A happy-go-lucky narwhal and a no-nonsense, slightly cynical jellyfish may not seem likely best buddies, but under the surface they are exactly that. Since springing from the imagination of author-illustrator Ben Clanton in 2016’s Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea!, which launched an early graphic novel series from Tundra Books, Narwhal and Jelly have bonded over their love of waffles, parties, and seafaring adventures.

Containing three stories each, the series’ nine titles have found an appreciative audience: along with two Narwhal and Jelly board books, the graphic novels have sold more than seven million copies in North America alone and have been translated into 17 languages. Now Clanton is bringing his aquatic characters into new waters in This Book Is Dangerous!: A Narwhal and Jelly Picture Book, released June 3 by Tundra with an announced first printing of 125,000 copies.

The characters of Narwhal and Jelly were long in the shaping. The author recalled that his original motivation for creating a book about a narwhal stemmed from photos he came across in 2012 by Canadian photographer and marine biologist Paul Nicklen. “His photos were of a creature that seemed too fantastic for this world, and yet this creature actually exists,” Clanton told PW. “That is a nice reminder of how incredible this world of ours can be, and it was with that feeling that I first began drawing narwhals.”

Yet despite his copious doodling, the author deemed his attempts to make a narwhal story too serious—until, he explained, “ice cream did the trick.” Waiting in line for ice cream at Molly Moon’s in his hometown of Seattle, Clanton found sweet inspiration. “The smell of freshly made waffle cones came wafting into my nose and mixed with all those narwhals I’d been daydreaming about,” he explained. “The shape of the cone reminded me of a narwhal’s tusk and next thing I knew this narwhal with an ice-cream-based personality was swimming about in my brain along with a flood of story ideas. Jelly came along full of questions and uncertainty, but that night I would storyboard three stories—and next day, another four!”

Plunging Narwhal and Jellyfish into the picture book realm wasn’t a new notion for Clanton, who disclosed that he initially conceived of relaying this duo’s capers in that format, but publishers didn’t share his vision at the time. “Most of the editors I spoke to about the books mentioned them feeling ‘slight’—but the brevity and lightness of the stories was part of what appealed to me,” he said.

The author credits his editor, Tundra publisher Tara Walker, for “prompting me to play with the book’s format,” and his agent Marietta Zacker, of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, for “encouraging me to keep that breezy dynamic in play but try putting multiple stories together, and soon I found a format that felt fun for me and really worked for the back-and-forth between Narwhal and Jelly. They took to that quick comic format like, ahem, jellyfish to water.”

Big Fish in Yet Another Pond

Clanton is optimistic that the timing is now right to give Narwhal and Jelly a chance to shine in the picture book spotlight—especially the latter character, who takes center stage for the first time in This Book Is Dangerous! In order to find his way out of the book—with the reader’s help—anxious Jelly, who doesn’t do dangerous, is tasked with navigating the likes of sea serpents, pirate crabs, a circus cannon, and other undeniably dangerous things lurking on these pages.

“The biggest challenge of changing format with such familiar friends was being sure that there was something new to what I was making—that there was, in fact, a fresh challenge for the characters and for me,” Clanton noted. “I think bringing the involvement of the reader to another level was key. And tonally, there was a shift. Narwhal’s unpoppable positivity plays a pretty small role in this first picture book—Jelly and the reader are at the helm. I see readers as my collaborators. I want to set them up to have a great read and to have some highlight reel moments!”

Walker similarly welcomed Narwhal and Jelly’s new direction. “Ben’s genius as a storyteller and artist is that he’s created characters who are so unique and lovable and engaging that it almost doesn’t matter what kind of book they’re in!” she said. “When we were first discussing Narwhal and Jelly more than 10 years ago, we decided that a graphic novel format felt the most unique at the time—and right for the kind of stories we wanted to tell with these characters. But with the success of the series and witnessing the wide range of these characters’ appeal over time, we felt it would be fun to see what they would get up to in a picture book. When Ben came up with the brilliant hook of Jelly in the starring role, we were all excited, since he’s been a little more on the sidelines in the graphic novels, but he drives so much of the humor. It feels really fun and fresh to more fully embrace his character in the picture book.”

Further escapades starring Narwhal and Jelly are planned across both formats. Clanton is working on a second, still untitled picture book, slated for summer 2026, which will again feature Jelly as the bigger fish. Due this December is A Waffle Lot of Love, the 10th installment in the graphic novel series, and Clanton has two additional titles under contract with Tundra.

And beyond that? “I have another 15 or so graphic novels floating about in my brain and oodles of more picture book ideas for Jelly—and for Narwhal too,” the author said. “So, I’m hoping This Book Is Dangerous! is well received. I’d love the opportunity to make those other books!

This Book Is Dangerous!: A Narwhal and Jelly Picture Book by Ben Clanton. Tundra, $19.99 June 3 ISBN 978-1-77488-101-9