Allyn Johnston at S&S's Beach Lane Books has acquired Marla Frazee's The Bossier Baby, a sequel to The Boss Baby, which is forthcoming as an animated film from Dreamworks Animation in 2017. In the picture book sequel, the Boss has to contend with an even bossier new arrival – a baby sister CEO. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Steven Malk at Writers House did the deal for world rights.
Kate O'Sullivan of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt won a six-publisher auction for Andrea Tsurumi's debut picture book, Accident!, in which Lola the armadillo kicks off a crescendo of calamities in her Richard-Scarry-ish world. Publication is slated for fall 2017; Stephen Barr at Writers House negotiated the two-book deal for world rights.
Donna Bray of HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray has bought author-illustrator Tom Sullivan's debut picture book, I Used to Be a Fish, in a five-publisher auction. Distilling the concept of natural selection into one boy's life story, Sullivan makes scientific theory relatable through humor and character. Publication is planned for fall 2016; Steven Malk of Writers House brokered the deal for world rights.
Neal Porter of Roaring Brook's Neal Porter Books has acquired world rights to husband-and-wife team Aaron Bagley and Jessixa Bagley's Vincent Comes Home, which they are co-authoring and co-illustrating. The book is about a cat who has lived his entire life at sea and wonders what it would be like to go “home.” Jessixa's debut novel,Boats for Papa, was also published by Porter. It pubs in winter 2018; Alexandra Penfold of Upstart Crow Literary did the deal.
Anne Schwartz at Random House's Schwartz & Wade Books has bought Patricia C. McKissack's Let's Clap, Jump, Sing, and Shout; Dance, Spin, and Turn It Out!, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, a collection of games, songs, and stories from the author’s childhood. Publication is slated for spring 2017; Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown Ltd. represented the author for North American rights, and Rebecca Sherman at Writers House represented the illustrator for world rights.
Emily Easton at Crown has acquired Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen, a memoir from Jazz Jennings, teen and transgender advocate and the star of the TLC reality series I Am Jazz, which chronicles her public journey and reflects on how these experiences helped shape the mainstream attitude toward the transgender community. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Joseph Veltre at the Gersh Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Nancy Paulsen at Penguin's Nancy Paulsen Books has bought MacArthur Fellow Ruth Behar's Lucky Broken Girl, a semi-autobiographical middle grade novel in which a young Cuban immigrant is beginning to adjust to life in New York City when her American dream is derailed by a car accident. Publication is set for spring 2017; Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group brokered the deal for USPCOM rights.
Alexandra Cooper and Jennifer Lambert at HarperCollins preempted Hadley Dyer's Here So Far Away, in which sharp-witted 17-year-old George Warren falls in love with an older man, also named George, makes friends with an old moonshiner, and becomes pathologically attached to a pig – all under the gaze of a romantic heritage lighthouse. Dyer is a former editor at HarperCollins Children's Books in Canada. The book is planned for fall 2017 publication; Emily van Beek at Folio Jr. / Folio Literary Management negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights.
Wendy McClure at Albert Whitman has acquired debut author Lisa Koosis's Resurrecting Sunshine, a novel about memory and identity, in which a grieving young musician must make an impossible choice about cloning the girl he loved. Publication is set for fall 2016; Brianne Johnson of Writers House brokered the deal for world rights.
Adrienne Szpyrka at Sky Pony Press has acquired Lisa Ann Scott's middle grade novel, Back on the Map, a story about community, family, and creativity, in which orphan twins Penny and Porter will do whatever it takes to avoid being split up. It's scheduled for spring 2017; Jennifer Unter at the Unter Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Heather Howland at Entangled Teen has bought Never Apart by Romily Bernard, about a girl and boy who die repeatedly, falling between parallel worlds, but always being found by the same killer until the fall that unravels everything. Publication is slated for summer 2017; Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary did the deal for world rights.
Jillian Manning at Blink has bought Alison Gervais's Wattpad phenomenon, In 27 Days, a YA novel in which protagonist Hadley Jamison must go back in time 27 days to save the life of a boy she barely knows. Publication is slated for summer 2017; Blink did the deal for exclusive world rights.
Robin Herrera at Oni Press has acquired The Searchers, written and illustrated by Jonathan Hill. Years after a mega-earthquake has devastated the Pacific Northwest, three Asian-American siblings set off to find their estranged mother. Publication is set for 2017; the author was unagented.
