Aubrey Plaza's new children's book 'The Legend of the Christmas Witch' to debut in October

NEW YORK  — Aubrey Plaza has a story she’s been meaning to tell — about the forgotten twin sister of Santa Claus.

The “Parks and Recreation” and “Black Bear” actress has a deal with Viking Children’s Books for “The Legend of the Christmas Witch.” Viking, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, announced Wednesday that Plaza worked on the book with her creative partner Dan Murphy and with illustrator Julia Iredale.

“The Legend of the Christmas Witch,” in which Santa’s sibling Kristtörn seeks a little understanding, is scheduled for Oct. 12.

“This is a story that Dan and I have been working on for some time now and we can’t wait to introduce a character as fierce, independent, and headstrong as Kristtörn to readers this holiday season,” Plaza said in a statement.

Beyond her book release, Plaza has stayed busy. In 2020, she starred as a filmmaker in "Black Bear" and as an ex-girlfriend who comes between couple Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) in Hulu holiday movie "Happiest Season," the first same-sex Christmas rom-com produced by a major studio.

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Plaza appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in December to promote "Happiest Season," revealing COVID-19 affected the film's production.

"COVID-19 was on our set, Kristen got sick. We didn’t know," Plaza said, noting she did not get sick during filming. "A lot of people got sick. It was the last week of February. It was that zone where people were starting to talk about coronavirus, but people were kind of laughing about it — no one understood how serious it was."

She also recalled a conversation she had with one of the transportation crew members when she was leaving the set for the airport.

"I said to one of the transpo guys, 'Do you think I should be worried about this virus thing? What's going on with this thing?' " she said. "And he went, 'It's already here… That (expletive) has been in Pittsburgh for a long time.' …And he was right."

Contributing: Sara M Moniuszko

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