Jordan Hamessley at Adaptive Books has bought Trish Cook's new YA novel, Outward Blonde, pitched as an outdoor Orange Is the New Black for the Gossip Girl set. When NYC socialite Lizzie Finklestein has an epic night on the town resulting in a writeup in Page Six, her billionaire parents send her to Camp Smiley, an Outward Bound-style rehab camp that forces Lizzie to come to terms with herself and nature. Publication is slated for 2016. Holly Root at the Waxman Leavell brokered the deal for world rights; Rebecca Mancini at RightsMix is handling U.K. and translation rights.
Stephanie Lurie at Disney-Hyperion has acquired Robin Roe's A List of Cages, a debut novel in the tradition of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, told from the alternating perspectives of Adam, a charismatic 17-year-old with ADHD, and his foster brother, a sensitive boy in a dangerous living situation that Adam must save him from. Peter Steinberg at Foundry Literary + Media oversaw the two-book deal at auction for North American rights; Jess Regel at Foundry is handling foreign rights.
Emma Sector and Michael Strother at Simon Pulse have bought Kim Zarins's debut YA novel, an untitled modern retelling of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Publication is planned for fall 2016; Rachel Orr at Prospect Agency did the deal for world rights.
Carolyn Yoder of Calkins Creek Press has acquired world rights for two American-history-themed picture books by Kate Hannigan (l.). Belva for President, to be illustrated by Alison Jay, chronicles the early women's rights activist Belva Lockwood, who shook up the male establishment to become one of the first women in America to hold a law degree, the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court, and the first officially recorded female candidate for U.S. President. The publication date, as well as the title and illustrator for the second book, are still to be determined. Jennifer Mattson of Andrea Brown Literary represented Hannigan for the deal, and Lorraine Owen of The Organisation represented Jay.
Howard Reeves of Abrams Books has bought, at auction, a nonfiction picture book by Sharlee Glenn about Mary Lemist Titcomb, the founder of the bookmobile in America. The book, tentatively titled Mary Did It Anyway: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile, chronicles Mary's life and her dedication to the philosophy that books were for everyone. Publication is set for 2017; Ronnie Herman of the Herman Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Janine O'Malley at Farrar, Straus and Giroux has acquired world rights to Alison Goldberg's debut picture book, I Love You for Miles and Miles, illus. by Mike Yamada, The story, scheduled for 2017, compares a parent's love for a child to all manner of vehicles, distances, and modes of transportation. Kathleen Rushall at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency represented the author, and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator.
