11/2025 Honor Flight, written by Jeff Gottesfeld, has now received 3 starred reviews (Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist)! Coming in March, 2026... 11/2025 Prints of some of my illustrations are now available on Fine Art America, in several sizes, framed of unframed. 9/2025 Dasher and the Polar Bear got a starred review in School Library Journal! 9/2025 Dasher and the Polar Bear is now available! 6/2025 Big news: the Dasher Christmas special is in production, coming to Disney Jr. and Disney+ for the 2026 holiday season! This has been a dream project for me, working with writer/director Damien O'Connor, and the talented and creative teams at Trustbridge Entertainment, Brown Bag Films, and Disney. I can't wait for everyone to see it! 5/2025 Hoops won the Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award! 5/2025 Hoops won the New Mexico Land of Enchantment Award! 4/2025 Hoops won the 2025 Maine Student Book Award! 4/2025 Hoops won the Massachusetts Children's Book Award! 4/2025 Hoops won the 2025 Rhode Island Middle School Book Award! 4/2025 Hoops won the New Hampshire Great Stone Face Book Award! 4/2025 Hoops has made 23 state award lists in the United States and 2 children's choice award lists in Australia! 8/2024 The Shape of Things, written by Dean Robbins and illustrated by me, is now available! 6/2024  The Shape of Things is a Junior Library Guild selection! 12/2023 Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas made the National Indie Bestseller List! 11/2023 Hoops was named a 2024 Charlotte Huck Award Recommended Book! 11/2023 Hoops was named a New York Public Library Best Book of 2023! 10/2023 Hoops won the New England Book Award, in the middle grade category! 10/2023 Hoops won a Good Housekeeping Kids' Book Award! 9/2023 Announcing the Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas tour! I'll be spending most of November and December reading, drawing, and signing books at bookstores around the midwest and New England. Details here... 9/2023 Get your official Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas tour merch here! T-shirts, hoodies, adult and youth sizes available. 9/2023 Dasher Can't Wait for Christmas is now available! 5/2023 Hoops has made the Indiebound National Bestseller List in each of its first 7 weeks since publication! 3/2023 Hoops debuted at #5 on the Indiebound National Bestseller List! 2/2023 Hoops was named to the Kids' Indie Next List by the American Booksellers Association! 9/2022 Good news: Hoops is a Junior Library Guild selection! 12/2022 Dasher made it back onto the New York Times Bestseller list for its 4th Christmas in a row, hitting #9 last week!   6/2022 I made a graphic novel! It took forever, but it's finally done. Hoops, coming in March, 2023. I can't wait! 12/2021 Dasher made it back onto the New York Times Bestseller list for its 3rd Christmas in a row, hitting #3 last week! 12/2021 Dasher cracked the top 100 on the USA Today Bestseller list for the first time, hitting #76 last week! 12/2021 Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was named to the Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2021, School Library Journal Best Books of 2021, and the Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2021 lists! 11/2021 Jeff Gottesfeld and I won the Audrey Geisel Friend of Military Children Award, for Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 11/2021 My poster design, featuring the cover art from Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. was chosen by the US Department of Veterans' Affairs as the official 2021 Veterans Day poster. it will also serve as the cover for the program for the Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 3/2021 Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is now available! 2/2021 Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier received starred reviews from Kirkus, The Horn Book, and Shelf Awareness! 12/2020 Dasher made the New York Times Bestseller List, the USA Today Bestseller list, and the Indiebound National Bestseller list! 3/2020 A Ben of All Trades is now available! 1/2020 Dasher spent 8 consecutive weeks on the Indiebound National Bestseller list, including 3 weeks at #2! 12/2019 Dasher made the New York Times Bestseller List!!! 11/2019 Dasher made the Indiebound National Bestseller list!! 9/2019 Dasher is now available! More news...

Illustrations copyright 2000-2025 Matt Tavares. Reproduced by permission of the publishers, Candlewick Press Inc, Somerville, MA, and Disney-Hyperion, New York, NY