Sara Sargent at HarperCollins has acquired Dreaming Out Loud by Baby Ariel, the musical.ly phenomenon and singer with more than 35 million followers who was named one of the most influential people on the internet. The book is a memoir about Ariel's rise to stardom. Publication is scheduled for fall 2018; CAA handled the deal for North American rights.
Kate Sullivan at Delacorte has preempted There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé author Morgan Parker's currently untitled YA novel. The book is about a black teen figuring out her identity when her conservative town deems depression as a lack of faith, and blackness as something to be politely ignored. Publication is slated for fall 2019; Sullivan will edit together with Alexandra Hightower. Tina Dubois and Dan Kirschen at ICM Partners negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Daniel Ehrenhaft at Soho Teen has bought a duo of novels by bestselling author Barry Lyga, pitched as a mashup of The Princess Bride, Infinite Jest, and On Writing. The first book is titled Unedited and the second is called Edited. Both novels follow the disintegration of the relationship 17-year-old Mike Grayson has with his girlfriend, Phil, whom he loves—always—but fears only loves him back sometimes; Edited is literally the edited version of Unedited. Publication is set for fall 2019; Kathleen Anderson at Anderson Literary Management brokered the deal for the U.S., its territories, and the Philippines, as well as audio rights.
Kathy Dawson at Penguin/Dawson has acquired, at auction, two standalone YA fantasies by debut novelist and Stanford senior Laura Brooke Robson. The first book is an apocalyptic fantasy told in alternating POVs about the leader of a band of female elite royal aerialists, whose plan for survival depends on marrying the prince—until she meets the alluring new recruit who secretly plans to kill him. The books are planned for spring 2020 and 2021; Danielle Burby at Nelson Literary Agency did the six-figure deal for North American rights.
In a joint acquisition, Kendra Levin at Viking and Lynne Missen at Penguin Teen Canada have bought North American rights to the YA novel Swallow by Danielle Younge-Ullman, author of Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined. The book follows a teenager who, while working as a waitress in her small town, faces the repercussions of outing a customer who has been harassing her. Publication is scheduled for 2020; Emmanuelle Morgen at Stonesong negotiated the deal.
Annie Berger at Sourcebooks Fire has acquired Ryan La Sala's debut Reverie, and a second untitled novel. Pitched as Inception meets The Magicians, the #OwnVoices story follows Kane Montgomery, a gay teenager piecing his life back together after an accident robs him of his memories, and as a drag queen sorceress attempts to unravel his reality. Publication is slated for fall 2019; Veronica Park at Corvisiero Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Aimee Friedman at Scholastic has bought world rights to Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud, in which 16-year-old Zora meets a boy named Owen, who turns out to be a prince and invites Zora to be his guest at his big brother's royal wedding. The book will be published in 2019; Laura Dail at Laura Dail Literary Agency did the deal.
Jason Kirk at Amazon/Skyscape has acquired Rebekah Crane's Postcards for a Songbird. The contemporary YA novel is about 16-year-old Wren, who is forced to make a new life for herself when her older sister Lizzie moves away without a forwarding address, sending their family into a spiral. Publication is set for spring 2019; Renee Nyen of KT Literary negotiated the deal for world rights.
Kheryn Callender at Little, Brown has bought Alex Bertie's debut, Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard, a firsthand account of Bertie’s life, struggles, and victories as a transgender teen that is also a guide for transitioning teens. Publication is planned for spring 2019; Silvia Molteni at Peters Fraser and Dunlop brokered the deal for North American rights.
Olivia Valcarce and Aimee Friedman at Scholastic have acquired Yamile Saied Méndez's Blizzard Besties, in which a 12-year-old girl teams up with new friends at a ski resort to rescue her brother who might be stranded in a blizzard. Publication is scheduled for 2019; Linda Camacho at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency handled the deal for world rights.
Jenne Abramowitz at Scholastic has bought author-illustrator Jay Cooper's illustrated chapter book series, The Pepper Party, in a four-book deal. The first book, The Pepper Party Picks the Perfect Pet, introduces the zany Pepper family, who can never agree on anything. The stakes are especially high when it comes to picking the family pet. The series will launch in 2019; Teresa Kietlinski at Bookmark Literary did the deal for world rights.
Maria Modugno at Random House has preempted The Girl and the Star, Faith Pray's debut as an author-illustrator. In the picture book, a girl makes a wish that she'll find a way to change the world around her, and a lost star helps her find the way to do so. Publication is set for summer 2020; Molly O'Neill at Root Literary negotiated the deal for world English rights.
