Katherine Harrison at Knopf has acquired world English rights to two novels from bestselling author Dave Eggers (l.). The first book, a middle-grade novel titled The Lifters, stars a boy named Granite ("Gran"), beset by problems at home, and Catalina Catalan, an enigmatic girl from school who surprises Gran one day by revealing an underground world filled with terrors and wonders. Together they face oddities, obstacles, and an opportunity to save the town and emerge as heroes. Art by The Night Gardener illustrators Eric Fan (center) and Terry Fan will be featured throughout the book. Publication is scheduled for March 27, 2018, with a second book to follow. Andrew Wylie at the Wylie Agency represented the author, and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Agency represented the illustrators.
Liz Kossnar at Simon & Schuster has bought world rights to a memoir and children's book series by Elena Delle Donne. In her memoir, My Shot, the WNBA star and Olympic Gold Medalist shares her story of overcoming the challenges of competitive sports through balancing hard work and the support of her family—from her first year of college when she walked away from a scholarship and a chance to play for UConn, so she could stay in her home state near her older sister, who has several disabilities. Elle of the Ball is the first book in the middle-grade series Hoops, about a middle schooler and her basketball team. Both books will be released on March 6, 2018; Jennifer Keene and Erin Kane at Octagon handled the deal.
Andrew Harwell at HarperTeen has acquired at auction All of This Is True, a YA contemporary novel by Lygia Day Peñaflor. Pitched as Thirteen Reasons Why meets The Secret History, and told as a series of interviews, diary entries, and novel excerpts, the story follows four teens whose lives seem charmed when they meet their favorite author, until her interest in them takes a manipulative turn and leads to a tragedy. Publication is planned for summer 2018; Molly Ker Hawn at the Bent Agency negotiated the deal for North American rights. The book has already sold into six territories.
Jessica Harriton at Razorbill has bought Faith Gardner's YA novel, The Second Life of Ava Rivers. The novel follows Vera Rivers, whose plans to escape her dysfunctional family and their tragic past are put on hold when her twin sister Ava—reported missing 12 years ago—makes a startling reappearance. Publication is slated for summer 2018; Claire Anderson-Wheeler at Regal Hoffmann and Associates did the deal for world rights.
Connie Hsu at Roaring Brook has acquired author-illustrator Lita Judge's free verse and fully illustrated debut YA, a biography entitled Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein. The work reveals the creative forces and life influences that sparked 19-year-old Mary Shelley's masterpiece, which will celebrate its 200-year anniversary in 2018. Publication is set for January 2018; Linda Pratt at the Wernick & Pratt Agency brokered the deal for North American rights.
Calista Brill at First Second has bought Ngozi Ukazu's YA graphic novel Check, Please!, a coming-of age story about gay ex-figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and amateur pâtissier Eric Bittle and his four years with the Samwell University hockey team. Check, Please!will be published in two volumes, and was originally the most funded webcomic on Kickstarter ever. Publication is scheduled for 2018; George Rohac at Organized Havoc negotiated the deal for world rights.
Mark Weinstein at Rodale Kids has acquired world rights, in a three-book deal, to Bicycling magazine writer Molly Hurford's middle grade series, Shred Girls. The books star Lindsay, Ali, and Jen, three fearless girls who love to ride bikes and love each other for who they are. In the first book, Lindsay's Joy Ride, slated for winter 2019, a shy bookworm comes out of her shell when she visits a bike park and learns to ride. The illustrator is to be determined; the author represented herself.
Claudia Gabel at HarperCollins/Tegen has bought world rights to a new middle grade mystery by The Copernicus Legacy author Tony Abbott, titled Denis Ever After. Called back from his peaceful afterlife, the ghost of Denis Egan joins his living twin Matt on a road trip through Pennsylvania, hoping to solve the strange circumstances of his death without jeopardizing his own chances in an eternity where forgetting is mandatory. Publication is planned for summer 2018; Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic did the deal.
Reka Simonsen at Atheneum has acquired world English rights to A Whale in Paris, a debut middle-grade novel by Claire Polders (l.) and Daniel Presley, about a girl who befriends a whale that appears in the Seine during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Erin McGuire will illustrate; publication is set for summer 2018. Marie Lamba at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency represented the authors, and Susan Cohen at Writers House represented the illustrator.
David Linker at HarperCollins has bought in a preempt Kallie George's debut middle-grade novel, Wings of Olympus. The book tells the story of Pippa, a foundling selected by Aphrodite to be her representative in the winged horse race, where the gods and goddesses compete using children as pawns, and where the risks are high but the winner turns demigod and keeps her horse for life. Publication is scheduled for winter 2019; Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights.
Jenny Bak at Little, Brown/Jimmy Patterson has acquired Merrill Wyatt's debut middle-grade novel, Ernestine, Catastrophe Queen, about an overachieving 12-year-old girl who is hellbent on starting the zombie apocalypse, but is interrupted by an attempted murder at the artists’ colony where she and her family live, and must solve the crime before continuing her goal to end the world. Publication is slated for summer 2018; Heather Flaherty at the Bent Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow has bought Streetcar to Justice: How Elizabeth Jennings Won the Right to Ride in New York by journalist Amy Hill Hearth, the bestselling author of Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. The illustrated biography tells the story of Elizabeth Jennings's refusal to leave a segregated streetcar in Manhattan in 1854, setting into motion a historic court case in New York City. Publication is set for winter 2018; Mel Berger at WME did the deal for North American rights.
Nancy Paulsen at Penguin/Paulsen has acquired The Tar Paper Shackby author-illustrator Eliza Wheeler, a picture book about eight siblings and their widowed mother learning to survive, and thrive, in a shack in the woods. The story is based on the author's grandmother's childhood experience in northern Wisconsin during the Depression. Publication is planned for 2019; Jennifer Rofé at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Tamar Brazis at Abrams has bought Don Tate's nonfiction picture book, Pigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes, about an overweight, bullied, impoverished boy who found solace in art, and became a professional football player, and then a successful artist whose work was featured in the Obama movie Southside with You. Publication is scheduled for fall 2019; Caryn Wiseman at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Meredith Mundy at Sterling has acquired world rights to Laura Sassi's (l.) picture book, Diva Delores and the Opera House Mouse, an ode to artistic collaboration, starring an opera-loving mouse who wants to help and the diva who thinks she deserves bigger help than a mouse. Rebecca Gerlings will illustrate; publication is slated for spring 2018. Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented the author, and Hannah Whitty at Plum Pudding Illustration represented the illustrator.
Eliza Berkowitz at Sterling has bought world English rights to Sarah Glenn Marsh's (l.) Selfie Sebastian, to be illustrated by Florence Weiser. In the book, Sebastian the fox goes on an elaborate quest to take the perfect picture, but it seems like there's something missing from his shots, until a photobomb shows him what's been missing all along: his friends. Publication is set for spring 2018; Christa Heschke at McIntosh and Otis represented the author, and Alli Brydon at Bright USA represented the illustrator.
