Recapping the week in children's and YA rights deals.
Jordan Brown at Walden Pond Press has acquired three new middle grade novels by Anne Ursu, author of Breadcrumbs and the forthcoming The Real Boy. Publication for the first book is set for fall 2015; Tina Wexler at ICM negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Tim Ditlow and Margery Cuyler of Amazon Children’s Publishing have contracted with Michael Hague to reissue 25 of his books in uniform editions as the Michael Hague Signature Classics Series. The books will be published in all formats: Kindle, enhanced Kindle, and hardcover and paperback print editions. The titles include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Mother Goose, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Little Mermaid, The Secret Garden, Beauty and the Beast, Numbears, and many others. Rubin Pfeffer of East West Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Victoria Wells Arms at Bloomsbury Children’s Books has acquired the tentatively titled Arcadia Falls, the third YA novel by Trish Doller, author of Something Like Normal and the forthcoming Where the Stars Still Shine. The new book features a small-town Florida girl who impulsively agrees to join a pair of boys on a road trip that goes tragically wrong. Publication is set for September 2014. Kate Testerman of KT Literary did the deal for world English rights.
Jill Davis at HarperCollins's Katherine Tegen Books preempted North American rights for two books from debut novelist Moriah McStay in six-figure deal. The first novel, tentatively titled Progression of Fates, is told in alternating parallel voices of the same girl after a moment changes things forever: Fiona, who has suffered a facial scarring, and Fi, who has a perfect face. The book will pub in 2014; Steven Chudney of the Chudney Agency brokered the deal.
Emma Ledbetter at Atheneum has acquired the untitled sequel to The Contagious Colors of Mumpley Middle School by Allan Woodrow writing as Fowler DeWitt. The story follows young scientist Wilmer Dooley and his friends to a mysterious science fair, where they must use their smarts to uncover a nefarious plot. Publication is scheduled for September 2013; Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media was the agent.
Lisa Sandell at Scholastic Press has acquired The Way Home Looks Nowby Wendy Shang, author of The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. Her new novel, which is set in the 1970s, features a 12-year-old, baseball-loving Chinese-American boy whose world is upended by family loss and saved by a girl who just wants to play ball. Quinlan Lee at Adams Literary did the deal for North American rights.
Julia Maguire at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has acquired the third and fourth installments in the Ever Afters series by Shelby Bach. The books continue the adventures of kids-turned-fairytale-characters as they battle the villainous Snow Queen. Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media did the deal for world English rights.
Michelle Weiner at CAA has brokered a deal with John Carls (Rango, Where the Wild Things Are) to produce an original movie for the Disney Channel based on Annabel Monaghan's YA novel A Girl Named Digit, about a high school math genius pursued by eco-terrorists. HMH will publish the sequel, Double Digit, in January 2014.
