Joy Peskin at FSG has acquired North American rights to Brown Baby Lullaby by Tameka Fryer Brown, illustrated by A.G. Ford. In the story, Momma and Papi struggle to get through the evening's routine with their strong-willed toddler, but wouldn't have their sweet, brown baby any other way. Publication is scheduled for winter 2019; Marietta B. Zacker of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency represented the author and Steven Malk of Writers House represented the illustrator.
Ruta Rimas at McElderry Books has bought MacDowell Colony fellow Kit Frick's YA debut. Pitched in the tradition of E. Lockhart, Lauren Oliver, and Kara Thomas, See All the Stars tackles the thrills of first love, the pain of betrayal, and the complexities of female friendship, as an 18-year-old navigates her last year of high school in the wake of a mysterious accident for which she's been blamed. Publication is slated for summer 2018; Erin Harris of Folio Literary Management/Folio Jr. brokered the two-book deal for world English rights.
Amanda Maciel at Scholastic has acquired Class Pets, a middle-grade series by Bruce Hale about the misadventures of a motley but close-knit group of classroom pets who get together each night after school is dismissed. The series will launch in 2018; Steven Malk at Writers House sold world rights in a four-book deal.
Caitlyn Dlouhy of Atheneum's Caitlyn Dlouhy Books has bought Newbery Honor author Kathi Appelt's next middle-grade novel, the story of a coyote who discovers an ancient egg buried in the Cap Rock Canyons near modern-day Abilene, Texas. The book, currently untitled, is planned for 2019; Holly McGhee of Pippin Properties did the deal for North American rights.
Catherine Onder at Bloomsbury has acquired Lauren DeStefano's middle grade novel The Girl with the Ghost Machine, in which a girl's father is so obsessed with a machine that might be able to bring back the dead that she decides to take a stand and either make it work or destroy it forever. It will be published in spring 2017 and a second, untitled novel will be published in spring 2018. Barbara Poelle of Irene Goodman Agency brokered the two-book deal for world English rights.
Stacy Whitman at Lee & Low's Tu Books has bought No Base Like Home by ESPN broadcaster and Olympic medalist Jessica Mendoza (l.) and her sister, Alana Mendoza Dusan. In the middle grade novel, the first in a series, 11-year-old Sophia Garcia tries to live up to her legendary older sister’s softball skills. Publication is set for spring 2018; Jessica Regel at Foundry Literary + Media negotiated the deal for North American English and Spanish rights on behalf of Pretty Tough Productions.
Tracey Keevan at Disney-Hyperion has acquired, in a four-house auction, Captain Superlative, J.S. Puller's debut middle grade novel. In this mystery, a quiet outsider becomes obsessed with the eccentric and enigmatic Captain Superlative, a masked superhero who runs through the halls of their middle school, performing radical acts of kindness. Publication is scheduled for fall 2018, Brianne Johnson at Writers House did the six-figure, two-book deal for world rights.
Wendy Lamb at Random House's Wendy Lamb Books pre-empted North American rights to The Pumpkin War, a debut middle grade novel by Cathleen Young. In the book, a 12-year-old tomboy tends bees, bottles honey, and shears llamas while growing a 2,000-pound pumpkin so she can win the annual pumpkin race and reclaim the prize her best friend Sam snatched from her last summer. The author, a former television writer, is a winner of the Christopher Award and the Humanitas Prize. Publication is slated for 2018; Mollie Glick at Creative Artists Agency negotiated the deal.
Adrienne Szpyrka at Running Press Kids has bought debut author Lauren Abbey Greenberg's middle grade novel, The Battle of Junk Mountain, in which 12-year-old Shayne experiences a summer of change and challenges while visiting her hoarding grandmother on the Maine coast. Publication is planned for spring 2018; Amy Jameson at A+B Works brokered the deal for world English rights.
Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury has acquired a debut MG novel,Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn, and a second untitled novel. Eleven-year-old Cat does the quiet work of keeping her family together – whether it's making dinner every night or calming her brother's meltdowns – but this summer, on an unexpected island trip, she'll face an enemy, solve a family mystery, and prove that sweet is not the same as boring. Publication is scheduled for spring 2019; Marietta B. Zacker of Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency sold world rights.
Katie Cunningham at Candlewick has bought world rights to Carolyn Crimi's (l.) debut middle grade novel, Weird Little Robots, illustrated by Corrina Luyken. In a new town with only the robots she creates for company, it only takes a little bit of magic to change everything for nine-year-old Penny Rose. Publication is set for spring 2019; Danielle Smith of Red Fox Literary represented the author and Steven Malk of Writers House represented the artist.
Brittany Rubiano at Disney Press has signed author Leila Howland to write a middle grade novel based on the upcoming Disney Channel program Tangled. The novel will follow Rapunzel as she embarks on new adventures with new friends. Publication is planned for September 2017; Sara Crowe at Pippin Properties negotiated the deal, her first with her new agency. Disney retains world rights.
Connie Hsu at Roaring Brook has bought author-illustrator Jeanette Bradley's debut picture book, Love, Mama, about a young penguin who must cope with missing his mother (and vice versa) when she's away on a business trip. The book is slated for winter 2018. Emily Mitchell of Wernick & Pratt negotiated the deal for world English rights.
Anna Cavallo at Carolrhoda has acquired Vroom! a picture book by Barry Gott. The book centers on a big car race with mice drivers; when a goose comes along to get one of the drivers out of the mud, a cat appears and causes a crash. Publication is set for spring 2018. Ronnie Ann Herman at the Herman Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Kelsey Skea at Amazon/Two Lions has bought a picture book by author-illustrator Vin Vogel, tentatively titled Sea Leo, about a boy who was raised in the ocean and is adjusting to life on land with his human family. Publication is scheduled for summer 2018; Heather Alexander at Pippin Properties negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Farrin Jacobs at Little, Brown has acquired Nobel Peace Prize–winner Malala Yousafzai’s debut picture book Malala’s Magic Pencil, illustrated by Kerascoët, which shares Malala’s story through the lens of her childhood dream for a magic pencil to help make the world a better place. Jacobs also edited Yousafzai’s memoir for young readers, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World. The book will release in fall 2017. Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown represented Yousafzai and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented Kerascoët in the deal for world rights.
Susan Chang at Tor Teen/Starscape has bought two standalone YA novels by Vassa in the Night author Sarah Porter. The first book, Never-Contented Things, slated for fall 2018, features two siblings trapped in an alternate reality that appears to be a precise replica of the college town where they've been living with their foster parents. The second book is currently untitled and is set for winter 2020. Kent D. Wolf at the Friedrich Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Farrin Jacobs at Little, Brown has acquired YouTube celebrity and comedian Ryan Higa's illustrated YA memoir, slated for publication in May 2017. Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media sold world English rights at auction.
Michael Strother at Harlequin Teen has bought North American rights to Cadaver and Queen by Alisa Kwitney, pitched as feministFrankenstein meets Grey's Anatomy, about the first female student at a Victorian-era medical school, who uncovers gruesome secrets that some professors would kill to hide, plus a sequel. Publication of the first book is scheduled for fall 2017; Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency did the two-book deal.
Kristin Rens at HarperCollins's Balzer + Bray imprint has acquired North American rights to librarian Megan Bannen's debut novel The Nameless Prince, inspired by the ancient Persian poem that gave rise to the opera Turandot. Narrated by Hua, a slave girl, it's the story of a prince who will risk anything to save his kingdom, a princess whose impossible riddles have claimed the lives of all her would-be suitors, and the girl who brings them together with terrible consequences. Publication is planned for fall 2018. Holly Root at Waxman Leavell Literary represented the author in the five-house auction.
