New Releases by Michael Ian Black

In this fifth book in the series from New York Times bestselling author Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi, a flamingo, a girl, and a potato tackle what it’s like to feel super-busy-all-the-time. So much to do and so little time! How can a girl get everything done? Especially when Potato and Flamingo are asking her to hula hoop or play superheroes, when she has more important things to do, like piano practice, Spanish lessons, solving mysteries, and getting into the right college. Okay, that might be too much… Can friends can help her find some balance and understand that no matter how busy you get, you should always find time for your friends?

In this fourth book in the series from New York Times bestselling author Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi, a flamingo and a very sorry potato learn how to mend hurt feelings. Flamingo is upset. Very upset. Potato is sorry. Very sorry. In fact, he is the sorriest. But he doesn’t know how to tell Flamingo. He would rather run away to the South Pole and live with penguins. He’d rather wear a disguise for the rest of time. But will that be enough to fix their friendship? Will they ever go back to being a girl, a potato, and a flamingo again?

A girl, a flamingo, and a worried potato star in the third book in New York Times bestselling author Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s series about feelings—and why they’re good, even when they feel bad. Potato is worried. About everything. Because anything might happen. When he tells his friends, he expects them to comfort him by saying that everything will be okay. Except they don’t. Because it might not be, and that’s okay too. Still, there’s one thing they can promise for sure: no matter what happens…they will always be by his side.

A provocative, personal, and useful look at boyhood, and a radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love “Surprising . . . [Black’s] tone is so lovely, his empathy so clear . . . Black’s writing is modest, clear, conversational . . . corny, maybe. But helpful. Like a dad.”—The New York Times Book Review With hope and with humor, Michael Ian Black skillfully navigates the complex gender issues of our time and delivers a poignant answer to an urgent question: How can we be, and raise, better men? Part memoir, part advice book, and written as a heartfelt letter to his college bound son, A Better Man offers up a way forward for boys, men, and anyone who loves them. Comedian, writer, and father Black examines his complicated relationship with his own father, explores the damage and rising violence caused by the expectations placed on boys to “man up,” and searches for the best way to help young men be part of the solution, not the problem. “If we cannot allow ourselves vulnerability,” he writes, “how are we supposed to experience wonder, fear, tenderness?”

A girl, a potato, and a very sad flamingo star in this charming sequel to I’m Bored by New York Times bestselling author and comedian Michael Ian Black and celebrated illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Everyone feels sad sometimes—even flamingos. Sigh. When Flamingo announces he’s feeling down, the little girl and Potato try to cheer him up, but nothing seems to work. Not even dirt! (Which usually works for Potato.) Flamingo learns that he will not always feel this way. And his friends learn that sometimes being a friend means you don’t have to cheer someone up. You just have to stick by your pal no matter how they feel. Even if they’re a potato.

"A humorous satirical field guide for identifying and defeating a Trump when discovered in the wilds of a presidential election"--

New York Times bestselling author and stand-up comedian Michael Ian Black (author of A Child’s First Book of Trump) delivers a “memorable and funny” (Kirkus Reviews) memoir about confronting his genetic legacy as he hits his forties. Black pulls no punches in this hilariously honest memoir, a follow-up to the acclaimed You’re Not Doing It Right. When Michael’s mother receives a harrowing medical diagnosis, Michael begins a laugh-out-loud examination of health, happiness, and the human body from the perspective of a settled (and sedentary) husband and father of two. With the trademark wit that has made Michael’s other books popular favorites, Navel Gazing is a heartfelt and poignant memoir about coming to terms with growing older and the inevitability of death. It is also a self-deprecating and deliciously frank remembrance of exercise failures, finding out he is part Neanderthal, and almost throwing down with fellow author Tucker Max. Michael Ian Black may not have the perfect body. Or be the perfect father. Or husband. Or son. But you will laugh as you recognize yourself in his attempts to do better. And, inevitably, falling short. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll call your mom.

A rooster tries to change his tune in this jazzy picture book that’s perfect for scatting aloud from the author of Naked! and I’m Bored, comedian Michael Ian Black. Mel the rooster’s boring old cock-a-doodle-doo is making him cock-a-doodle-blue—until one day he decides to jazz it up with something brand-new: the cock-a-doodle-doo-bop! But while Mel scats and trumpets away to his revised refrain, the rest of the barnyard isn’t getting into the groove. Because they want the sun, and the sun won’t rise to Mel’s creative interpretation of his standard cock-a-doodle-crow. So the barnyard residents will have to band together and compromise to bring about a fresh day in a fresh way!

A child discovers that the only thing more fun than being naked is wearing nothing but a cape.

Following his first book of hilarious essays in "My Custom Van," Black expands his commentary to the subject that has made him one of the most-followed celebrities on Twitter: his irreverent take on the joys of suburban family life.

When a bored girl meets a potato who finds children tedious, she tries to prove him wrong by demonstrating all of the things they can do, from turning cartwheels to using their imaginations. Full color.

She is a single, twentysomething, gun-loving, Christian, Republican writer and blogger, the daughter of a Senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee. He is a married, forty-year-old, gun-fearing, atheist, Democrat comedian, the son of a lesbian former Social Security employee. Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black barely know each other. But they are about to change the way politics is discussed in America. Or at least the way politics are discussed in their crappy RV. In America, You Sexy Bitch, Meghan and Michael embark on a balls-out, cross-country tour starting in California, the heart of liberal America, and ending in the state of Connecticut, the home of blue-blood Wall Street billionaires. Along the way, they visit such cultural touchstones as Graceland and Branson, party in Las Vegas and New Orleans, pretend to be Mormon in Salt Lake City (only for a second), and go to a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan. They tour the nation's capital; they fire semiautomatic weapons. But mostly Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black talk to each other: about their differences, their similarities, and how American politics has gotten so divided.

Could anything possibly be more fun than a pig parade!? You wouldn't think so. But you'd be wrong. A pig parade is a terrible idea. Pigs hate to march, refuse to wear the uniforms, don't care about floats, and insist on playing country music ballads. Those are just some of the reasons. And trust me, this hysterical book has plenty more!

After asking the reader to think of something spectacular, the narrator sets out to prove his ability to read minds by describing a preposterous situation and characters.

Some bears will go to any length to get some honey. This one recruits every animal that comes along to form, well, a stack. The result? Tail of the duck to the gluteus maximus of the duck-billed platypus (with many other rears in between). Readers will giggle with delight at the bird's eye view of some hysterical animal bottoms. Follow this back-sided journey up the tree - where the real surprise awaits.

A volume of irreverent essays by the comedian from The State and Stella considers such topics as why salami is the world's greatest lunch meat and what Billy Joel would be thinking on his way to a party where there would be a piano.