I’ve had a picture book manuscript called We Match! in the works since early 2012. (This is not a typo.)

But it was meeting illustrator Sharon Glick in late 2021 when I was in Bozeman, Montana, for a children’s book festival that finally put this story on the path that will bring it to bookstores and libraries near you next summer.

I love this book that Sharon and I are making together — We Match! is loads of fun, and it’s been a joy to create. Many thanks to our literary agent, Victoria Wells Arms, and to the team at Astra Young Readers for making it happen.

And if this announcement is exciting to you, guess what: We match!

Rebecca Davis at Astra Young Readers has bought world rights to picture book We Match! by Chris Barton (Shark vs. Train), illustrated by Sharon Glick (¡Perros! ¡Perros! Dogs! Dogs!), in which a congregation of canines off-leash at a dog park joyfully discover the many things they have in common. Publication is scheduled for summer 2025; Victoria Wells Arms at HG Literary represented the author and illustrator.