Game On, Zhuri: How to Defeat a Blob Monster, from Reycraft Books, Pulls Readers into a Wild Video Game
The chapter book launches a new adventure series about a young game creator, her friends, and their journeys to digital worlds.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY, Feb 29, 2023—Leading children’s trade publisher Reycraft Books introduces readers to Zhuri, a clever young Black video game creator whose work takes on a life of its own, in Game On, Zhuri!: How to Defeat a Blob Monster. Written by D. Zollicoffer, featuring illustrations by Andy Potts, and published on June 27, 2023, the chapter book is the first entry in the new Game On, Zhuri! series, in which the title character and her best friends, Keyona and Eli, travel to wacky, wildly imaginative digital worlds.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
D. Zollicoffer is a children’s book author from Canton, Ohio. Game On, Zhuri! is his first chapter book series. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys reading, cooking, and skateboarding on buttery-smooth tennis courts.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR:
Andy Potts is an award-winning illustrator and animator from the United Kingdom, known for his eye-catching imagery. His colorful style is a digital blend of drawn and collaged elements that include 2-D textures, photography, and 3-D graphics. Potts has worked for a wide variety of international clients in editorial, advertising, publishing, design, music, and film.
In How to Defeat a Blob Monster, Zhuri is getting ready to take part in a coding competition with her new video game, Zhuri's World. But a mysterious technical bug brings the game's blob monster character to life—and into the real world, where it kidnaps Zhuri's Uncle Mike. Zhuri enters the game in hot pursuit to save her uncle, and, with the help of Keyona and Eli, fends off dangerous storms, boiling oceans, and fearsome creatures. It all leads to a confrontation with a magical antagonist based on Zhuri herself. Will she be able to fix her game? And even if she does, is there something more sinister behind the bug?
Zollicoffer explained that the idea for the series came out of a desire to bring more diversity and a new perspective to a familiar concept. “There are a lot of books about kids going inside video games, but not many with a group of Black kids,” he said. “I wanted to change that. Also, I felt that I could bring a new twist to the genre by making Zhuri the one who created the game.”
Zollicoffer added that the book benefited greatly from Potts’s colorful illustrations. “Andy took my story to the next level,” he said. “I couldn't have asked for a better collaborator.”
Four books are planned for the series, and Zollicoffer teased what readers can expect from future installments. “New worlds, new adventures,” he said. “Zhuri and her crew will travel to different video games, all while trying to figure out what caused the games to come alive. There’s a mystery at the heart of the series that will slowly be revealed.”
ABOUT REYCRAFT BOOKS: Reycraft Books partners with award-winning and up-and-coming authors and illustrators, primarily from underrepresented communities, to provide high-quality books that delight, inform, and honor the voice and vision of all children. Founded in 2019, the imprint publishes authentic stories—engaging picture books, chapter books, middle grade books, graphic novels, and more—that build knowledge, perspective, and connection, meeting the diverse needs of children, families, and educators.