A jokester's mock-up of one of the upcoming titles

Today, HarperCollins announced a new multi-book deal with Neil Gaiman focusing on children’s books.

The five-book output will begin on January 8th with the release of Chu’s Day, a picture book about a Panda named Chu who has an outsized sneeze. (Inspired by the famous Sneezing Panda video, perhaps?) Chu’s Day will be illustrated by Adam Rex, the author of Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. A sequel will follow.

The deal also includes three middle-grade titles, one of them a sequel to Odd and the Frost Giants, one of them a new title called Fortunately, the Milk, which will feature art by Skottie Young, the artist behind Marvel Comics’ Oz book retellings, and which the release heralds as “an ode to the pleasure and wonders of storytelling itself.” The third book is currently untitled.

[News via Publishers Weekly]