,
Discover new books on Goodreads
See if your friends have read any of James Kennedy's books
James     Kennedy

James Kennedy’s Followers (225)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
Carolyn
3,772 books | 156 friends

Simon A...
1,156 books | 559 friends

Joanne
486 books | 589 friends

SAM
SAM
1,092 books | 261 friends

Micheal
4,106 books | 1,513 friends

Donna F...
7,977 books | 5,001 friends

Bill Fa...
473 books | 5,126 friends

Jaime
5,881 books | 91 friends

More friends…

James Kennedy

Goodreads Author


Born
in Royal Oak, Michigan, The United States
March 09, 1973

Website

Twitter

Genre

Member Since
March 2007

URL


James Kennedy is the author of the middle-grade adventure BEHOLD! THE LEGEND OF FROGBOY (Norton Young Readers), to be released May 2027. He is also the author fo the horror thriller BRIDE OF THE TORNADO (Quirk Books), named a "Best Book of 2023" by the Chicago Tribune, the sci-fi novel DARE TO KNOW (Quirk Books), dubbed "Best Sci-Fi Book of 2021" by the Times Saturday Review, and the young adult fantasy THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH (Delacorte Press). James is also the founder of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create short movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books. James lives in Chicago. ...more

To ask James Kennedy questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

James Kennedy It is an absolute mystery. I must admit I don't understand the ecosystem of Goodreads, the vagaries of the romance world, or book promotion. However, …moreIt is an absolute mystery. I must admit I don't understand the ecosystem of Goodreads, the vagaries of the romance world, or book promotion. However, I do like it when somebody who would usually hate my stuff gets tricked into reading one of my novels, because there are two outcomes: (1) They end up unexpectedly enjoying something they wouldn't ordinarily try; or (2) I cause them pain.(less)
James Kennedy I am very OK and very normal! I get sort of carried away, being so normal and everything. Thanks for the 5-star review! I know DARE TO KNOW isn't for …moreI am very OK and very normal! I get sort of carried away, being so normal and everything. Thanks for the 5-star review! I know DARE TO KNOW isn't for everyone so welcome to the club, a normal club. The plan is for my next book to come out in 2023. I wrote another book a few years ago called THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH, people were anxious to tell me how normal it was too, it made me feel really regular, to be that normal. Thank you!(less)
Average rating: 3.34 · 4,036 ratings · 966 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors
The Order of Odd-Fish

3.99 avg rating — 1,310 ratings — published 2008 — 11 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Dare to Know

2.97 avg rating — 1,756 ratings — published 2021 — 9 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Bride of the Tornado

3.14 avg rating — 970 ratings — published 2023 — 6 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Behold! The Legend of Frogboy

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Behold! The Legend of Frogboy is coming

I can at last reveal the cover for my upcoming middle-grade adventure novel Behold! The Legend of Frogboy. Ain’t it a beaut? The super-talented artist Parker Nielsen drew not only the cover, but also dozens of amazing illustrations within. If you love the cover (and I do), you’ll love this book!

It comes out on May 4, 2027, but please pre-order now! Pre-orders really matter for a book’s success. It

Read more of this blog post »
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 16, 2026 14:26

James’s Recent Updates

James Kennedy has read
Behold! The Legend of Frogboy by James     Kennedy
Rate this book
Clear rating
" Thank you! "
Dare to Know by James     Kennedy
"This is the best book I've read in a long time, I can't stop recommending it to people.

I hate to argue with other reviewers but it is sort of sad to see that a lot of people who didn't like it were sent advanced copies to review. I feel like the ARC" Read more of this review »
James Kennedy and 1 other person liked J.C.'s review of Bride of the Tornado:
Bride of the Tornado by James     Kennedy
"I enjoy recommending James Kennedy to customers who are looking for a local author to read when they come into the
[REDACTED BY EDITOR] bookstore in Chicago, especially a book called Dare to Know, but I always forget how insanely violent and bloody t" Read more of this review »
The Order of Odd-Fish by James     Kennedy
"while visiting chicago, I stumbled upon this in the bookstore and was immediately intrigued. so glad I purchased and read this. truly an odd book. I am fascinated with James Kennedy's imagination. the book reminds me of Studio Ghibli and I had a wond" Read more of this review »
More of James's books…
Quotes by James Kennedy  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The world endures chaos until a new compelling mythos comes out of nowhere, another a bolt of inspiration, and brings us back into the Age of the Gods. But those will be different gods.”
― James Kennedy, Dare to Know

“Do you fall in love with someone because you understand them? Not at nineteen. It's their otherness that draws you in. At nineteen you're collecting people. Trying on different ways of being.”
― James Kennedy, Dare to Know

“without a shared mythos, and without credible leaders to defend it, the society weakens. The original mythos becomes corrupted, degraded. Language is debased. Equality leads to a free-for-all. Communication breaks down. With no shared mythos, nobody can agree on even the basic premises of life. All that remains of the exhausted society are three things: a mythos nobody seriously believes in anymore, rituals nobody earnestly participates in anymore, and skepticism. And skepticism alone can’t sustain anything.”
― James Kennedy, Dare to Know