Margaret Ferguson has acquired on exclusive submission for her imprint at Holiday House A Quieter Story by author-illustrator Liza Woodruff. The picture book is about a young artist trying to create a story, but being true to her own voice becomes difficult when she is continually interrupted by her demanding kitten, who has definite ideas about the direction the story should take. Publication is slated for summer 2019; Andrea Cascardi at Transatlantic Agency sold world rights.
Andrew Eliopulos at HarperCollins has bought, at auction, Yorick & Bones by author-illustrator Jeremy Tankard, in collaboration with his daughter, Hermione Tankard. Pitched as the lost graphic novel by William Shakespeare, the book follows an Elizabethan-era skeleton who speaks in iambic pentameter and who makes an unlikely friend in the modern-day dog who digs him up. The projected pub date is winter 2020; Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties did the two-book deal for world rights.
Sue Tarsky at Albert Whitman has acquired The Wind Plays Tricks, a picture book by Virginia Howard (l.). In the barnyard tale, when the wind sweeps in and swaps the animals' sounds, it's up to them to get their original voices back. Charlene Chua will illustrate; publication is planned for spring 2019. The author was unagented, and Tracy Marchini at BookEnds represented the illustrator for world rights.
Emma Ledbetter at Atheneum has bought a picture book tentatively titled Fred's Big Feelings by Laura Renauld(l.), illustrated by Brigette Barrager, which shares the story of the big heart and big legacy of everyone's favorite neighbor: Mister Rogers. Publication is scheduled for fall 2019; Wendi Gu at Janklow & Nesbit represented the author, and Kirsten Hall at Catbird Productions represented the illustrator in the deal for world rights.
Vicki Lame at Wednesday has acquired Janella Angeles's debut YA fantasy duology Where Dreams Descend. Pitched as The Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge, the story follows Hellfire House's star showgirl who, haunted by a dark past, must enter a magician's competition in order to secure her freedom from the handsome, enigmatic keeper of the club, even as mysterious accidents seem to plague her every move. The first book is slated for publication in 2020; Thao Le at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency negotiated the deal for world English rights.
Zareen Jaffery at Salaam Reads has bought world rights to two new novels by Saints and Misfits author S.K. Ali. Marvels and Oddities follows two Muslim teens during a trip to Doha, who learn to speak truth to power and open themselves up to the complexities of first love. Publication is set for summer 2019; John Cusick at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management brokered the deal.
Nicole Ellul at Simon Pulse has acquired Shea Ernshaw's new YA novel, Winterwood, about an eerie forest deep in the snowy mountains, haunted by mystery and magic, where a boy thought dead suddenly returns. Publication is scheduled for fall 2019; Jessica Regel at Foundry Literary + Media handled the deal for North American rights.
Hali Baumstein at Bloomsbury has bought at auction Katie Zhao's debut middle grade, The Dragon Warrior, pitched as Percy Jackson and the Olympians meets the work of Grace Lin. In the book, a 12-year-old girl wanting to find her place in a secret society of warriors embarks on a journey to fight her way through gods and demons in various Chinatowns, in order to find a secret island where her missing father might be. Publication is planned for fall 2019 and 2020; Penny Moore Empire Literary negotiated the two-book deal for world rights.
Anna Roberto at Feiwel and Friends has acquired world rights to Discovery, Inc.'s Above and Beyond by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, a middle grade nonfiction work based on Emmy-winning director Rory Kennedy's documentary on NASA's 60th anniversary, Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow, which will be released at the same time as the book. Publication is slated for fall 2018; Erin Niumata at Folio Literary Management represented Discovery, Inc., and Marietta B. Zacker at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency represented Rhuday-Perkovich.
Wesley Adams at Farrar, Straus and Giroux has bought Margaret Wise Brown Prize winner and Rip & Red series author Phil Bildner's new middle grade novel, a baseball-themed standalone. Publication is set for winter 2020; Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Keith Garton at Red Chair/One Elm has acquired world English rights to debut author Sonia Antaki's Red Dove, Listen to the Wind, a middle grade novel about a 12-year-old girl caught between the traditions of her Lakota family and the white world around her. Publication is scheduled for early 2020; the author was unagented.
Jessica Garrison at Dial and Laura Harris at Penguin Random House Australia have jointly bought Gus Gordon's picture book, I Am Alice, a story about friendship, loss, and found family, featuring a city piglet, a seaside piglet, and a dash of magical realism. Penguin Australia will publish the book in fall 2019, and Dial will publish in spring 2020. Charlie Olsen at InkWell Management sold world English rights to Dial, and Australia-New Zealand rights were sold to Penguin Random House Australia, including another untitled picture book.
Deirdre Jones at Little, Brown has bought world rights to My United States, a 112-page collection of maps of the 50 states, containing facts, stats, trivia, and more, hand-painted by folk artist and My New York creator Kathy Jakobsen. The book, which was unagented, will be published in 2023.
Karen Boersma and Karen Li at Owlkids have acquired world rights to Malaika's Costume and Malaika's Winter Carnival author Nadia L. Hohn's nonfiction picture book about Louise Bennett-Coverley, a Jamaican poet, performer, and champion of Jamaican Patois popularly known as Miss Lou. Publication is slated for fall 2019; the author represented herself.
Eliza Swift at Albert Whitman has bought world rights to author-illustrator Cassandra Federman's debut picture book, This Is a Sea Cow, in which a child writes a school report about sea cows, and the subject is not happy with her portrayal. Publication is scheduled for fall 2019; Jenna Pocius at Red Fox Literary negotiated the deal.
Tamar Mays at HarperCollins has acquired author-illustrator Ruth Paul's rhyming picture book, Cookie Boo!, in which a batch of kid-decorated Halloween cookies must outrun and outsmart a cookie-eating monster. Publication is set for summer 2020; Jill Corcoran at Jill Corcoran Literary Agency brokered the deal.
Barb McNally at Sleeping Bear has bought North American rights to the picture book A Fist for Joe Louis and Me by Trinka Hakes Noble (l.), illustrated by Nicole Tadgell. Set in 1938, the story follows two Detroit boys who are inspired by their hero, legendary boxer Joe Louis, as they face the hardships of the Great Depression, the rise of Nazi Germany, and a schoolyard bully. Publication is planned for fall 2019; Lauren Spieller at TriadaUS Literary Agency represented the author, and Christy Tugeau Ewers at the CAT Agency represented the illustrator.
Alyssa Mito Pusey at Charlesbridge has acquired world rights to The Superlative A. Lincoln, a nonfiction poetry collection by Eileen Meyer. Winner of SCBWI's Most Promising Picture Book Award in 2015, the collection celebrates the numerous and surprising ways in which our 16th president excelled. Dave Szalay, a 2018 SCBWI National Portfolio Showcase Honoree, will illustrate; publication is slated for fall 2019. Deborah Warren at East West Literary Agency represented the author, and Christy Tugeau Ewers at the CAT Agency represented the illustrator.
Jessica Anderson at Holt has acquired world rights to Flying High: The Story of Simone Biles by Michelle Meadows (l.), a picture book biography of the Olympic gymnastics champion. Ebony Glenn will illustrate; the book is planned for spring 2020. Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio represented the author, and Anne Moore Armstrong at the Bright Agency represented the illustrator.
Taylor Norman has bought world rights to Brooke Smith's (l.) picture book, Keeper of Wild Words, illustrated by Madeline Kloepper. Inspired by a list of words that were removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, the story tells of a grandmother's quest to save those words by passing them along to her granddaughter. Publication is scheduled for spring 2020; the author represented herself, and Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management represented the illustrator.
Anne Hoppe at Clarion has acquired world rights to A Day So Gray by Marie Lamba (l.), illustrated by Alea Marley. In the picture book, a friend's warm perspective turns a winter's day from bleak to beautiful. Publication is set for fall 2019; Jennifer De Chiara at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency represented the author, and Anne Moore Armstrong at the Bright Agency represented the illustrator.
Carol Hinz at Lerner/Millbrook has bought Thanku: Poems of Gratitude, edited by Miranda Paul (l.) and illustrated by Marlena Myles in her picture book debut. The anthology explores themes of thankfulness and gratitude through poems written by contributors including Joseph Bruchac, Margarita Engle, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, and Jane Yolen. Publication is planned for fall 2019; Karen Grencik at Red Fox Literary represented the author, and the illustrator represented herself in the deal for world rights.
Julie Bliven at Charlesbridge has acquired world rights to Diane C. Mullen's One Little Lot: The 1-2-3s of Urban Gardening, a debut counting picture book about a community that transforms an abandoned lot into a bountiful garden. Oriol Vidal will illustrate; publication is slated for summer 2019. Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency represented the author, and Justin Rucker of Shannon Associates represented the illustrator.
