Cindy Loh at Bloomsbury has acquired at auction Stealing Snow, as well as an untitled sequel, by Dorothy Must Die author Danielle Paige, in which 17-year-old Snow escapes a mental institution in upstate New York and ends up lost in Algid, a Winterland of ice, reimagining Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Publication of the first volume is slated for fall 2016; Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary did the deal for world English rights on behalf of Danielle Paige and The Story Foundation.
Pamela Bobowicz of HarperCollins has bought in a preempt the Elementia Chronicles trilogy, an unofficial Minecraft-fan adventure series, from debut teen author Sean Fay Wolfe. The first volume is scheduled for publication in July 2015, the second for October 2015, with the third to follow in January 2016. Rick Richter at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth sold world English rights.
Holly West at Feiwel and Friends has acquired The Ministry of S.U.I.T.S by debut author Paul Gamble. After joining the Ministry of Strange, Unusual and Impossible Things, 12-year-olds Jack Pearce and Trudy Emerson discover that the world is not only stranger than they thought, but it also contains a lot more dinosaurs and pirates. Publication is set for April 2016; Gemma Cooper of The Bent Agency negotiated the three-book deal for North American rights.
Michelle Frey at Knopf has bought The Freedom Dress by Suzanne Nelson, the story of a debutante in 1950s New Orleans whose life changes when her race is unexpectedly called into question, prompting her to uncover long-buried family secrets. Publication is slated for fall 2017; Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Dinah Stevenson at Clarion Books has acquired Josanne La Valley's YA novel The Factory Girl, in which Roshen, a Muslim, is forced from her homeland in northwest China to work in a remote factory where she endures harsh conditions and abuse, and resolves to use her budding gift as a poet to expose these wrongs. It's scheduled for fall 2016; Marietta B. Zacker of the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Frances Gilbert at Doubleday Books for Young Readers has acquired Luke Reynolds's picture book If My Love Were a Fire Truck: A Father's Love Song, a father-and-child lullaby filled with boisterous parental love. Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Joanna Cardenas at Viking has acquired two middle-grade novels by Pablo Cartaya. The first, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora, tells the story of a seventh-grader trying to save his late abuela's restaurant and win the affection of the beautiful Carmen using arroz con pollo and a little Jose Martí poetry. The second, Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish, follows a school bully and his special needs brother as they head to Puerto Rico over spring break to find their estranged father.Epic Fail is slated for spring 2017, with Marcus Vega to follow in spring 2018. Jessica Regel at Foundry Literary + Media negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Rachel Griffiths at Scholastic has bought a sequel to the middle-grade adventure Loot, by Judy Blundell under the name Jude Watson. It's a heist novel about a group of the world's youngest criminal masterminds. Loot was recently optioned by Will Smith's production company and is in development as a feature film. Publication of the untitled sequel is scheduled for spring 2016; Molly Friedrich at the Friedrich Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Maria Barbo at HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books has acquired in a preempt a contemporary YA novel called Touch Me Not by Stacey Lee, a #WeNeedDiverseBooks founding member and author of Under A Painted Sky. In the new novel, a 16-year-old aromateur with an extraordinary nose, the last in a long line of love witches, scrambles to reverse the effects of a love elixir after giving it to the wrong target – all while trying not to fall for the woman's attractive son. Publication is set for fall 2016; Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Erin Clarke at Knopf has bought at auction Beast, a YA novel by Brie Spangler, a modern retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” in which the tallest, hairiest boy in town meets and falls for his dream girl, who also happens to be transgender. The book is slated for fall 2016; Mackenzie Brady of New Leaf Literary & Media did the deal for North American rights.
Donna Bray at HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray has acquired at auction Ki-Wing Merlin's Weaving a Net is Better Than Praying for Fish, about a first-generation Chinese-American girl navigating school and classmates while concealing secrets from friends and family, who must learn to rely on others to catch the thief when her father's store is robbed. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Tamar Rydzinski at the Laura Dail Literary Agency negotiated the two-book deal for world English rights.
Tracey Keevan at Disney-Hyperion has bought The Boy Who Knew Too Much by Romily Bernard, to be written under a pseudonym. The middle-grade story follows a boy who steals a train and is sent to reform school, only to discover that a machine in the basement is cloning students to become model citizens. Publication is slated for winter 2017; Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency did the two-book deal for world English rights.
Rebecca Weston at Delacorte has acquired Martyn Ford's contemporary middle-grade adventure, The Imagination Box, about a boy who discovers a box that can make the things he imagines become real, and who has to keep this box from getting into the wrong hands with the help of a professor, his granddaughter, and a finger monkey named Phil. Publication is set for summer 2016; Lizzie Bishop at Faber and Faber U.K. brokered the two-book deal for U.S. rights.
Deborah Noyes at Candlewick has bought The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman, a middle-grade novel about a boy who, escaping his abusive uncle, becomes the unwilling apprentice of an evil wizard in the wilds of the Maine coast. It's slated for publication in fall 2016; Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Jeannette Larson at HMH has acquired at auction a debut middle-grade novel, Standard Operating Procedures by Erin Teagan, in which genius-scientist-in-the-making Madeline Little starts middle school and soon learns science doesn't have all the answers – and that it's now up to her to discover the cure for her newly messed-up life. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Marie Lamba at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency brokered the two-book deal for world rights.
David Linker at HarperCollins has bought the first two books in Ross Burach's picture book series, Pine and Boof, which follows the wilderness adventures of best friends Pine the porcupine and Boof the bear. The first book is planned for fall 2017; Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Victoria Rock has acquired world rights at auction to The Wish Tree by Kyo Maclear (l.), illustrated by Chris Turnham, which illuminates the beauty one finds in giving. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator in the two-book, six-figure deal.