Liza Kaplan of Philomel has acquired Emily Barr's YA debut from Camilla Borthwick at Penguin Random House U.K. in a six-figure, two-book deal. The One Memory of Flora Banks is a psychological thriller as well as a coming-of-age novel, starring a protagonist with no short-term memory who must navigate the Arctic landscape of Norway. The book will publish simultaneously in the U.S. and U.K. in January 2017.
Amy Einhorn, for Flatiron's new YA list, has preempted world English rights to Bonnie Pipkin's YA debut, Aftercare Instructions. The novel, which Sarah Dotts Barley and Caroline Bleeke will edit, follows a 17-year-old girl who is left at Planned Parenthood by her boyfriend after they agree to abort her unwanted pregnancy. Van Beek calls the book a “format-crushing story” that shifts between a traditional narrative and a play. It's tentatively scheduled for 2017; Emily Van Beek at Folio Literary Management represented Pipkin in the deal.
Sarah McCabe at Simon Pulse has bought Caitlin Sangster's untitled debut YA fantasy and its sequel, both set in a world ravaged by a sleeping sickness, which follows a teen who must escape the only society she's ever known when she's accused of treason. Publication is planned for fall 2017 and fall 2018; Victoria Wells Arms at Wells Arms Literary did the deal for world English rights.
Jillian Manning at Blink has acquired a debut YA novel by Christina June, It Started with Good-bye, a contemporary twist on the Cinderella tale. Under stepmother-imposed house arrest for the summer, 16-year-old Tatum launches a secret graphic design business and starts an unexpected romance with a cute cello player. Publication is slated for spring 2017; Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Caroline Abbey at Random House has bought Lisa Greenwald's Epic Kale: and Other Cleanses for a Broken Heart, in which a newly dumped high school student and her loyal best friend start a healthy smoothie business out of a mobile snow cone truck while catfishing her ex-boyfriend. Publication is set for summer 2017; Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Emma Ledbetter at Atheneum has acquired Quicksand Pond by Janet Taylor Lisle, a middle grade novel about the summer that 12-year-old Jessie spends with her family on a New England pond, involving a star-crossed friendship, a reclusive old lady with buried secrets, and a decades-old murder. Publication is scheduled for summer 2017; Gina Maccoby of Gina Maccoby Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury has bought a stand-alone middle grade novel by Kate Messner, Breakout, in which a small town is rocked when two inmates from the nearby maximum-security prison stage a breakout and a tween reporter is caught in the maelstrom. Publication is slated for spring 2018; Jennifer Laughran at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency did the deal for world English rights.
Nancy Siscoe at Knopf has acquired David Barclay Moore's The Stars Beneath Our Feet, the middle grade story of a boy growing up in the projects of Harlem who discovers that creativity and an unlikely friendship – rather than revenge – are the best way to grieve his brother's untimely death. Publication is set for fall 2017; Steven Malk at Writers House brokered the two-book deal for world English rights.
Karen Boersma and Karen Li at Owlkids have bought world rights to two picture books by debut author Julie Zwillich (l.), They Told Phoebe to Sound It Out and Not 'Til Tomorrow, Phoebe, to be illustrated by Denise Holmes. In the books, preschooler Phoebe investigates the mysteries of phonics while learning to write her name, and the mysteries of time while waiting for a special day to arrive. Publication of the first book is scheduled for spring 2017; Amy Tompkins at the Transatlantic Agency represented the author and Nicole Tugeau at Tugeau2 represented the illustrator.
Donna Bray at Balzer + Bray has preemptedThe Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt (l.), illustrated by Adam Rex. In this picture book, the origins of the ubiquitous, fate-deciding game are revealed. Publication is planned for spring 2017; Steven Malk negotiated the deal for world rights.
Sylvie Frank at Simon & Schuster's Paula Wiseman Books has acquired world rights for Tim McCanna's (l.) Water Song, illustrated by Richard Smythe, a story told in onomatopoeia about the coming and going of a rainstorm. Publication is slated for spring 2017; Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented the author, and Anne Armstrong of Bright USA represented the illustrator.
Charlie Ilgunas of Little Bee has bought I'm Not Little! by Alison Inches, to be illustrated by Glenn Thomas, about a little monster whom everyone keeps calling little. Publication is scheduled for spring 2017; Kendra Marcus of BookStop Literary represented Inches and James Burns of the Bright Agency USA represented Thomas in the deal for world rights.
