Canfield author publishes new book
When Joan Reardon was a kid, her mom would bring her to the Boardman Barnes & Noble, where she gravitated toward fantasy books like 'Harry Potter' and 'Percy Jackson.'
'There has never been a time in my life where I wasn't writing,' Reardon said. 'My parents love to tell a story of when I was a baby and I would just scribble on pieces of paper and stack them on top of each other and say, 'I wrote a book.''
Twenty years later, she returned to that same store to find her own new book, 'Dad Rock Dragon Quest,' on the shelves — right next to the books she once fell in love with.
'It's about a family that's a blended family that goes on an adventure to rescue a dragon from magical poachers,' Reardon said. 'Simultaneously, it also features, you know, a lot of rock and roll, plenty of references to like 'Top Gun' and eighties action movies. So it's kind of a story for the whole family.'
This is Reardon's second book to be published and sold in thousands of stores across the country, but it holds a special place in her heart. She says many aspects of the story are based on her husband, whom she married shortly after finishing the book in 2023.
'We did, I think, one round of edits, and then we sent it out to the publisher, and we didn't hear back for about two months,' Reardon said. 'And then, the night of our rehearsal dinner, we got news that it was going to be published. So two reasons to celebrate.'
Reardon wrote the book in between her law school classes, and, over the past year and a half, she has worked with Simon & Schuster publishing company to get ready for the book's grand release, which was on June 3.
'There's a lot of love and work that goes into the book from, you know, dozens of people. And so everyone's very, very excited to finally have it in stores,' Reardon said.
So far, the book has already received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and been picked as a gold standard selection from the Junior Library Guild.
But she's not stopping there — she's already putting the finishing touches on the first draft of her next book.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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