The Weirn Books: How It All Came to Be or A Brief History of Magic, Friendship, and How Being Different Isn’t Always That Bad

The leaves are starting to turn brown, the chills are gradually seeping in, and The Weirn Books, Vol. 2 from our JY middle grade imprint is about to hit the shelves. The much-awaited sequel to Svetlana Chmakova’s The Weirn Books takes the beloved characters of the first volume and sets them up for a new adventure in the Night Realm, this time involving a dragon! Will Na’ya be able to reign over her fears and nightmares? And what about the evil scientist, the group’s nemesis and source of trouble in the first book? Will he make his dreaded return in this sequel? We cannot contain our excitement to see what this crazy group of friends are up to this year, and hope that their latest adventures will bring even more friends to their midst!

But let’s trace back our steps for a moment and take some time to admire the world of the Night Realm, a world where mysteries, adventures, and strange magical encounters have always been within the reader’s reach.

Readers familiar with Svetlana know that this world has a very long history, one that goes back to 2008. You see, back when Yen Press was starting to leave its mark on the publishing industry, we ran a magazine that some of our oldest fans might remember, one that went by the name of Yen Plus. It was a monthly magazine of manga, manhwa, and original English-language comics, featuring titles like Soul Eater, Black Butler, and PandoraHearts. Within the original comics ranks, one work stood out since the beginning: Nightschool by—you’ve guessed it—Svetlana Chmakova.

Nightschool was different for us. With an intrepid but flawed protagonist and the charms of urban fantasy, this YA graphic novel could have been a title among many—and yet, it struck us for its impassioned storytelling, its strong message of unity and friendship in the face of adversities, and its incredibly diverse cast (and hey! Back then not a lot of mainstream series could boast about that!), something that became a signature of Svetlana’s works. But the fantasy world Svetlana brought to life was where the true heat was: a magic school full of vampires, shape-shifters, and weirns that was open only at night? Powerful enemies who may or may not be human?

If that sounds familiar, it’s because Svetlana was never ready to leave this place of magical wonder. With some adjusting, a younger protagonist, and a new art style acquired during those years spent working on the award-winning series Berrybrook Middle School, this Eisner-nominated creator made her triumphant return to the world of the night with The Weirn Books.

Adapted for a younger audience, The Weirn Books is a middle grade fantasy series set in the same world as Nightschool with a much different cast. While we wouldn’t describe it as a cozy fantasy (we are dealing with creatures of the night, after all), the series does retain a rather charming and whimsical aspect, one that cannot help but bring us back to a time when we were just kids, children who dreamed of magical adventures in the woods and maybe of growing up to be our most awesome selves. 

And now we are back to the present time! With October knocking on our doors,  we cannot wait to delve back into the wondrous world of The Weirn Books, Vol. 2: The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon! And if you want to read Nightschool, then you don’t have to worry—while the original run of the graphic novel ended in 2010, in 2020 we brought back Svetlana’s amazing story in two omnibuses, Nightschool: The Weirn Books Collector’s Edition, Vol. 1 and 2, which collected the four original volumes!