Alex Arnold at HarperCollins's Katherine Tegen Books has acquired world rights to Sixteen Ways to Break a Heart, a he said/she said epistolary YA novel by Lauren Strasnick. After Dan splits with girlfriend Natalie, he receives 16 letters from his ex documenting the highs and lows of their tumultuous romance – letters that ultimately expose an ugly truth about their relationship. Publication is set for summer 2017; Jennifer Rofe at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal.
Natashya Wilson at Harlequin Teen has bought at auction Jen Lancaster's YA debut The Gatekeepers, a fictionalization of the 2012 events in the author's hometown, in which students at a high school in the North Shore of Chicago form a support group after a suicide cluster exposes the dark side of the pressure to achieve and be perfect. It's scheduled for fall 2017; Jessica Regel at Foundry Literary + Media sold North American rights.
Amy Fitzgerald at Carolrhoda has acquired Jennie Liu's debut YA novel, Girls on the Line, in which a teen pregnancy puts two orphan girls in contemporary China on a collision course with factory bosses, family planning regulators, and a bride trafficker. Publication is planned for 2018; Shannon Hassan at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Wesley Adams at Farrar, Straus, and Giroux has bought world rights to debut author Tiffany Stewart's Christmas in July. The story centers on 15-year-old Darby's attempts to save a rundown holiday-themed amusement park in Christmas, Ky. Publication is slated for fall 2017; Tricia Lawrence at Erin Murphy Literary Agency did the deal.
Monica Perez at Charlesbridge has acquired Tracy Barrett's YA novel,My Freefall Summer, about a teen coming of age at her father's skydiving drop zone, where her mother died in an accident years before. It's planned for spring 2018; Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Anne Hoppe at Clarion Books has bought Sarah Beth Durst's middle-grade fantasy The Stone Girl's Story, about a girl made of stone, forever 12 years old, who has outlasted the father who carved her and gave her life. But now the magical marks that animate her are fading, and she must leave home and find help, if she wants her story to continue. Publication is scheduled for spring 2018; Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger sold world rights.
Krista Vitola at Delacorte has acquired Australian author Dianne Touchell's Forgetting Foster, a middle grade novel about 10-year-old Foster, whose father's early-onset Alzheimer's has Foster missing his best friend and searching to be remembered. Publication is set for spring 2018; Angela Namoi at Allen & Unwin did the deal for North American rights.
Phoebe Yeh at Crown has bought The Dragon Squire by Lou Anders, a middle grade medieval twist on Freaky Friday, in which an arrogant dragon and a hapless young squire switch bodies after a spell goes awry. Publication is slated for summer 2018; Barry Goldblatt at Barry Goldblatt Literary sold world English rights.
Andrea Davis Pinkney at Scholastic has acquired at auction North American rights to Hurricane Child, a debut middle grade novel by Kheryn Callender, a work of magical realism set in the U.S. Virgin Islands, centered around 12-year-old Caroline's search for her mother. She sees spirits no one else can – except for the new girl, and crush, at school; the two set out in a hurricane to search for her mother. It's scheduled for spring 2018; Beth Phelan at the Bent Agency negotiated the two-book deal.
Caroline Abbey at Random House has bought What Goes Up by Wen Baragrey, the story of a girl who goes looking for her long-lost father amid the chaos of her mother's fairy camp, her grandmother's feuds, and a potentially dangerous falling satellite. Publication is set for 2018; Sara Megibow of KT Literary did the deal for world rights.
Barb McNally at Sleeping Bear Press has acquiredInvisible Lizard by Kurt Cyrus (l.), a picture book about an attention-starved chameleon that will do almost anything to get noticed (if only he could stop blending in with his surroundings). Andy Atkins will illustrate in his picture book debut, with publication slated for fall 2017. Sean McCarthy at Sean McCarthy Literary Agency represented the author and artist for world English rights.
Deirdre Jones at Little, Brown has bought rocket engineer Suzanne Slade's A Computer Called Katherine, a picture book biography of Katherine Johnson (to be played by Taraji P. Henson in the upcoming film Hidden Figures). Johnson, now 98, is an African-American mathematician and physicist who made fundamental contributions to the NASA missions that put the first American in space and the first man on the moon. Publication is planned for summer 2019. Karen Grencik at Red Fox Literary negotiated world rights.
Jill Santopolo at Philomel has acquired a book about invention and innovation by innovator and author Temple Grandin. Calling All Brains, aimed at ages 8–12, will feature more than 20 of Grandin's personal childhood projects that started her on her road to becoming a scientist, inventor and engineer, and will include mini-histories of groundbreaking inventions and mini-biographies of the inventors who created them. It's scheduled for 2018; Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Liesa Abrams at Simon Pulse has bought We Are the Ants author Shaun David Hutchinson's new YA book, The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza, about a teen who was the first scientifically confirmed "virgin birth." At 16 she discovers she can heal with a touch; simultaneously, people all over the world start disappearing in beams of light, making her wonder if she is bringing about the Apocalypse. Publication is planned for spring 2018; Amy Boggs at Donald Maass Literary Agency brokered the two-book deal for world English rights.
