Nancy Hinkel at Knopf has acquired a YA novel by Philip Kerr, author of the adult Bernie Gunther thrillers and, as P.B. Kerr, author of the Children of the Lamp series for young adults. Michelle Frey will edit The Winter Horses, which is set in 1941 Ukraine and portrays the story of a 14-year-old girl who has lost everything, and two endangered horses threatened by a Nazi campaign of extermination. The Winter Horses has a March 2014 pub date; Caradoc King of AP Watt at United Agents did the deal.
Andrew Harwell at HarperCollins has bought world English rights to two standalone YA books and one e-original story by Heather Brewer, author of the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series. In book one, The Cemetery Boys, Stephen falls in with a mysterious girl and her troubled twin brother, only to learn that their dark allure masks an even darker secret. Publication is scheduled for winter 2015; Michael Bourret at Dystel and Goderich brokered the deal.
The Disney Channel has begun production on a made-for-TV movie based on Leslie Margolis's novel Boys Are Dogs, an Annabelle Unleashed Book (Bloomsbury, 2008), on Vancouver Island, Canada. The comedy adventure, slated for a worldwide premiere on the Disney Channel in 2014, will be called Zapped!. Zendaya (Dancing with the Stars) plays the lead character, a girl who discovers how to control boys through learning how to train her new puppy. Money Business, the fifth Annabelle Unleashed novel, is forthcoming from Bloomsbury in fall 2014. Bill Contardi made the deal with Disney on behalf of literary agent Laura Langlie.
Julia Richardson at HMH Books for Young Readers has bought world rights to a sequel to Roland Smith's YA novel, Peak, published in 2007. Peak 2 (the novel's working title) continues the story of Peak Marcello, who has been invited to participate in an "International Peace Ascent" in the Hindu Kush along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The climb is supposed to be non-political, but in that complicated part of the world that proves to be impossible. Publication is planned for fall 2015. Barbara S. Kouts of the Barbara S. Kouts Agency did the deal.
Julia Richardson at HMH also bought world rights to three books in the Green Light Reader series by Lisa Clough and Ed Briant, a husband/wife team and both author/illustrators in their own right. The books center on Petal and Poppy, a worrisome elephant and an exuberant rhinoceros, and their various misadventures. The first two will be released in spring 2014 and the third in fall 2014. Both author and illustrator were unagented for the deal.
Anne Schwartz and Lee Wade at Random House's Schwartz & Wade Books have bought world rights to two titles by Tad Hills that star his picture book character Rocket. Drop It, Rocket is a Level 1 Step Into Reading title, due out in fall 2014; and Rocket's 100th Day of School is a Step Into Reading title due in spring 2015. Hills is unagented.
Lee Wade at Schwartz & Wade acquired The Heavenly Library by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Sue Heap, a picture book about a librarian who starts a library in heaven. Publication is planned for spring 2016; Faith Hamlin at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates represented the author, and Clare Pearson at Eddison Pearson represented the artist.
Rotem Moscovich at Disney-Hyperion has acquired Henri's Hats, a debut picture book by Pixar animator Mike Wu. In the book, an imaginative boy with an extensive collection of signature hats sets off on adventures that take him everywhere from sailing the seven seas to exploring the far reaches of outer space. Publication is set for spring 2015; Emily van Beek of Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management negotiated the deal.
Kristin Ostby at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has acquiredNooks and Crannies, the next middle-grade novel from Jessica Lawson (The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher, summer 2014), pitched as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Clue. Publication is scheduled for summer 2015; Tina Wexler at ICM brokered the deal for world rights.
Maria Modugno at Random House has acquired world rights to There Was an Old Dragon, a debut picture book by Penny Klostermann, illustrated by Ben Mantle. It's the tale of a ravenous dragon who swallows more than his belly can hold. Tricia Lawrence at Erin Murphy Literary represented the author; Kirsten Hall at Bright Group International represented the illustrator.
Kaylan Adair at Candlewick Press has acquired a new novel from Todd Strasser, who recently had his 100th novel published. Billed as Ray Bradbury meets Moby Dick, Peril Lurks Below is a speculative YA novel in which teens are sent to other planets to harvest resources and bring them back to the environmentally ravaged Earth; it centers Ishmael, the young manta-hunter who discovers the truth about his ill-fated expedition, and the obsessions of their mysterious captain, Ahab. Publication is tentatively planned for fall 2015; Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media negotiated the deal.
