David Saylor and Cassandra Pelham at Scholastic's Graphix imprint bought world rights to two books by Raina Telgemeier. The first book, Sisters, will be a companion to the author's 2010 Eisner Award winner Smile. Judy Hansen at Hansen Literary, who did the deal, said Sisters, which is set for 2014, will look at "the inner workings of [Telgemeier's] family," focusing on her relationship with her younger sister. The second book in the deal, currently untitled, will also be a graphic work.
Christy Ottaviano of Henry Holt's Christy Ottaviano Books has acquired two books in a new middle-grade series called Witherwood Reform School by Obert Skye, author of the Creature from My Closet series and Leven Thumps series. Two siblings are trapped inside a creepy reform school called Witherwood, a hidden place harboring a secret that does not bode well for children. The first book is due in spring 2014; Laurie Liss of Sterling Lord Literistic brokered the deal for world English rights.
Kathy Dawson at Penguin's Kathy Dawson Books has bought North American rights to Django Wexler's The Forbidden Library, in a pre-empt. It's the first in a fantasy series in which books open new worlds for Alice – literally – when she enters her uncle's off-limits library. Publication is scheduled for winter 2014; Seth Fishman at the Gernert Company did the three-book deal.
Jody Corbett at Scholastic has acquired North American rights to The Last Summer of the Swift Boys, a debut middle-grade novel by Kody Keplinger, author of several YA novels including The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). In her new book, a 12-year-old girl's life is turned upside down one summer when the father of her four best friends (the Swift brothers) leaves his family. Publication is scheduled for 2014; Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media did the deal.
Phoebe Yeh at HarperCollins Children's Books acquired North American rights to a debut middle-grade series by Ted Sanders, whose 2012 story collection No Animals We Could Namewon the Bakeless Fiction Prize. The series mixes science, magic, and metaphysics; it follows a boy who, along with his friends, gains superpowers from a magical box. Book one, The Box and the Dragonfly, is scheduled for fall 2014; Miriam Altshuler at Miriam Altshuler Literary brokered the four-book sale.
Farrin Jacobs at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has bought world rights to a still untitled nonfiction YA book by Martin Ganda and Caitlin Alifirenka (with Liz Welch, co-author of The Kids Are All Right), chronicling their cross-continental friendship (he's from Zimbabwe, she's from Pennsylvania) and how one letter sent when she was 12 and he was 14 changed both of their lives forever. Publication is set for fall 2014. Sarah Burnes at the Gernert Company represented Ganda and Alifirenka; Brettne Bloom at Kneerim Williams & Bloom represented Welch.
Zareen Jaffery at S&S Books for Young Readers has acquired at auction two middle grade novels by Emma Trevayne, author of the forthcoming YA sci-fi novels Coda and Chorus. In the first book, Gearwing, a boy accidentally travels from his home in Victorian London to an alternate, fairy-populated, steam-clogged version of the city, and is caught in a web of dangerous politics; his only hope of returning home lies with the legend of an enormous, wish-granting clockwork bird. Publication is set for summer 2014. Brooks Sherman of FinePrint Literary Management did the deal for North American rights. Brazilian rights were pre-empted by Companhia das Letras by João Paulo Riff at Riff Agency, in association with Kathleen Ortiz at New Leaf Literary & Media.
Lisa Sandell at Scholastic Press has bought Sara B. Larson's Defy, a debut YA adventure romance pitched as in the vein of Kristin Cashore and Leigh Bardugo. In the novel, the fiercest member of a prince's elite guard is actually a girl disguised as a boy, who gets embroiled in a deadly game of thrones while keeping her secret, and realizes she has far deeper feelings for the prince than she thought. The book will pub in spring 2014; Josh Adams at Adams Literary brokered the deal for North American rights.