Annie Berger at Sourcebooks Fire has bought debut author Bridget Morrissey's YA novel, The Place Where We Exist, in which two high school seniors meet for the first time on graduation day and feel instantly connected. When an accident leaves him in a coma, she must piece together the fragments of his life before it's too late. Publication is slated for winter 2018; Taylor Haggerty at Waxman Leavell negotiated the deal for world English rights.
Alix Reid at Carolrhoda Lab has acquired Mary Amato's latest YA novel, Open Mic Night at Westminster Cemetery, in which 16-year-old Lacy Brink wakes up in an antiquated, crumbling cemetery, only to find herself dead and surrounded by a group of bickering ghosts from the 19th century. Publication is set for 2018; Nancy Gallt at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency brokered the deal for world English rights.
T.S. Ferguson at Harlequin Teen has bought, at auction, world English rights to All Out, a short story anthology edited by Saundra Mitchell. The book will feature positive portrayals of LGBTQIA+ characters in historical fiction written by LGBTQIA+ authors, including Kody Keplinger, Benjamín Alire Sàenz, Malinda Lo, emily danforth, and many others. It's scheduled for winter 2018; Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management did the deal.
Beverly Horowitz at Delacorte has acquired in a preempt R.M. Romero's The Dollmaker of Krakow, a middle-grade historical fable set during WWII in the tradition of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The story is told from the perspective of a dollmaker and a unique doll, whose lives change as they also save the lives of others. It's slated for fall 2017; Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency sold U.S./Canadian/open market rights.
Sylvie Frank at S&S's Paula Wiseman Books has bought Kristin Halbrook's (writing as K.D. Halbrook) first middle-grade novel, Smoke and Mirrors. The story follows a girl who loses faith in her culture, family, and friends when bullying at school becomes overwhelming, and she embarks on a quest to discover the roots of a curse that plagues the magical cirque where she has grown up. Publication is planned for fall 2018; Brent Taylor at the TriadaUS Literary Agency negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Joanna Cardenas at Viking has acquired debut middle-grade novelPayback on Poplar Lane by Margaret Mincks in a six-house auction. When a friendly cul-de-sac business competition turns into a ruthless rivalry, two neighborhood kids learn that getting mad and getting even aren't mutually exclusive. Publication is scheduled for spring 2018; Steven Malk at Writers House brokered the two-book deal for world English rights.
Kelly Barrales-Saylor at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky has bought Tara Lazar's The Whizbang Word Book, a nonfiction compendium of zany definitions for word lovers. Publication is set for fall 2018; Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency did the two-book deal for world rights.
Charlie Ilgunas of Little Bee has acquired world rights to Shark-Nate-O by Tara Luebbe (l.) and Becky Cattie, illustrated by Daniel Duncan, about a kid who loves sharks but cannot swim, so he learns how to so he can feel like a shark. Publication is planned for spring 2018. Tracy Marchini of BookEnds Literary represented the authors and James Burns of Bright USA represented the illustrator.
Karen Boss at Charlesbridge has bought world rights to the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children's Book Discovery Award picture book Flying Deep, written by Michelle Cusolito (l.) and illustrated by Nicole Wong. The story invites young readers to imagine themselves as a pilot of deep-sea submersible Alvin, exploring two miles deep where alien-looking life forms thrive. Publication is scheduled for summer 2018; Jill Corcoran at Jill Corcoran Literary Agency represented the author and Teresa Kietlinski at Bookmark Literary represented the illustrator.
Christina Pulles at Sterling has acquired world rights to Amy Dixon's next picture book, Maurice the Unbeastly, about a mild-mannered, vegetarian beast whose gentleness is at odds with the destructive ways of his carnivorous species. Karl James Mountford will illustrate. Publication is slated for fall 2017; the author represented herself and Anne Moore-Armstrong of Bright Group represented the illustrator.
Christianne Jones at Capstone has bought Katy Hudson's A Loud Winter's Nap, a picture book about a tortoise who sleeps through winter and assumes he isn't missing much. However, his friends are determined to prove otherwise. Publication is set for fall 2017; Alli Brydon of Bright USA negotiated the deal for world rights.
