The cover for Octavia Spencer's upcoming first novel has surfaced, and is embedded below, as the award-winning actress expands her name brand, from actress, to author.

As first reported in October, Spencer signed a deal with Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, to publish Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective, a two-book middle-grade series.

The first title in the series, Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit will be published in Fall 2013, and is the author's first novel.

Synopsis:

Randi Rhodes isn't your average twelve-year-old. She's a Brooklyn vigilante with a Tae Kwon Do black belt. But circumstances take a turn for the worse when Randi's mother passes away and her father decides to move to the small and sleepy town of Deer Creek, Tennessee. Randi couldn't be more unhappy—until a mystery arises: the town's two-hundred-year-old time capsule, which is rumored to contain hidden treasure, inexplicably disappears. Randi must solve the case, as the town's fate hangs in the balance.

The press release says that an index at the end of the book will provide fun activities and a website, for what it calls a truly interactive experience.

"I want to take young readers on a sleuthing adventure," says Octavia Spencer. "Growing up I was a huge fan of mysteries like Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown, and my biggest hope is that after meeting these young detectives, kids will experience the same sense of magic I felt when solving my first mystery."

And given Hollywood's infatuation with adapting YA novels right now, I'm sure Spencer wouldn't mind if that trend continues and Randi Rhodes eventually gets the big screen treatment. I guess it partly depends on how successful the novel is.

We'll see.

Here's the cover: