Dan Santat Has a New Graphic Novel Series! We Have the Cover Here Today! And a Q&A! Can You Tell I’m Excited?!?!

Look, I don’t see much of a point in beating around the bush. You read the title of this post. You know what the deal is. Our dear, beloved, Dan Santat, Caldecott Award-winner, nice feller, and man-about-town, has the kickoff to a new graphic novel series coming out in 2026. It’s called Sashimi (ISBN: 9781250359995 and out April 14, 2026 ). It’s hilarious. And, yes, you’re going to want to read it the minute it comes out. Your kids? They will love it. Adults everywhere? They’ll steal it when their kids are asleep to read it themselves. People, it is just. That. Good.

The publisher description, such as it is (it really doesn’t do it justice):

In the town of Barnacle Bay, a creature lurks. He’s come from the ocean, in search of others like him.

To fit in with humans, Sashimi sneaks into an elementary school and pretends to be a student. But he’s clearly a fish out of water!

When Sashimi finds out the whole town is on the hunt for the Beast of Barnacle Bay—a creature who sounds a lot like Sashimi—hijinks ensue! Fortunately, with the help of a new friend and the class goldfish, Sashimi figures out a way to stay afloat.

Today, we’re going to reveal this book’s luscious cover. BUT FIRST… a talk with Mr. Santat himself about the book. Because, to be perfectly frank (and this is good advice for all of you), if you can interview Dan then you must interview Dan.

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Betsy Bird: Dan! Dan Santat! Dan Santat, the man! Ah, it’s a joy and a pleasure to lob questions in your general direction, my friend. And here’s a fun fact: I LOVE this book. Legitimately adore it. It’s funny, irreverent, seems to have Fame and That 70s Show references in it, the works! So let’s just start from the beginning: Where did this book come from exactly?

Dan Santat: For many years now, I’ve been writing books that were heartfelt, personal, and have a very deep emotional connection to me, which, if you’ve ever met and spoken with me in person, is the exact opposite of how I am. When I’m on discussion panels I’m always cracking jokes. When I do school presentations of store events I’m always trying to make kids and teachers laugh. It’s just who I am as a person. When I started out in children’s publishing, I think people initially labeled me as a  “funny” author/illustrator. I was always sent manuscripts by editors which were silly. Crankenstein, Oh No!, Three Ninja Pigs, Dude, etc. and it wasn’t until I wrote Beekle that people realized that I could create work with a more heartfelt tone. During those years I would talk to fellow author friends like Dav Pilkey and Mo Willems who asked why I never ventured to do my own series and encouraged me to do so. I always knew I had it in me and I always knew that at some point I wanted to do my own series, but I was sort of venturing in this cycle of making books that had a very deep personal connection. Admittedly, after many years of writing those types of books I feel it was getting very emotionally taxing. When you’re pouring your heart and soul into a body of work I would feel exhausted and I would need time to recover from it all. After publishing A First Time for Everything I’ll admit I was a little burned out and wanted to shift back into doing something silly and appealing to kids. I want to break out of my mold again and push the boundaries of what I’m known for. It’s a side of me that is less personal but represents who I am when you meet me in person. I haven’t had this much fun in years! It feels invigorating!

BB: It’s also invigorating to read! But I cannot help but notice that when left to your own devices you have a tendency to go all fishy on us. In 2025 you have DON’T TRUST FISH coming out. Previously you created the graphic novel THE AQUANAUT. Now in 2026 we’re going to meet Sashimi. Good god, man, is your life, your love, and your lady the sea? Why does that particular location keep coming up over and over in your work?

Dan: It’s funny that you say that because I noticed that, as well, and it was not my intention at all. I looked at the number of books I’ve done that have sharks in them and I realize I have five. I absolutely loathe the ocean. Books like The Aquanaut were more about dealing with the loss of my father and the feelings I had about preserving a legacy, but it was also about my absolute fear of the ocean, especially the deep sea and the creatures that exist in it. Don’t Trust Fish is an absolute genius piece of writing that I’m just honored to be a part of. The nature of Sashimi is less about the sea and more about my fascination with urban legends and mythical creatures. Think Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and Area 51. I love a good urban legend and I generally want to believe them. I love the absolute corniness of it all, but I also love how the lore of a thing can excite people because of its innocent nature and the ability it has to unite a community. The appeal of Sashimi is that when I originally conceived of the character I initially loved the idea of this cold emotionless fish eyed creature who clearly wasn’t human but no one seemed to notice despite how obvious the signs were. As I progressed further into the development of Sashimi, my own personality started slowly emerging in his character more and more. Now, it’s basically a story about what if Dan Santat was a weird small town urban legend? Sashimi is my id. It’s twelve year old me thinking and saying things free of any sort of filter, and writing the book feels like the most effortless thing I’ve ever done.

BB: Well, your artistic choices in the book are fascinating. It’s loose and fun most of the time, but then you get these flashback sequences that are done in a kind of heavily muscled Marvel-esque style. Was the idea to go that route from the start, or did it come later as you were working the details out?

