Marcel the Shell (The Most Surprised I've Ever Been) is Back!

Time was back in 2013, I wrote a post about a wonderful app called Marcel the Shell With Shoes On.  Brilliant as it was, I wondered if we would see Marcel again.  And sure enough, he's back!

Brainchild of writer/director Dean Fleischer-Camp and writer/actress Jenny Slate, Marcel is a shell you want to hug. 

For those of you who have been living under a shell rock, Marcel originated as a bit Slate joked around with while feeling cramped in a hotel room, she told MTV News. 

Since then, there have been multiple stop-motion short films starring Marcel, as well as the first 2011 children’s book centered around the little guy. And that’s not all: there are plans for a Marcel movie musical as well!

Marcel the Shell: The Most Surprised I’ve Ever Been, hits shelves October 21.


As the title implies, the follow-up to the 2011 bestseller “Marcel the Shell: Things About Me,” chronicles the most surprising incident in Marcel’s life. When Marcel finds himself flying through the air (you'll have to wait to find how he does this), one of the things he sees down below is his grandmother’s house.

Personally, I can't get past Marcel's grandma's French bread, the place Marcel sleeps, of course, when visiting.

"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" App from Penguin Young Readers

In this post, you will learn about (if you haven't already!) and see one of the hottest new apps to be available soon.  Here comes, Marcel the Shell.

(You can see Marcel the Shell in the video at bottom of post.)

Marcel the Shell

The Penguin Young Readers Group is expanding its line of enhanced e-books and is releasing a series of apps based on some contemporary bestselling picture books.  Several examples are: Judy Schachner’s SkippyJon Jones and Jacky Davis and David Soman’s Ladybug Girl and on classic works like The Night Before Christmas and Peter Rabbit.

In November the series will also feature a simultaneous print/app release of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp, based on a wildly popular YouTube video.

Penguin Young Readers associate publicity director Elyse Marshall said the house will release about one enhanced e-book a month though November with multiple releases planned after that date.

Initial releases beginning in August will be offered at the introductory price of $4.99 for a limited time. All releases will feature dedicated Web sites, interactive games, read-along functionality, animation and many other in-app activities for the young reader.

Adam Royce, v-p, digital content development at Penguin Young Readers, said the apps offered an “enhanced reading experience and interactive features that are true to the reading experience.”

Much the same for Ladybug Girl by Davis and Soman, which tells of a girl in a ladybug costume and her canine sidekick; and Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama Red Pajama, a picture book about a baby llama who won’t go to bed.

Both are print bestsellers and the e-books include interactive costume changes for Ladybug Girl; and digital postcards that can be created in the Llama Llama app, which will also be released in a bilingual Spanish-language version.

Coming in November: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, an app with painted illustrations based on a YouTube video—more than nine million viewings—produced by Slate, a former Saturday Night Live performer. This title will feature a simultaneous book and e-book release.

Also coming in November are The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Jan Brett (featuring the Boston Pops Orchestra); and Beatrice Potter’s Peter Rabbit, featuring interactive coloring, reading and matching games for early readers.

Penguin Young Readers associate publicity director Elyse Marshall said the house will release about one enhanced e-book a month though November with multiple releases planned after that date. Initial releases beginning in August will be offered at the introductory price of $4.99 for a limited time. All releases will feature dedicated Web sites, interactive games, read-along functionality, animation and many other in-app activities for the young reader.