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
The Steampunk, Cy...: Discussion 1 8 Mar 01, 2013 06:21PM  
The Steampunk, Cy...: Reviews 2 11 Jun 02, 2013 07:50AM  
Game Night: This topic has been closed to new comments. Cranium - Check-Ins 282 118 Sep 30, 2017 08:42PM  
2026 Reading Chal...: readinginmagnolia 19 61 Dec 03, 2021 11:06AM  
Biography, Autobi...: Biography, Autobiography, and Memoir read in 2024 277 244 Dec 30, 2024 01:53PM  
Library Lovers: This topic has been closed to new comments. 2024 Reads and Reviews - Anything Goes 262 22 Feb 27, 2025 12:33PM  
220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 345607 members — last activity 9 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
27450 Green Girls — 28 members — last activity Aug 19, 2017 06:06AM
GoodReads for Green Girls ages 7 to 97. Share and swap Green titles. Any genre is welcome but all must have some connection to the environment. Adult, ...more
81928 YA & TEENS BOOKTALK — 390 members — last activity Nov 09, 2016 08:31AM
This group is for teens and young adults who love to read love story's, romance, YA, ( historical - romances), adventure, dystopian, fiction, fantasy, ...more
41254 Chicago Writers — 107 members — last activity Feb 02, 2017 05:12PM
This is a place for Chicago Writers Association members to discuss their current and upcoming titles, announce events and reviews, and connect with ot ...more
Comments (showing 1-21)    post a comment »
dateDown arrow    newest »

message 21: by Richard

Richard Dominguez thank you for the friend


message 20: by Indi

Indi Killjoy Of course! And thank you so much!


message 19: by James

James Kennedy That ostrich is fantastic! I'd love to feature it on my blog with the other Odd-Fish art I've received -- can you send a full-sized version of the file? I'm at kennedyjames@gmail.com.

With art ability like that, I'm sure the movie will be glorious!


message 18: by Indi

Indi Killjoy Well, I drew a random Eldritch City Ostrich. It's my profile pic currently.


message 17: by James

James Kennedy Audrey wrote: "It's actually hotter in Chicago than it is in Florida XD But I'm still unpacking, and I'm taking a horse back riding class. And I'm going to be homeschooled, so that's a big change. I'm deciding wh..."

Homeschooled? Horseback riding? In beautiful Florida? You're living the dream! I can't wait to see this Odd-Fish movie. I recommend animation because many of the environments, costumes, situations etc. would be super hard to recreate via live action. Don't wory about getting an experienced animator, you're young, you can learn to animate just by doing it, and there's tons of software/online help for that kind of thing! Forward! Excelsior!


message 16: by Indi

Indi Killjoy It's actually hotter in Chicago than it is in Florida XD But I'm still unpacking, and I'm taking a horse back riding class. And I'm going to be homeschooled, so that's a big change. I'm deciding whether to do animation for the Order Of Odd-Fish movie, or live-action. Animation would be easier because we wouldn't need as many people, but I would need help from an experienced animator. I could just do stop-motion, because I am slightly experienced with drawing digitally on a computer or tablet, but I'm not that great at it.


message 15: by James

James Kennedy Audrey wrote: "Gah. I deleted my Lucie account, cause people were being mean buttbrains. Now I have a psuedonym! And I really need to actually own the book to actually write the script, and I'm probably going to ..."

Great to hear from you, and sorry to hear about the buttbrains! You moved to Florida? How do you like it? I'm sure it's sweltering now but I bet you'll be glad to be there in December when we're all buried in snow in Chicago!!


message 14: by Indi

Indi Killjoy Gah. I deleted my Lucie account, cause people were being mean buttbrains. Now I have a psuedonym! And I really need to actually own the book to actually write the script, and I'm probably going to get it later...But, yeah. I have a couple of people who want to help, but I just moved to Florida, while they still live in Illinois, so its going to be hard. I'm starting on the script using the little parts of the book I can find on google. Anyway, hello! How've you been?


Queen of Bogus And I love the book catching fire I also did a book report on it!!!! Sorry I am very proud


Queen of Bogus Sorry reading it


message 11: by Queen of Bogus (last edited Jan 03, 2013 10:45AM)

Queen of Bogus Very I'm reading it right now


message 10: by James

James Kennedy No, I haven't! Is it good?


Queen of Bogus Have ever read the book numbers???


Queen of Bogus How r u


message 7: by James

James Kennedy Hey, Queen of Bogus


Queen of Bogus Hey james


message 5: by James

James Kennedy Lucie *The Guardian of the Magic Cloak* wrote: "James wrote: "Thanks, Lucinda! I hope you enjoy the book, too!"

I finally finished it! I loved it soo much! One of the main reasons I enjoyed it because of how easy it was to plan a movie in my mi..."


That's so kind of you to say! I'm really happy you enjoyed the book! As for a movie -- of course I'd love for a movie of "Odd-Fish" to exist, but apart from the occasional 90-second Newbery film, I'm no filmmaker. Also, what I need to focus on right now is finishing my second book, which is really really really overdue! But if you ever wanted to make a movie of "Odd-Fish," or even film some scenes from it, or whatever, I'd love to help and feature it on my blog when it's done... Thanks again for telling me you liked "The Order of Odd-Fish." It means a lot to me.


Julianna Nobody ever spells my name right, but you did!


message 3: by James

James Kennedy Thanks, Julianna!


Julianna Lucie "Effie- May the odds be ever in your favor!* wrote: "Hey, I wanted to say that I loved your presentation at my school. It was very fun to learn about your book."

It's my school too and it was awesome!


message 1: by James

James Kennedy Thanks, Lucinda! I hope you enjoy the book, too!


back to top