Children’s book author and illustrator Brian Selznick will make his young adult debut in 2025.
Scholastic will publish Selznick’s Run Away With Me next spring, the press announced in a news release. It calls the novel “an unforgettable coming-of-age love story for young adults.”
Selznick made his literary debut in 1991 with The Houdini Box, about a 10-year-old boy who meets the legendary magician. He followed that up with The Robot King and The Boy of a Thousand Faces before publishing The Invention of Hugo Cabret in 2007. That book won the 2008 Caldecott Medal and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film titled Hugo by Martin Scorsese in 2011.
Selznick’s other books include Wonderstruck, The Marvels, and Big Tree.
Run Away With Me will follow two teenagers, Danny and Angelo, who meet and fall in love with each other in Rome. The book, Scholastic says, will contain more than 100 pages of illustrations.
“I lived in Rome for nine months with my husband during the pandemic, where new friends introduced me to their favorite parts of the ancient city,” Selznick said in a statement. “I marked everything on a map, and quickly imagined two boys connecting the locations while falling in love. Soon, stories about other young men, in other eras, started to appear to me, making a tapestry of love that has been present throughout all of time. I wanted Danny and Angelo—and my readers—to remember that we’ve always existed, and loved, and found moments of joy.”
Run Away With Me is scheduled for publication on April 1, 2025.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.