Allison Moore at Little, Brown has bought world rights to debut author Sheryl Haft's I Love You, Blankie!, a picture book illustrated by Jane Massey, about a beloved blanket that inspires a child's imaginative bedtime adventure. Publication is set for spring 2015; Trina Storfer at Mixed Media did the deal for the author.
Barbara Marcus at Random House Children's Books has acquired North American rights to Nightbird, a middle-grade novel by Alice Hoffman, scheduled for release in spring 2015. Wendy Lamb will edit the novel, a work of modern folklore set in the Berkshires, where rumors of a winged beast draw in as much tourism as the town's famed apple orchards. Twig lives in a remote area of town with her mysterious brother and her mother; a new girl in town might just be Twig's first true friend, and an ally in vanquishing an ancient family curse. Tina Wexler at ICM brokered the deal.
David Levithan at Scholastic has acquired Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater, a companion to her Shiver trilogy, which concluded with 2011's Forever. The new book follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the series with the ability to shape-shift into a wolf, and Isabel, one of the few who know his secret. The two may have been in love once, and now, Cole is back in Isabel's life. Forever will be published simultaneously in the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on July 1, 2014. Laura Rennert from Andrea Brown Literary Agency negotiated the deal.
Jon Yaged of Macmillan has signed a multi-book deal with singer and Disney Channel alum Demi Lovato. The first title, Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year, is a book of daily affirmations based on her public chronicling of her struggles with addiction and depression. It will be published on November 19; a Spanish edition, Sé Fuerte: 365 días al año, will be released on December 3, and a memoir will follow at a later date. Creative Artists Agency and Hertz Lichtenstein & Young negotiated on behalf of Lovato.
Farrin Jacobs at Little, Brown has bought Gem & Dixie, a YA novel by National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr, about two sisters at odds with the world and each other, who are forced to go on the run in the Pacific Northwest. Publication is scheduled for fall 2015; Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management did the deal for world rights.
Pamela Garfinkel at Little, Brown's Poppy imprint has acquired at auction A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery, first in a two-book deal. It tells the story of 16-year-old Kelsey, who hides her twin sister's death from her sister's boyfriend, who is on active duty in Afghanistan, by pretending to be her – only to fall in love with him herself. Publication is scheduled for spring 2015; Josh Bank and Katie McGee at Alloy Entertainment negotiated the deal for world English rights.
Alexandra Cooper at HarperTeen has acquired at auction a YA novel by New York Times contributor Margo Rabb (Cures for Heartbreak). Pitched as “part love story, part cross-country trip,” Kissing in America follows Eva, a 16-year-old obsessed with romance novels but boyfriend-less in real life, who treks from Manhattan to L.A. with her best friend in search of her one true love. Publication is set for summer 2015. Emily van Beek at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management negotiated the two-book deal for North American rights, with the second book planned for summer 2017.
Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury has bought Daisy Whitney's 21 Kisses, about a Manhattan teenager who leaves love letters around the city in an effort to make amends for the ways that love has disappointed her, while trying to choose between two very different boys. The book is scheduled for winter 2015 publication; Michelle Wolfson at Wolfson Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Anne Hoppe at Clarion Books has acquired The Mummy Cat by Marcus Ewert, illus. by Lisa Brown. The book, which will be published in spring 2015, is set in ancient Egypt and tells of a mummy cat longing for his young owner, as their history is revealed in hieroglyphics. Charlotte Sheedy of Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency negotiated on behalf of Ewert and Brown for North American rights.
Jennifer Greene at Clarion Books has won at auction North American rights to It Is Not Time for Sleeping, a bedtime story by Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots), illus. by Lauren Castillo (The Reader). Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary represented Graff; Paul Rodeen of Rodeen Literary represented Castillo.
Mary Kate Castellani at Bloomsbury has acquired world rights, in a pre-empt, to the picture book Giraffes Ruin Everything by Heidi Schulz, author of the forthcoming middle-grade novel Hook's Revenge. The book details the inevitable frustrations and embarrassments that ensue when a giraffe tries to make friends. Publication is set for fall 2015; Brooks Sherman at FinePrint Literary Management was the agent.
