May 2024 | LISLE, IL—InterVarsity Press (IVP) and IVP Kids will be releasing its first middle grade fiction series. Don Everts, a prolific nonfiction author for IVP, has signed a three-book contract with IVP Kids for the Argus Sensates series. The first book in the series, tentatively titled Bubbles and the Argus Sensates, will release in Spring 2026.
Elissa Schauer, editor for IVP Kids, said, “With the success of IVP Kids, we had been considering how to expand our reach to other age ranges of children and youth. I’ll be honest—middle grade fiction wasn’t at the top of my list, mostly because it’s tough to do well. So when Don sent me this manuscript, I figured that I would skim it and then send along my kind regrets. But the reality is, as soon as I started reading, I was hooked!”
The tale of Bubbles and the Argus Sensates asks the questions, What if you could see beyond the mere physical as you walked the halls of your high school? What if, without warning, you were suddenly able to see regret or hear anxiety or smell anger? This is exactly what happens to the protagonist, Oscar Bender.
“On one level, this is a fun coming of age story that trades on the natural appeal of stories that involve young teens discovering special abilities, finding community with others who are like them, and pooling their unique abilities to defeat evil,” Everts said. “On another level, this novel creatively explores the wonderful adventure of growing up in today’s quickly changing, complex, tech-dominated world by pulling back the curtain on the usually unseen but unquestionably real world of the heart and soul and mind and gut. The Sensates’ unique abilities force them (and by extension the reader) to reexamine the important landscape of the ‘metaphysical’: What is really true about regret and anger and temptation and relationships and prayer and friendship and anxiety and distraction and hope? Finally, there is a spiritual level to this story. Oscar’s first-person account allows the reader inside his Christian faith and blooming prayer life.”
Everts adds that each of the three books in the series will provide a unique first-person account of what it’s like to be a Sensate, to be given a glimpse into important realities of the inner life while also navigating the complexities of high school and helping solve the latest in a string of mysteries that, it turns out, are all connected to a sinister conspiracy.
Schauer said, “Don’s initial query to me stated that he uses the genre of magical realism to ‘engage the soul, form the mind, and shape the imagination.’ As an IVP editor, those elements are key in the consideration of publishing this book. But as a fiction reader, I knew it would also need to have great characters, an interesting and unexpected plot line, and be filled with relationships and circumstances that draw in the young reader. And I’ve got to say—this book delivers!”
Don Everts is the senior pastor of First & Calvary Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Missouri, and is a writer for Lutheran Hour Ministries and the Hopeful Neighborhood Project. Everts has spent almost three decades helping people on college campuses and in the local church become good stewards of their God-given gifts. Along the way, his wife, Wendy, has been helping Everts do the same. His many books include The Reluctant Witness, The Spiritually Vibrant Home, and The Hopeful Neighborhood, all of which feature original research from Barna and biblical insights for our everyday lives.
Through story and illustration, books from IVP Kids engage, challenge, and delight IVP’s young readers. And in keeping with IVP’s historic mission, IVP Kids offers resources that reflect and celebrate diverse voices, equipping and encouraging children to follow Jesus in every area of their lives.
Contact: Krista Clayton, kclayton@ivpress.com
