Zareen Jaffery from Simon & Schuster has acquired Kathryn Ormsbee's contemporary YA novel, Tash Hearts Tolstoy, about a teen dealing with sudden Internet fame after her web series is nominated for an award, bringing out the critics and her own self-doubt, while she better acquaints herself and those around her with her asexuality and prepares to meet her long-term Internet crush. Publication is slated for summer 2017; Beth Phelan at the Bent Agency negotiated the deal for world English rights.
David Levithan at Scholastic has bought a new YA novel, Just Another Girl, from Elizabeth Eulberg. In the story, Hope thinks there's only one thing coming between her and her longtime crush: his girlfriend, Parker. But soon Hope will learn that while her enemy's life appears perfect on the surface, Parker's only one revelation away from losing everything. Publication is scheduled for spring 2017; Erin Malone at WME brokered the deal for North American rights.
Margaret Ferguson at FSG has acquired Spin, a contemporary YA novel by Marcella Pixley, author of Without Tess, about a boy whose grief over his mother's death is eased by new friends and idiosyncratic teachers who show him how to embrace the beautiful chaos of uncertainty. Publication is set for January 2017; Victoria Wells Arms of Wells Arms Literary negotiated the deal and Rebecca Mancini at Rights Mix is handling translation rights.
Margaret Raymo at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has preempted Laura Creedle's debut novel The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily, which tells what happens when Lily goes off her ADHD meds and spontaneously kisses Abelard, the brilliant, beautiful boy with Asperger's. Publication is planned for fall 2017; Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich brokered the deal for world rights.
Andrea Davis Pinkney at Scholastic has bought North American rights to Celeste Lim's debut novel, The Crystal Ribbon. Set in medieval China, it tells the story of Jing, a girl sold by her family to become the bride of a three-year-old husband, and follows her escape and mystical journey, in which her destiny is foretold by a golden fox spirit. The book is slated for publication in 2017; Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio negotiated the deal.
Dana Chidiac at Dial has acquired Matthew Landis's Private Oliver Prichard and a second, untitled book at auction. The middle-grade novel follows eighth-grade Civil War buff Oliver as a social studies project gives him an unexpected opportunity to make friends – if he can just keep his obsession with the past from interfering with the present. Publication is set for spring 2018; a second book will follow in spring 2019. Lauren Galit at LKG Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Krista Vitola at Delacorte has bought Donna Gephart's The Greatest Love Story Ever Bowled, about two middle school students with very little in common, who connect via an errant bowling shoe and come to realize their differences may just be the best things about them. Publication is scheduled for summer 2017; Tina Wexler at ICM did the deal for North American rights.
Christy Ottaviano at Henry Holt's Christy Ottaviano Books has acquiredSparks: The Gilded Age Battle to Run the World and The Rough Rode: The Gilded Age Rise of the Rough Riders, the first two books in the Gilded Age middle grade narrative nonfiction series by Mike Winchell. The first book, which chronicles the War of the Currents between Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse to light the world with electricity, is planned for 2017. Brianne Johnson at Writers House negotiated the deal for world rights.
Rebecca Weston at Delacorte has bought Christopher Edge's contemporary middle-grade adventure, The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, about a boy who, when his quantum physicist mother dies, is determined to find her and the answers to his questions in a parallel universe, armed only with a box, a laptop, and a rotting banana. Publication is slated for summer 2017; Kate Wilson at Nosy Crow (U.K.) brokered the two-book deal for North American rights.
Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired world rights to Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry (l.), illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, about a captain who learns to deal with new neighbors with a little help from the sea. Publication is set for fall 2018; Elena Giovinazzo at Pippin Properties represented the author and Stefanie Von Borstel at Full Circle Literary represented the illustrator.
David Saylor at Scholastic Press has bought world rights to Good Night, Bunny, a picture book by Lauren Thompson (l.), illustrated by Stephanie Yue, about a bunny's gentle good night wishes to all her favorite things. Publication is scheduled for spring 2018; Thompson was unagented, and Barry Goldblatt of Barry Goldblatt Literary represented Yue.
Mark Siegel at First Second Books has acquired world rights to the comics-influenced nonfiction picture book Little Sid, written by Ian Lendler, and illustrated by Xanthe Bouma. It tells the story of the childhood of Buddha, as well as some of the ideas behind Buddhism. Publication is slated for 2018; Tanya McKinnon at McKinnon McIntyre did the deal.
Julie Matysik at Sky Pony Press has bought I Love Sharks, Too!, by Leanne Shirtliffe, a picture book illustrated by Lorenzo Montatore about a shark-obsessed boy who uses his shark-tastic knowledge to get out of doing what his mother asks. Publication is scheduled for May 2017; Jill Marr of Sandra Djikstra Literary Agency represented the author and Anne Moore Armstrong of Bright USA represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.
Beverly Horowitz and Krista Marino at Delacorte have acquired a new YA series from Brandon Sanderson. The Apocalypse Guard series, a planned trilogy, is set in a world parallel to that of the Reckoners, and an organization of superpowered individuals is at its center. Their collective objective is to save doomed planets, until the day something goes horribly wrong and it is up to one young member of the guard to fix things before time runs out for her and the planet she calls home. Publication is planned for spring 2018; Eddie Schneider at JABberwocky Literary Agency brokered the deal for U.S., Canada and open market rights.
