register for tickets here!

Tokki hopes you’ll consider pre-ordering copies of my newest book FINDING JUNIE KIM! And you can get signed copies from East City Bookshop! Here’s the link to order! And Thank You!

This was one of the hardest books I’ve ever written. In part because it was so deeply personal. It’s my family’s story in every way. It includes my mother’s experience as a lost child of the Korean War, my children’s experiences with depression and loss of a loved one, and my father’s memories. This book is incredibly special to me. But it wasn’t easy to write.

Fortunately for me, I had an amazing editorial team! I needed a lot of help and I got it from two absolutely brilliant editors, my long time amazing Executive Editor whom I adore, Alyson Day, and my wonderful new Editor, Eva Lynch-Comer! These 2 brilliant editors helped me write a book that I thought was impossible for a long time. They brought out the best in the story and forced me to dig deep into the truths. I am forever grateful to them for all their hard work. Thank you so much Aly and Eva!!

And of course the gorgeous cover which was illustrated by the genius Alex Cho! I couldn’t be luckier! It is based on a historical archival picture from the Korean War which reminded me of my mother’s story.

I sent the photo to Alex as a reference and he created a masterpiece. Thank you so much Alex!