About Jess
Jess Brallier is a children’s book author, most recently co-author of the highly acclaimed Tuck and Tina series.
Yet that writing kids books started when he was first a publisher (book and online), a role he held at Funbrain, Poptropica, Planet Dexter, and Family Education Network. He also served on the executive team at Harcourt, Little Brown, and Abrams.
Jess won book publishing’s Literary Marketplace Individual Achievement Award in recognition of his marketing campaign for three New York Times bestsellers: Reinventing Government by David Osborne, Mama Makes Up Her Mind by Bailey White, and Touchpoints by T. Berry Brazelton.
At Funbrain.com, he first published Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid two years before it was published in print. In 2013, Jess did likewise with the virtual graphic novel series Galactic Hot Dogs. He and Kinney also launched Poptropica.com to tell stories via a gaming literacy and it quickly became the world’s largest virtual world for kids. Books spun off from that property became New York Times bestsellers.
Jess started writing books because:
- out of spite for his book publishing house’s own acquisition editors who dared to disagree with him (he can be such a jerk), and
- for much-needed cash (he foolishly spent 23 years restoring a 1789 New England farmhouse).
Of the 40+ published books Jess authored or co-authored, half are children’s books.
His Lawyers & Other Reptiles landed on multiple bestseller lists. And his Who Was Albert Einstein for Penguin’s bestselling Who Is/Was series sold 530,000+ units, was translated into multiple languages, and was critical to Who Is/Was becoming a consistent New York Times bestselling series.
His recent kids books include Tuck and Tina and the Lost Fortune (Puffin in the UK, Andrews McMeel in the US); The Olphabet (Running Press); The Unknown Solider (Charlesbridge), and Booker: The Library Bat (Pixel+Ink). Forthcoming are Tuck and Tina and the Boone School Ghost and Tuck and Tina and the Dinosaur Thief .
Jess is a frequent podcast guest, including this one with the famed Illustration Department. Enjoy the listen!
A native of Ligonier, Pennsylvania, Jess is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (B.A.) and Boston University (M.S.). He and his wife, Sally Chabert, reside in West Hollywood, CA. Their two grown children are the greatest.
Jess is repped by Kelly Dyksterhouse at The Tobias Literary Agency.
“Do you think I reference dinosaurs too much when I write?” I asked.
—Nate Usher
She was silent, like the p in pterodactyl, but it said everything.”