Joy Peskin at Farrar, Straus and Giroux has acquired playwright Mariah MacCarthy's Squad, about a cheerleader who becomes alienated by her best friend and cheer squad, and sets out to discover who she is without the things that always defined her. Publication is set for fall 2018; Katie Shea Boutillier of Donald Maass Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Nicole Ellul at Simon Pulse has bought world English rights to a YA novel by Shannon M. Parker, The Rattled Bones. In the wake of grief that 17-year-old Maine lobster boat captain Rilla Brae experiences after the unexpected death of her father, the veil between the living and the dead begins to dissolve as Rilla sees a mysterious girl haunting the shores of an abandoned island. The book was pitched as a YA version of Stephen King's Bag of Bones. Publication is slated for August 2017; Melissa Sarver White of Folio Literary Management negotiated the deal.
Joanna Cardenas at Viking has won at auction Celia C. Pérez's debut illustrated novel The First Rule of Punk, in which 12-year-old Malú causes a bit of anarchy at Posada Middle School when she starts a punk band. Publication is scheduled for late 2017; Stefanie von Borstel at Full Circle Literary brokered the deal for world rights.
Brett Duquette at Sterling has acquired TV writer Fracaswell Hyman's debut middle-grade novel Mango Delight. After a falling out with her best friend, Mango is the victim of a prank aimed to crush her spirit; Mango must decide the kind of friend she wants to have... and wants to be. Publication is planned for spring 2017; Kevin O'Connor at O'Connor Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow has bought Wendy McLeod MacKnight's second novel. Twelve-year-old Sargent Singer is sent away from home to reconnect with his estranged father, who is the director of an art gallery. During his visit, Sargent sees a portrait of a girl named Mona Dunn stick out her tongue and the secret of the gallery is revealed. A friendship is formed between Sargent and Mona, then tested when art thieves threaten to steal Mona and other masterworks. Publication is set for winter 2018; Lauren Galit at LKG Agency negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights.
Erin Stein at Macmillan's Imprint has acquired the middle grade novel My So-Called Super Powers by Heather Nuhfer, along with two other books in the series. Veronica McGowan is an average, unremarkable 13-year-old who is desperate to be an "est" – cutest, smartest, funniest – but instead she just might be the weirdest. Publication is scheduled for spring 2018; Bernadette Baker-Baughman at Victoria Sanders & Associates did the deal for world rights.
Krestyna Lypen and Elise Howard at Algonquin Young Readers has bought Girl in the Well Is Me author Karen Rivers's next untitled middle grade novel, about the daughter of a washed-up celebrity who makes a wish to find the mother who abandoned her when she was a baby. Publication is slated for 2018; Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the two-book deal for world rights.
Carolyn Yoder at Boyds Mills Press/Calkins Creek has acquired world rights to Rich Wallace and Sandra Neil Wallace's Bound by Ice: A True North Pole Survival Story. It's a nonfiction account of the late 19th-century ill-fated polar expedition of George Washington De Long, and his crew's harrowing struggle for survival in the Arctic winter. Publication is planned for fall 2017; Liza Voges at Eden Street represented the authors.
Neal Porter at Roaring Brook Press's Neal Porter Books has bought Tricia Tusa's Please Come In!, starring a very theatrical Eleanor Sue, who loves to dress up and fool her mama with increasingly inventive disguises... until Mama decides to get into the act. Publication is scheduled for 2018; Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties sold North American rights.
Maria Modugno at Random House has acquired Runaway Baby Brother, written and illustrated by Katy Hudson. In the story, Chick finds out that a tagalong baby brother can sometimes be a good thing. It's slated for spring 2018. Allie Brydon of Bright USA sold world rights.
Rachel Stark of Sky Pony Press has bought world rights to Gina Linko's Flower Moon, a middle grade novel about identical twins who have been inseparable their whole lives, until one summer, in which they not only grow apart, but are actually being pushed apart by a mysterious force. Publication is set for fall 2017; Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary negotiated the deal.
Kelly Barrales-Saylor at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky has acquired Cheer Up, Ben Franklin!, the first in author-illustrator Misti Kenison's board book series that introduces young readers to history. It's scheduled for July 2017; Anna Olswanger at Olswanger Literary brokered the three-book deal for world rights.
Deirdre Jones at Little, Brown has bought the Draw-It-Yourself Adventures from Danger Is Everywhere illustrator Chris Judge (l.) and author Andrew Judge. They are four chapter books that encourage readers to draw in the details of a story – and make choices that lead to different endings – as they follow a character through an alien adventure, a spy adventure, a superhero adventure, and a magic adventure. Publication is set for spring 2017, summer 2017, fall 2017, and winter 2018. Antonia Pelari at Scholastic U.K. negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Stephanie Pitts at Random House's Schwartz & Wade Books has acquired Ernestine's Milky Way, written by Kerry Madden (l.) and illustrated by Emily Sutton, in which five-year-old Ernestine embarks on a journey to deliver milk to her neighbors in the holler. The projected publication date is spring 2019; Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown, Ltd. sold North American rights for the author, and the illustrator represented herself and sold world rights.
