Thompson Does One for the Kids at Scholastic
Celebrated bestselling graphic novelist Craig Thompson has signed to do his first children’s title. The author of Blankets (2003) and Habibi (2011) sold a full-color graphic novel called Space Dumplins to Scholastic. Agent PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit brokered the North American rights deal, closing the sale at auction, with David Saylor. The book, which will be for all ages, is, Mark said, about “a little girl and her misfit friends who set out to rescue her father from the belly of a planet-eating space whale.” Thompson won myriad awards for Blankets, which Top Shelf published, including an Eisner, an Ignatz, and a Harvey (which are all top awards in the comics field).
Fondren Gets into ‘Shape’ for Rodale
Agent Lynn Johnston, who has an eponymous shingle, sold world rights to a book called Shape Up Sisters by Linda Fondren. Rodale’s Alex Postman acquired the title. In 2010 Fondren was named a “CNN Hero”—the distinction is one the cable news network gives out annually to people making a difference in the world—and the book will examine the work she’s done in her hometown. Fondren grew up in Vicksburg, Miss., Mississippi being the state that has been given the unfortunate title of fattest and poorest in the country. There, she challenged residents there to lose a total of 15,000 pounds. Johnston said that Vicksburg could be considered a “hot zone for America’s obesity crisis,” noting that 40% of the kids in Mississippi are currently overweight. The book, Johnston continued, while offering weight-loss tips, will go beyond that to touch on “the effects of class and income on weight.” Shape Up Sisters is scheduled for spring 2014.
Da Capo Goes ‘Psychedelic’ with Jarnow
Ben Schafer at Da Capo bought world rights to a history of the post-’60s counterculture by Jesse Jarnow called Heads: A Subcultural Biography of Psychedelic America. Paul Bresnick at Paul Bresnick Literary brokered the deal for Jarnow, who wrote Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock (2012). This book, Da Capo said, will touch on the Grateful Dead’s importance in nurturing “a still-vibrant network of freethinkers” that extends from people like Steve Jobs to those who make up the Occupy Wall Street movement. Calling the book a “people’s history” of the movement, the publisher noted that it will travel “along the hippie highway to tell the story of how tie-dye became part of the American fabric.”
