Since the May, 2008, release of the first Dreamhouse Kings books (House of Dark Shadows and Watcher in the Woods), all indications pointed to their popularity: Wal-Mart ordered a special two-in-one edition, Kroger and Costco placed large orders, and Scholastic ordered a special paperback edition for its book fairs. Despite Scholastic's sizable initial order of House of Dark Shadows, they sold out and required second and third printings. Now Scholastic wants Watcher in the Woods, and it's looking like the first printing will be double that of House of Dark Shadows. In additon, the two books have hit young adult bestseller lists month after month.

More rewarding, however, are all the letters and emails I've received from kids and parents. They tell me about reading the books over a single weekend--even the kids who normally take weeks to finish a book. And many have said the books have sparked their desire to become writers. How cool is that?

My publisher recently received this letter from a Scholastic representative:

I just wanted to tell you what is happening with House of Dark Shadows.

I book talked it to the sales consultants the other week after I read it. They were all intrigued and left the meeting calling their schools to tell them about it. I also mentioned that it was an six book series and we would have the 2nd book in the fall. I of course, couldn't wait for the fall and bought the second book and enjoyed it even more. It is now being passed around.

Today, I went to a middle school and booked talked about 15 of my favorites for this spring. This was one of them. Afterwards I was inundated with all kinds of questions about the book and series and whether the library already had the book on the shelf.

With the last class, I was told they were low level readers and chose only certain books to talk about. I did not mention this book. After I was done, I had several students come up and ask me about the book. I started to book talk it to the few students standing around and all of a sudden I found myself surrounded by 20 students all wanted to hear more about the book and series.

I was very surprised as I was told by the teacher and the librarian that this group didn't read much and I probably wouldn't get much response from them.

They all had their mouths open, their eyes were popped and they couldn't wait for the book to arrive with the fair next week.

We all think this will be a great series and we are hoping that we will carry all six books. If this is any indication of what to expect, we think this series will be very hot.