Andrea Davis Pinkney at Scholastic took world English rights to The Oodlethunks, a prehistoric chapter book series by Adele Griffin, illustrated by Pixar animator Mike Wu. In the first installment, Oona Finds an Egg, Oona Oodlethunk (think the Flintstones meets Judy Moody) finds an egg. She will stop at nothing to keep everyone's grimy, Cro-Magnon-y hands off it until it safely hatches and she can find out what it is, never mind that it might kill her or eat her. The series will launch in 2015; Emily van Beek of Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management negotiated the three-book deal.
Andrew Karre of Carolrhoda Lab has bought world rights to a YA epistolary novel tentatively titled Resource Room, by Natalie Haney Tilghman and Bill Sommer. It tells of an unlikely friendship that develops via email correspondence between 14-year-old James, who studies the Urban Dictionary in hopes of making sense of his bewildering peer interactions, and 23-year old Darren, who is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend while doing grunt work on the set of a sitcom. The projected pub date is fall 2015; Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger negotiated the deal.
Jordan Hamessley at Egmont USA has bought North American rights to The Summer of Lost and Found, a middle-grade novel by Rebecca Behrens. In it, a girl's father mysteriously disappears and her botanist mother drags her to Roanoke Island for a research trip, where she decides to solve the mystery of the Lost Colony. It will publish in spring 2016; Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media brokered the deal.
Joan Powers at Candlewick has acquired world rights to When We Was Fierce, a YA novel by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, author of Fat Angie. The new novel chronicles the efforts of a group of friends to stay out of gang warfare. It's slated for spring 2016; Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency negotiated the deal.
Katherine Harrison at Knopf has acquired The Goblin's Puzzle: Being the Adventures of a Boy with No Name and Two Girls Called Alice by Andrew S. Chilton, a multi-perspective middle-grade fantasy about three children who band together to outwit a goblin, deceive a dragon, and foil a duke. Publication is scheduled for spring 2016; Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of ForeWord Literary brokered the deal for world rights.
Krestyna Lypen at Algonquin Young Readers has acquired world rights to Samantha Mabry's debut YA novel, Leaves, a reimagining of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story “Rappaccini's Daughter.” It blends magical realism and mystery to tell the story of a boy who is lured into the world of a girl who is nourished by the poisonous plants that fill her scientist father's home in San Juan, where legends collide with reality, the bodies of missing girls are washing ashore, and time is running out for the girl filled with poison. Publication is tentatively scheduled for spring 2016; Michelle Andelman at Regal Literary brokered the deal.
Lisa Yoskowitz at Disney-Hyperion has bought world English rights to a debut YA novel by Carrie Firestone, The Wishwellians, about a 17-year-old whose pre-college summer plans change drastically when her grandmother books the entire family on a death-with-dignity ship called the Wishwell, because she is dying of cancer and is determined to leave this world in her own way. Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger did the two-book deal in a pre-empt, for publication in 2016.
Susan Kochan at Putnam has signed SCBWI Portfolio Grand Prize Winner Juana Martinez-Neal (r.) to illustrate Susan Middleton Elya'sLa Madre Goose, a collection of poems with a sprinkling of Spanish, to be published in winter 2016. Stefanie Von Borstel at Full Circle Literary represented the illustrator, while the author represented herself.
Anne Schwartz at Random House's Schwartz & Wade Books has acquired world rights to Deborah Hopkinson's Independence Cake, illustrated by Giselle Potter, a picture book depicting the life and times of Amelia Simmons, who wrote America's first cookbook in 1796. Publication is slated for spring 2016; Steven Malk at Writers House represented the author; the illustrator represented herself.
Erin Clarke at Knopf has acquired Lady Liberty's Holiday by Jennifer Arena, a picture book in which the Statue of Liberty takes a vacation and sets off to see America. Will she make it back to New York City in time for the 4th of July? It will be published in spring 2016; Jill Corcoran at Jill Corcoran Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Andrea Spooner at Little, Brown has acquired I Promise, a picture book by David McPhail. It tells of a little bear who learns what it means to make and break a promise—as well as the tougher lesson that some things in life simply can't be promised. Publication is planned for fall 2016; Faith Hamlin at Greenburger Associates did the deal for world rights.
Erin Clarke at Knopf has bought North American rights at auction to debut novelist Gavriel Savit's Anna and the Swallow Man. Set during the Second World War, it's the story of a girl whose father is taken away by the Germans during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. With nowhere else to turn, Anna follows a mysterious man who can speak the language of birds into the wilderness. Publication is set for spring 2016; Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management brokered the deal.
