From The Globe and Mail:

Jacob Two-Two, one of the late Mordecai Richler’s most famous characters, could be forgiven if he felt uncomfortable with being immortalized in a trilogy. After all, he’s two plus two plus two years old, has two brothers and two sisters, and has to say everything twice just to be heard “ odd numbers aren’t his thing. So perhaps it’s fitting that a fourth book will soon be added to the series.

The Globe and Mail has learned that Tundra Books, the children’s book arm of Canadian publisher McClelland & Stewart, has contracted Toronto-based author Cary Fagan (The Fortress of Kaspar Snit) to write a new installment that sees the precocious and imaginative Jacob take to the turbulent seas for a new adventure.

The book will be illustrated by 2007 Governor-General’s award finalist Dusan Petricic and will be the crown jewel in a larger project that will see Richler’s three books re-released, all with new illustrations and covers by Petricic, with Fagan’s new work in the fall of 2009.

With all due respect to Fagan and the good folks at Tundra, continuing a series by a late author is usually just a cash-grab, usually just a cash-grab.