Deep underground beneath Perfect Pets, where children can buy genetically engineered “perfect” creatures, there is a secret lab. Barnabus and his friends live in this lab, but none of them is perfect. They are all Failed Projects. Barnabus has never been outside his tiny bell jar, yet he dreams of one day seeing the world above ground that his pal Pip the cockroach has told him about: a world with green hills and trees, and buildings that reach all the way to the sky, lit with their own stars. But Barnabus may have to reach the outside world sooner than he thought, because the Green Rubber Suits are about to recycle all Failed Projects . . . and Barnabus doesn’t want to be made into a fluffier pet with bigger eyes. He just wants to be himself. So he decides it’s time for him and the others to escape. With his little trunk and a lot of cooperation and courage, Barnabus sets out to find freedom — and a place where he and his friends can finally be accepted for who they are.
This suspenseful, poignant and magical story about following your dreams and finding where you truly belong will draw readers into a surreal, lushly detailed world in which perfection really means being true to yourself and your friends.
Author
Terry Fan
Terry Fan is one of the New York Times bestselling Fan Brothers whose picture books include The Barnabus Project, Barnaby Unboxed!, The Night Gardener and Ocean Meets Sky. The Fan Brothers also illustrated the Chris Hadfield-penned picture book The Darkest Dark, Dashka Slater’s The Antlered Ship, Beth Ferry’s The Scarecrow and Beth Ferry’s Growing Home. Recipients of the prestigious Sendak Fellowship, they have received a Governor General’s Literary Award and the Dilys Evans Founder’s Award from the Society of Illustrators, and were also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal among other honors.
Learn More about Terry FanAuthor
Eric Fan
ERIC FAN is one of the New York Times bestselling Fan Brothers whose picture books include The Barnabus Project, Barnaby Unboxed!, The Night Gardener and Ocean Meets Sky. The Fan Brothers also illustrated the Chris Hadfield-penned picture book The Darkest Dark, Dashka Slater’s The Antlered Ship, Beth Ferry’s The Scarecrow and Beth Ferry’s Growing Home. Recipients of the prestigious Sendak Fellowship, they have received a Governor General’s Literary Award and the Dilys Evans Founder’s Award from the Society of Illustrators, and were also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal among other honors.
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