Andrew Karre at Dutton has acquired Falling Girls and Missing Boys by Corey Ann Haydu, a contemporary YA tinged with what might be magic. It follows a group of friends who have grown up in the shadow of tragedy in a strange Brooklyn neighborhood, where residents live in fear of young women falling in love. Publication is slated for 2017; Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider ICM Partners did the deal for world rights.
Bethany Strout at Little, Brown and Karen Ball at Little, Brown U.K. have bought at auction Cecilia Vinesse's debut novel Seven Days of You, in which 17-year-old expat Sophia’s last days in Tokyo overlap with Jamie’s first days back, and what Sophia thought would be a week of saying good-bye to friends turns into a week of falling in love. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; the two-book deal for world English rights was brokered by Molly Ker Hawn at the Bent Agency.
Catherine Laudone at Simon & Schuster has acquired Kat Helgeson's young adult novel, Bidder's Choice. The story follows two teens entangled in a cutthroat school tradition: a prom date auction. Publication is set for summer 2017; John Cusick of Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management brokered the deal for world rights.
Sylvie Frank at S&S's Paula Wiseman Books has bought N.H. Senzai's Escape from Aleppo, in which 13-year-old Nadia and her family flee Aleppo, Syria, for Turkey in the wake of the Arab Spring. Publication is planned for fall 2017; Michael Bourret of Dystel & Goderich negotiated the deal for world rights.
Reka Simonsen at S&S/Atheneum has acquired Melanie Crowder's new middle-grade novel, Three Pennies, which weaves together a spirited foster child, the harried social worker who takes her case, an avian Confucius scholar, and a dash of magic – all set atop the uneasy tectonic plates of the San Andreas Fault. Publication is scheduled for fall 2017; Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary brokered the deal for North American rights.
Andrew Karre at Dutton has bought Ibi Zoboi's debut middle-grade novel My Life as an Ice-Cream Sandwich, the story of Ebony Grace, her sci-fi-fueled imagination, and her search for a place she can be herself, set against the backdrop of the hip-hop explosion in 1980s Harlem. Publication for the first book is tentatively slated for fall 2017. The second book in the deal will be a young readers' biography of Octavia Butler. Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Alison Weiss at Sky Pony Press has acquired Sarah Schauerte Reida's middle-grade debut, Monsterville: A Lissa Black Production, in which 12-year-old film-obsessed Lissa discovers a shape-shifting monster in her woods and decides to film the greatest horror movie of all time. Then her little sister is taken to the monster homeland of Down Below and she needs the monster's help to get her back. Publication is tentatively set for fall 2016; Lauren Galit of LKG Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Kelly Hashway at Leap Books Seek has bought world rights for Rick Starkey’s debut middle-grade novel Blues Bones, in which a 13-year-old boy uses voodoo to overcome stage fright and has to suffer the consequences of dabbling in dark magic. Publication is planned for spring 2016; the project was unagented.
Kelly Hashway at Leap Books Seek has acquired world rights for Medeia Sharif’s middle-grade horror novel The Haunted Stepsister, in which two stepsisters are plagued by a demon after using a haunted bathroom at school and are now having their darkest secrets revealed. Publication is set for spring 2016; the project was unagented.
Nancy Inteli at HarperCollins has bought two titles from debut children's author Patrick Wensink (l.), to be illustrated by Nate Wragg. The first book, Gorillas Go Night Night, introduces a troop of gorillas struggling to settle down at bedtime and is slated for publication in summer 2017. The second story, Gorillas Go Bananas, will follow in summer 2018. Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the author and Rebecca Sherman at Writers House represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.
Jill Davis at HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books has acquired Bloom, a picture book about fashion rebel Elsa Schiapparelli by Kyo Maclear (l.), illustrated by Julie Morstad. It's scheduled for winter 2018; Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creative Artists represented Maclear, and Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management represented Julie Morstad in the deal for world rights excluding Canada.
Anne Schwartz at Random House's Schwartz & Wade Books has bought Liz Garton Scanlon's A Girl, the Breeze, and the Marvelous Trees, to be illustrated by Lee White. It's a rhythmic cumulative story about environmentalism, in which a girl befriends an old man in a windy house at the top of a steep hill and plants trees to keep the winds at bay. Publication is set for spring 2018; Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency represented the author and Paul Rodeen at Rodeen Literary Management represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.
