Judy Blume’s 1981 YA novel Tiger Eyes is coming to the multiplex. Blume has written the screenplay with her son Lawrence Blume, who will also direct the film. Tiger Eyes is the first of Blume’s novels to be translated to a feature film, although there have been several TV incarnations. The novel focuses on a teenage girl whose family is forced to move in with relatives in New Mexico after her father is killed in a convenience story robbery. "I know I have a reputation for not selling my books. And now I'm glad," Blume told the Hollywood Reporter. "Because here I am, working with a director I trust, someone I know understands those characters." Production for the movie began this week in Santa Fe.
In other film news, Walden Media has bought feature film rights to the classic holiday novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, Variety reports. The story originally appeared in McCall's in 1972; HarperCollins published it in book form and it has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. It centers on a group of "the worst kids in the history of the world," who take over the town's annual Christmas pageant.
And Universal will adapt Cate Tiernan's 15-volume Sweep book series for the movies. The series tells the story of Morgan Rowlands, descendant of a long line of witches, who must decide whether to use her powers for good or evil. Alloy Entertainment will produce along with Wild West Picture Show, the production shingle of Vince Vaughn; Robert Nelson Jacobs will adapt. Cate Tiernan is the pen name of author, illustrator, and editor Gabrielle Charbonnet.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish Tempest, the third and final book in Becca Fitzpatrick’sHush, Hush trilogy, on October 18, 2011. The book will be edited by executive editor Emily Meehan and will have a first printing of 250,000 copies. The second book in the trilogy, Crescendo, has just gone on sale. Meehan negotiated the deal with Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management for North American, audio, and e-book rights.
Liz Bicknell at Candlewick Press acquired three picture books by illustrator and animation artist Jon Klassen in a six-figure deal. The books will be the first titles both written and illustrated by Klassen; the first of the three titles, I Want My Hat Back, a new take on the classic repetitive tale, is slated for publication in fall 2011. Klassen’s projects include design work for DreamWorks Feature Animation as well as LAIKA Studios on the feature film Coraline, and illustrations for The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and Cats’ Night Out. Steven Malk of Writers House brokered the auction.
Nancy Conescu at Dutton Children’s Books has bought world rights to an untitled YA novel by Prophecy of the Sisters author Michelle Zink. In the book, 16-year-old Helen Cartwright discovers, after her parents are murdered, that she must prepare to be brave, to be hunted, and to be good, because temptation is hard to resist, even for an angel. Publication is planned for spring 2012. Steven Malk at Writers House did the two-book deal.
Kate O'Sullivan of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has bought North American rights to middle-grade author R.L. LaFevers' foray into YA romance: a trio of historical fantasies focusing on teen girl assassins in 15th-century France. In Dark Mercy, scheduled for spring 2012, Ismae learns she was sired by the god of death, is trained as an assassin, and is sent to court as a spy, where she must choose between serving her dark god and opening her heart to love. Companion novels Dark Justice and Dark Hope, each focusing on a different assassin from the convent, will publish in spring 2013 and spring 2014. Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency brokered the deal; Rights People represents foreign and translation rights.
Julia Maguire at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers acquired North American rights to a YA trilogy set in space in the future by co-authors
Martin Leicht and Isla Neal. The first book in the series, tentatively titled Parasite, is billed as Juno meets Alien. Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media and Joanna Volpe at Nancy Coffey Associates co-agented the deal, which was sold via auction.
