Recapping the week in children's and YA rights deals.
Justin Chanda at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has acquired and will edit the first two installments in the Girls of Summer series by Morgan Matson (Amy & Roger's Epic Detour). In the series, Jane, Palmer, Toby, and Liv have been BFFs since childhood, spending every summer together, but the summer they turn 16, nothing – including their formerly unshakeable friendship – will ever be the same. Book one is scheduled for summer 2016; Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management did the deal for North American rights.
Sarah Dotts Barley at HarperCollins Children's Books has bought a YA novel called Don't Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Heasley, author of Where I Belong and A Long Way from You. In the book, Imogene has had enough with the whole world thinking they know her after watching her grow up on her mother's famous blog; with her best friend, Imogene determines that ninth grade is the year they’ll fight back against the mommy bloggers. Publication is set for summer 2014; Leigh Feldman at Writers House brokered the deal for world rights.
Jennifer Klonsky at HarperCollins Children's Books has acquired Adrienne Maria Vrettos's YA novel The Rambler in a two-book deal. Nat is an mystery-loving 15-year-old with Veronica Mars tendencies who has spent much of her life on the road with her father. But when they arrive in upstate New York, the puzzle Nat tries to solve may unravel her own family secrets. Pub date is winter 2015. Tracey Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Nick Lake at HarperCollins U.K. and Phoebe Yeh at HarperCollins U. S. have acquired world-English language rights for the Darkmouth series by Shane Hegarty, arts editor for the Irish Times, after an auction at the Bologna Book Fair. In this debut middle-grade fantasy series, humans and monsters – known as Legends – live in separate worlds. Legend Hunting skills are passed down through generations, and Finn is slated to carry on that tradition, but he proves unskilled and the fate of the world rests with him. The first book, called Darkmouth, is scheduled for summer 2014. Marianne Gunn O'Connor of Marianne Gunn O'Connor Literary Agency negotiated the four-book deal.
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow Books has signed a two-book deal with PW Flying Start Stefan Bachmann, author of The Peculiar and its forthcoming sequel, The Whatnot. The first book, Dead Man's Palace, is about a group of American teens in France, exploring what archaeologists assume is an 18th-century sewer system, except it isn't: it's a secret and mysterious Versailles, buried 100 feet below the suburbs of Paris. What happened to the family who fled there centuries ago, and are they really alone in the depths? Publication is planned for 2015; Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary did the deal for world rights.
Julie Matysik at Sky Pony Press has bought a picture book from Sarah Frances Hardy (Puzzled by Pink). In Paint Me, a girl who begins the day painting a portrait of her dog gets swept up in the act of painting until she has painted everything she comes across. A spring/summer 2014 pub date has been set; Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media was the agent.