Andrew Karre at Lerner Books' Carolrhoda Labs imprint took world rights to Amber Keyser's YA novel, The Way Back from Broken. The novel follows two adolescents, one 15 and one 10, who are both older siblings of infants who died. When the kids are taken into the Canadian wilderness by one of their mothers, the publisher said, they find disaster, “in addition to the fragile hope and terrible beauty that mark the way back from broken.” It's slated for fall 2015. Fiona Kenshole at Transatlantic Literary brokered the two-book deal for Keyser; the second book in the deal is a currently untitled YA novel.
Karre also bought, with Amy Fitzgerald, U.S. rights to Julian Sedgwick's middle-grade trilogy, Mysterium. (Book one in the series, The Black Dragon, came out in the U.K. in July 2013, and book two in January 2014.) Mysterium follows a boy named Danny Woo who is born into a circus company; after losing both his parents in a fire, Danny travels the world in search of their killers. Carolrhoda has scheduled The Black Dragon for 2016; the author is Printz winner Marcus Sedgwick's brother. The deal was brokered by Susannah Palfrey at Hodder in the U.K., which controls world rights for the series.
Jill Davis at HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books has acquired Charlie Pie Chart, a new series by Marilyn Sadler, co-creator of the Handy Manny television show, and Eric Comstock, illustrator and creator of the new series. In the first installment, Charlie Pie Chart and the Case of the Missing Slice, family pizza night is disrupted when a slice disappears, and boy detective Charlie Pie Chart must use math and his unconventional methods to solve the mystery. The first book is scheduled for fall 2015; Lori Nowicki at Painted Words negotiated the seven-book deal for world rights.
Liesa Abrams at Simon Pulse has bought The Remedy, a new YA novel by Suzanne Young, author of The Program and The Treatment. In the book, 17-year-old Quinn McKee has the unusual job of helping grieving families with their loss by playing the role of a recently deceased loved one, working alongside grief counselors. The line between work and life begins to blur, though, when Quinn begins acting the part of the girlfriend whom fellow teenager Isaac has just lost. Publication is set for spring 2015; Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich did the deal for world English rights.
Sara Sargent at Simon Pulse has acquired debut author Dawn Ius's Anne and Henry, a contemporary retelling of the romance between King Henry the VIII and Anne Boleyn, in which Henry is a wealthy, popular teen destined for political greatness, and Anne is the manic pixie dream girl who ensnares him and threatens to destroy the life he's worked so hard to build. Publication is planned for fall 2015; Mandy Hubbard and Bree Ogden at D4EO Literary Agency negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights.
Annie Berger at HarperTeen has acquired Jen Malone's YA debut Wanderlost in a two-book deal. It tells the story of a teenage girl who agrees to impersonate her older sister to keep her from losing her summer job working as a tour guide for a senior-citizen bus trip through Europe. When their carefully constructed plan derails, she'll have to put her improv skills to the test to avoid causing an international incident. Publication is planned for summer 2016; Holly Root of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Kaylan Adair at Candlewick has acquired Lindsay Eagar's middle-grade debut Hour of the Bees at auction. Pitched as Holes meets The House on Mango Street, it's the story of a girl whose feelings about her aged, rambling grandfather are overturned when his tales of a healing tree, a beautiful lake and the imminent return of bees to the desert of New Mexico, start to come true. Publication is set for spring 2016; Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency did the two-book deal for world English rights.
Greg Hunter at Carolrhoda has acquired North American rights to C.M. Surrisi's debut middle-grade mystery The Maypop Kidnapping. It's in a small coastal Maine village filled with eccentric locals; when 13-year-old Quinnie's beloved teacher goes missing, Quinnie leads a relentless, sometimes misguided search – against her mother's orders. It's scheduled for publication in 2015; Linda Pratt at Wernick & Pratt negotiated the deal.
Nancy Inteli at HarperCollins preempted world English rights to Jonathan Ying's picture book series, Not Quite, in a four-book deal. The early concept series, which will begin publishing in 2016, will be illustrated by Victoria Ying. Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions did the deal.
Dinah Stevenson at Clarion has signed Jennifer Black Reinhardt to illustrate Linda Sue Park's Yaks Yak, in which the animals' names inspire their activity resulting in unusual situations. It's slated for spring 2016; Marietta B. Zacker at Nancy Gallt Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