Jen Besser at Putnam has bought Legend author Marie Lu’s new duology, Warcross, about two teen bounty hunters hired by a young billionaire to catch a hacker in the world's most popular virtual reality video game. Publication is scheduled for 2017; Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency negotiated the seven-figure deal for North American rights.
Sara Goodman at St. Martin's has acquired at auction 20-year-old Wesleyan student Jenny Fran Davis's debut young adult novel, Love from the Funny Farm. Told in a series of letters to her friends and estranged family back in Manhattan, along with clippings and documents, it's the story of Flora Goldwasser, a fish out-of-water in a vintage Grace Kelly dress, navigating her new life at a Quaker boarding school. Publication is slated for spring 2017; Miriam Altshuler at DeFiore and Company brokered the two-book deal for North American rights.
Jessica Dandino Garrison at Dial has bought author Jessica Taylor's next two YA novels, including A Map for Lost Girls, a nonlinear story of sisterhood and survival, in which one sister makes a terrible choice that destroys their relationship. Publication is not yet scheduled; Melissa Sarver White at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management negotiated the six-figure deal for world rights.
Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends has acquired Meant to Be, a YA novel by Julie Halpern. Looking for love becomes obsolete in a world where the name of your soul mate appears on your chest the day you turn 18. But Agatha Abrams doesn't want fate: she wants free will and struggles to find love her own way. It's set for fall 2017; Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio brokered the deal for North American rights.
Michael Strother at Simon Pulse has acquired The Book of Ezra by Carolyn Adams. Pitched as Edgar Allan Poe meets The Exorcist, the novel features a teen boy sent to a poor farm by his affluent parents – who are embarrassed by his gigantism – and soon realizes his charming, enigmatic new roommate may actually be possessed by the devil. Publication is slated for fall 2017; Mandy Hubbard at Emerald City Literary did the deal for world rights.
Michael Strother at Simon Pulse also acquired Want by author Cindy Pon. A near-future thriller set in Taipei, the novel follows a group of teens living on the fringes of a highly divided society that only works for the elite. They risk everything when they decide to take matters into their own hands and save a pollution-choked Taiwan. Publication is planned for summer 2017; Bill Contardi at Brandt & Hochman negotiated the deal for world rights.
Alix Reid at Carolrhoda has acquired Elana K. Arnold's What Girls Are Made Of, a YA novel that follows 16-year-old Nina Faye to a high-kill animal shelter, Planned Parenthood, and Rome as she probes the conditions of love, sex, and the recipe for femaleness. The book is scheduled for spring 2017; Rubin Pfeffer of Rubin Pfeffer Content brokered the deal for world rights.
Chelsea Eberly at Random House has acquired The Science of Breakable Things by debut author Tae Keller in a six-house auction. Pitched in the vein of The Thing About Jellyfish, the middle grade story tells of a girl whose science project unexpectedly reveals the truth about her botanist mother's research into a rare orchid and subsequent depression, while starting a journey into better understanding her own cultural identity. Publication is set for fall 2017; Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary negotiated the two-book deal for world English rights.
Calista Brill at First Second has bought Crafty Cat, a series of three graphic novels by Charise Mericle Harper. The books tell the story of Birdie, who is able to fix all her problems with the help of her crafting alter-ego, Crafty Cat. Publication is planned for 2017; Harper was unagented in the deal.
Taylor Norman at Chronicle has acquired Adam Rex's Nothing Rhymes with Orange, a rhyming picture book in which an orange bemoans that every fruit has something to rhyme with except for him. It's slated for fall 2017; Steven Malk at Writers House negotiated the deal for world rights.
Anne Schwartz at Random House/Schwartz & Wade has bought Langston Hughes's That Is My Dream!, to be illustrated by Daniel Miyares, a picture book version of Hughes's poem “Dream Variation.” Publication is scheduled for fall 2017; Knopf represented the Langston Hughes estate for non-exclusive world rights, and Studio Goodwin-Sturges represented the illustrator for world rights.
Jean Feiwel at Feiwel and Friends has acquired Little Chef by Matt Stine and Elisabeth Weinberg (center), illustrated by Paige Keiser (r.), about a girl who wants to be a chef, just like her grandmother, and sets out to prepare a meal for her, only to find that the secret ingredient for her recipe is missing. It is set for fall 2017; Feiwel bought world rights for the text (the authors were unagented) and North American rights for the illustrations, in the deal brokered by Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio.
Lynne Missen at Penguin Random House Canada, on behalf of Tundra Books, has bought world rights to Robert Paul Weston's first picture book, Sakura's Cherry Blossoms, to be illustrated by Misa Saburi. Told in the style of traditional Japanese poetry, the story presents a Japanese girl whose family moves to America and who misses the grandmother she left behind. It's scheduled for spring 2018; Jackie Kaiser at Westwood Creatives represented the author and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator.
Allison Wortche at Knopf has acquired at auction Patricia Valdez's (l.) Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor, illustrated by Felicita Sala, a picture book biography of the pioneering female scientist in the early 1900s who loved reptiles as a child and grew up to design the Reptile House at the London Zoo. Publication is slated for spring 2018; Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media represented the author and Kristen Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.
