Coming Soon - Muppets Meet the Classics!

A new line of Muppet books will hit shelves this fall entitled "Muppets Meet the Classics".  
The first book will spoof The Phantom of the Opera.

Official synopsis: 

What do you get when you cross the Muppets and the classics? A monster hit! Join Kermit, Miss Piggy, Uncle Deadly, and the other Muppets as they bring this gripping tale of mystery and suspense to life in their own hilarious way.

This classic tale of love, intrigue, and jealousy at the Paris Opera House, which has thrilled readers, musical lovers, and movie goers for more than a century, has now been reimagined with the cast of the Muppets. Readers will gasp, cry, laugh, and laugh again as Kermit (as Raoul), Miss Piggy (as Christine), Uncle Deadly (as the phantom), and the chickens (as the ballet corps) give a whole new meaning to the word "classic." This imaginative tale is sure to win the hearts of all Muppets fans, as well as fans of literary classics.

Some info about the authors/ illustrator:

This is Erik Forrest Jackson's first book. After seven years as the Executive Editor of InStyle magazine, he's now the Executive Projects Director for Entertainment Weekly. His most recent play, the darkly comic drama Like a Billion Likes, won the Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Playwriting Award. He has adapted the beloved TV comedy Cheers for a live stage version that is currently touring America (CheersLiveOnStage.com). He's authored four Off Broadway plays (including Carrie, a black-comedy spin on Stephen King's novel) as well as a musical (Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, with the songs of Neil Sedaka). Erik's poems were featured in the Showtime film The Escape, starring Patrick Dempsey, and his freelance articles have appeared in Glamour, W, Real Simple, Allure, and Town & Country, among others. Erik grew up in Texas and now lives in Harlem.

The Muppets version of Phantom of the Opera is of course base on the original story by Gaston Leroux. 

Gaston Leroux (1868-1927) was born in Paris, France. After leaving school, Leroux worked as a clerk in a law office and, in his free time, began writing essays and short stories. By 1890 he had become a full-time journalist, sailing the world as a correspondent. He began writing novels in the early 1900s and was inspired by Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, and Edgar Allan Poe. In 1911, he wrote The Phantom of the Opera.

Illustrator Owen Richardson is the main cover artist for the Warriors series, and has designed the covers for other popular young adult books, including Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Artemis Fowl, Daniel X, and many others.

Below is as sample of some of his work, I'm hoping is work with The Muppets will look this dynamic!

 

Muppets Meet the Classics: The Phantom of the Opera will be released by Penguin Workshop on October 17, but you can pre-order it here.