Sarah Dotts Barley at HarperCollins has bought Kathleen Krull's new middle-grade nonfiction series exploring various topics in American history. It was pitched as children's guides to the First Ladies, Supreme Court, and more, to follow the publication of a revised and updated edition of her A Kids' Guide to America's Bill of Rights. Publication is scheduled to begin in winter 2017; Susan Cohen at Writers House did the four-book deal.
Lisa Yoskowitz at Disney-Hyperion has bought world English rights to Rahul Kanakia's debut YA novel Enter Title Here, at auction. Pitched as Gossip Girl meets House of Cards, the story follows over-achiever Reshma Kapoor as she launches a Machiavellian campaign to reclaim her valedictorian status after being caught plagiarizing. Publication is set for fall 2015; John M. Cusick of Greenhouse Literary brokered the two-book deal.
Reka Simonsen at Atheneum has acquired North American rights to R.J. Anderson's middle-grade fantasy, Uncommon Magic, plus an untitled sequel. They star a Veronica Mars-type girl who joins forces with a mystery-loving street boy to solve a murder in a 1930s-style city driven by spell power. It's slated for fall 2015; Josh Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the two-book deal.
Wendy Loggia at Delacorte has bought Save Me, Kurt Cobain, a debut novel by Jenny Manzer pitched as Where'd You Go, Bernadette for teens. In the story, a chance discovery makes a teenage girl believe that not only is Kurt Cobain alive, but that he might be her real father. Publication is planned for 2016; Kerry Sparks at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency did the deal for world English rights, and Elizabeth Fisher at Levine Greenberg Literary Agency has translation rights.
Sara Sargent at Simon Pulse has acquired a YA novel called All We Left Behind by debut author Ingrid Sundberg. For teen couple Marion and Kurt, every kiss unravels memories they would both rather forget, and long-buried secrets threaten to tear them apart. Publication is scheduled for spring 2016; Melissa Sarver White at Folio Literary Management did the deal for world English rights.
Alyson Heller at S&S/Aladdin has bought a debut middle-grade novel by Mari Mancusi, author ofScorched, Gamer Girl, and the Blood Coven Vampires series. Cross My Heart tells the story of an eighth-grade snowboarder who returns to her elite mountain boarding school after an accident nearly destroys her dreams of Olympic gold, and finds herself faced with pressuring parents, frenemies, and first love. It's slated for late 2015/early 2016; Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Abby Ranger at HarperCollins has acquired Kallie George's Duck, Duck, Dinosaur series, starring three unlikely siblings who all hatch out of the same nest and must overcome some unusual sibling rivalry. Ranger is a children's book editor at Simply Read Books in Vancouver. Publication of the first picture book is set for winter 2016, to be followed by a second picture book and four early readers. Emily van Beek at Folio Jr. / Folio Literary Management negotiated the deal for world rights.
Karen Greenberg and Melanie Cecka at Knopf have acquired Miranda Paul's 10 Little Ninjas, a "sensei-tional" picture book twist on a childhood rhyme, in which a group of not-so-sleepy ninja toddlers devise ways to sneak, creep, and tumble their way out of going to bed. It's planned for spring 2016; Karen Grencik at Red Fox Literary brokered the deal for world rights.
Rebecca Davis at Boyds Mills Press has signed artist Fred Koehler (How to Cheer Up Dad) to illustrate Rebecca Kai Dotlich's picture book One Day, The End (Short, Very Short, Shorter than Ever Stories), “in which humor, art, imagination, and storytelling meet and take off.” Publication is scheduled for fall 2015; Tracey Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the deal for Koehler for North American rights.
Anne Hoppe at Clarion Books has bought U.S. rights to a Dragons at Crumbling Castle, a middle-grade collection by Terry Pratchett, illus. by Mark Beech. The 14 stories originally appeared in Buck's Free Press, a newspaper in Buckinghamshire, England; Pratchett, before becoming a novelist, was a reporter and contributed a number of stories to the paper's Children's Circle section. A publication date has not been finalized; Random House U.K. brokered the deal.
Beverly Horowitz at Delacorte Press has acquired U.S. rights to Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar. In the novel, two middle-grade kids take a shortcut home from school and discover what looks like fuzzy mud but is actually a substance with the potential to wreak havoc on the world. Publication is planned for July 2015; Ellen Levine of Trident Media negotiated the deal.
Alexandra Cooper at HarperTeen has bought, in a two-book deal, an untitled debut novel by Kathy MacMillan. The first book, which is scheduled for winter 2016, is described as "a sweeping fantasy in the tradition of Megan Whalen Turner and Diana Wynne Jones." It follows a girl from the underclass who is chosen to be one of four in the kingdom to learn the language of the gods, and unwittingly uncovers a secret that goes back to ancient times. Steven Malk at Writers House did the deal for world English rights.
Susan Chang at Tor Teen has pre-empted world English rights to Vassa in the Night and an untitled YA novel by Sarah Porter (the Lost Voices trilogy). The first book is a magical, modern-day retelling of the Russian folktale "Vassilisa the Beautiful" that, which according to the publisher, "does for Brooklyn what Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat did for Hollywood." It's tentatively set for winter/spring 2016; Kent D. Wolf at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin was the agent.
Reka Simonsen at Atheneum has acquired world rights to The Shadow Behind the Stars by Rebecca Hahn (A Creature of Moonlight), in which the youngest of the three Fates tells of the events that lead her and her sisters to leave their isolated island in aid of a mortal girl, only to discover that their quest to save the girl could bring about the end of the world. Publication is scheduled for fall 2015; the author was unagented.
Leila Sales at Viking has bought Sharon Biggs Waller's untitled follow-up to her debut YA novel, A Mad, Wicked Folly. This story, set in mid-Victorian England after the Opium Wars, follows 17-year-old Elodie as she travels to the mountains of China seeking a rare orchid to save her family from debtors' prison. Publication is scheduled for winter 2016; John M. Cusick of Greenhouse Literary brokered the deal for world English rights.
Joy Peskin at FSG has acquired world rights to Bunny Bus, a picture book by Ammi-Joan Paquette, illustrated by Lesley Breen Withrow, whose sample illustration inspired the story. In the story, the Bunny Bus seems to have room for one and all, but what happens if there is one passenger too many? It is set to publish in winter 2017; Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency represented the author, and Chris Tugeau at CATugeau Agency represented the illustrator.