Dan: A few years back I remember joking with Christian Robinson at an ALA conference simply noting how he could effortlessly create an object with a few simple shapes and how it works effectively because he utilizes a strong sense of design. Meanwhile, I’m here drawing and painting the exact same thing in my own work but I have to be mindful of perspective, and lighting, and how the shading looks. It’s absolutely labor intensive to be mindful of those things so for Sashimi I wanted the art to simply be fun and just communicate what’s going on in its simplest form. I don’t want any part of this book to feel like work so anything goes in terms of style. I don’t want to worry about perspective, or proportion, or lighting. I simply want to maximize the number of laughs. The flashbacks you’re referring to in the story are when the characters recall a memory and tell their version of the events but describe themselves as totally buff men despite their actual physique. The style is meant to heighten the laughs. For Book 2 there is a dream sequence where all the artwork is done with pin felted characters because Sashimi is hallucinating. When folks read these books they’re going to see that I use photos and change styles without any explanation. Everything I do will be in service to the story and the absolute absurdity of this world.

BB: As is right. But you mentioned something cool earlier. Cryptids! What’s not to love? And now that I’m asking you about your choices, I want to know how much of this book changed from conception to final product. Was there stuff you wanted to include in the book and couldn’t for one reason or another?

Dan: The concept was pretty straight forward from the start. Mysterious one of a kind sea creature hears about urban myth which closely matches his description, he goes to the small town to find the creature and sneaks into a public school to blend in with the community. Many of the jokes are about silly things we notice about parenting, life at school, and being part of a small town. Why do we do the “quiet coyote” symbol to calm down a room of students? How come there aren’t seat belts on a public school bus? Why is there so much stuff in a school lost and found? What I love most about this project is that I have a very close connection with my editor, Connie Hsu, and assistant editor, Nicolas Ore-Giron, where I begin with a loose outline, followed by a first draft, and then we all get together every other week to discuss ways to punch up the jokes and we’re very much developing it into a Simpsons-seque type world where everyone in the town of Barnacle Bay will have some sort of back story and inside jokes will carry over from one book to another. I have ideas of where I want the story to go but I can’t possibly shove all my jokes into one book. Sashimi is the main character but as the world evolves you will find that everyone has a story to tell and the world is constantly in flux. We’re wrapping up Book 1, I’m already doing final artwork for Book 2, and I’m outlining/scripting Book 3. When I sold the series to Roaring Brook we discussed a story idea that I had initially pitched to the publisher that’s so silly and absurd, but we can’t actually do it until maybe the fourth book in the series to slowly build it into the story arc. The books have a map of the town of Barnacle Bay which essentially turned into a playground for all of us to conceive of ideas. We have too many ideas to fit in just one book. Basically, my intent for these books are to make kids feel like they are a part of some big inside joke. The best part of it all is that I’m having the time of my life making this series.

BB: When my son recently went to a two week camp I packed him up with a copy of A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING and the book was such a hit in his cabin that one of the other boys accidentally stole it (it was passed around amongst them the whole time). Now way back in the beginning, I remember that when you were working on SIDEKICKS, that book took you literal years. How quickly do you create a comic nowadays? Has the process gotten easier for you over time?

Dan: I’m now in an interesting part of my career where I notice I’m doing a lot of self reflecting. I’ve been in this business for about 21 years and I’ve done many books. In my earlier years I used to put in 12-16 hours of work a day. All my time and energy was spent establishing myself. Now, as I get older I find that life gets in the way of actually getting in a full eight hour work day. In fact, I think I’ll be lucky if I get a solid six hour work day in. With that said, I have found that my work has evolved in a way that I am more efficient with the time I have and I’ve learned to not be so nit picky about little details. When you work on something as large as a graphic novel you realize that certain aspects of the project being “good enough” will more than suffice and will also sometimes lead to much better results. I’m creating more Sidekicks storylines which are each taking me about a year and a half as opposed to the seven years it took to make Book 1, but at the same time I’m making two Sashimi books a year which are each taking me about 6-8 months. I’m doing three graphic novels a year! Making a graphic novel is never easy. They’re exhausting and time consuming, but the end result is always rewarding (at least for me)

BB: Finally, we’re talking about a book slated for April of 2026, so this seems like kind of a funny thing to ask, but what else do you have coming out these days?

Dan: It’s funny to say this but I’m working on my own projects while also becoming a victim of the success of other authors that I’m collaborating with which have blossomed into series. I have a Marvel/Abrams picture book coming out in July called All The Hulk Feels, I have a picture book with Johanna Ho and Caroline Kusin-Pritchard called The Day the Books Disappeared also in July. I’m working on more Misfits books with Lisa Yee, more Endlessly Ever After books with Laurel Snyder, more Detective Duck books with Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. I’ve got another picture book with Minh Le, a follow up picture book to Don’t Trust Fish with Neil Sharpson, a picture book with Ally Condie, a picture book with Elizabeth Pages-Hogan at Candlewick, three more Sidekicks graphic novels to fully round out a full story arc, and six Sashimi books. It’s a lot. I’m kind of losing my mind but with the state of publishing these days it gives me peace of mind to know that I’m keeping busy and I’m absolutely grateful that people still care after all these years.

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A class act, that dude.

Well, it’s now time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Folks of all stripes… the cover:

Huge thanks to Dan for taking all that time to answer my questions today. And big time thanks to Morgan Rath and the folks at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for helping to put this all together. Sashimi hits bookstores April 14, 2026 and it’s never too early to get those pre-orders in.

Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2026, Cover Reveal, Interviews