Alvina Ling at Little, Brown has bought After the Red Rain, a YA novel from actor Peter Facinelli, Hollywood producer Rob DeFranco, and YA author Barry Lyga. The book is set in a future world of environmental collapse and mass poverty, where a mysterious boy named Rose discovers he possesses inhuman powers that can irrevocably change the lives of everyone on the planet. It's scheduled for release in summer 2015; Kathleen Anderson of Anderson Literary Management and Steve Fisher at APA Talent and Literary Agency did the deal for world rights.
Lauri Hornik at Dial has bought world rights to the tentatively titled Wonton Afternoon by Jon Agee, a palindromic graphic novel starring Don, who has a simple and delicious recipe for wonton soup, but nobody wants to try it. Publication is planned for 2015; Holly McGhee at Pippin Properties was the agent.
Krista Marino at Delacorte acquired Melissa Grey's Feathers and Flame, first in a YA trilogy about Echo, a pickpocket runaway adopted and raised in New York City by a race of creatures with feathers for hair and magic in their veins. The series follows Echo as she becomes involved in an ancient war and a centuries-old love, and discovers startling truths about the world she lives in. Publication is set for spring 2015. Catherine Drayton at InkWell Management held the auction for North American rights.
Krista Marino at Delacorte also acquired two new novels from Matt de la Peña, author of Mexican WhiteBoy and the forthcoming The Living. De la Peña will publish an untitled middle-grade novel, scheduled for fall 2015; and an untitled YA novel about a biracial teen mixed up in an ill-fated romance and the perilous world of Mexican drug trafficking, scheduled for fall 2016. Steve Malk at Writers House negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Jennifer Klonsky at HarperCollins has acquired Allison van Diepen's YA novel On the Edge, as well as a second untitled novel; Kari Sutherland will edit. Set in Miami, On the Edge features a teenage girl who witnesses a gang-related crime. When she identifies the gang members in a police line-up, she is thrust into the shadowy world of street justice, attracted to a handsome gang leader, and terrified of retribution. Publication is planned for fall 2014; John Rudolph at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management brokered the deal for world rights.
Andrew Karre at Carolrhoda Lab has acquired world rights to Perfectly Good White Boy, the second novel by Carrie Mesrobian (Sex & Violence). Her book looks at the crisis of teenage entitlement, following a high school senior whose only solution for the lonely, useless future he fears is to join the Marines. Publication is scheduled for fall 2014; Michael Bourret at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management brokered the deal.
Jenne Abramowitz at Scholastic has acquired author-illustrator Kevin Sherry's debut chapter book series, The Yeti Files, in a two-book deal that will launch in 2014. The book introduces yeti Blizz Richards and a ragtag team of bigfeet with secrets that are just too good to keep quiet. Teresa Kietlinski of Prospect Agency negotiated the deal for world rights.
Caroline Abbey at Bloomsbury has acquired Jump In by Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe winner Shadra Strickland. Her picture book tells the story of how a game of jump rope unites a diverse community. It's slated for publication in winter 2016; Lori Nowicki at Painted Words negotiated the deal.
Wesley Adams at Farrar, Straus and Giroux has acquired North American rights to Brian Falkner's untitled, two-volume YA alt-history in which Napoleon crashes his way to victory at Waterloo by unleashing an unstoppable battlefield weapon: a legion of giant, carnivorous dinosaurs, imported from the wilds of the unexplored Americas. Only a boy who knows the emperor's secret to commanding the beasts stands in the way of his plan for world domination. Publication for volume one is scheduled for June 2015, the bicentennial of Waterloo. Nancy Gallt of the Nancy Gallt Agency was the agent for North American rights on behalf of the Frances Plumpton Literary Agency. Walker Books Australia, which holds foreign language rights, will publish its edition simultaneously.
Jean Feiwel at Feiwel and Friends has bought North American rights to Josephine Angelini's (Starcrossed) new series, Crucible. The series follows a teenage girl who gets caught in an epic struggle between good and evil when she's transported to a parallel universe where witches rule and scientists are burned at the stake by an alternate version of herself. Feiwel preempted the series from Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media. In separate deals, U.K. rights and German rights were also preempted.
Alessandra Balzer at HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray has acquired world English rights to Finding Paris by Joy Preble, author of The Sweet Dead Life. The novel, pitched as Speak meets 13 Little Blue Envelopes, is about a teenage girl whose older sister sends her on a scavenger hunt from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, to protect her from a dark secret. Publication is planned for spring 2015; Jennifer Rofé at Andrea Brown Literary Agency brokered the deal.
Emily Easton at Walker & Co. has bought Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany A. Schmidt, first in the Once Upon a Crime Family series, in a two-book deal. The romantic thriller, loosely based on "The Princess and the Pea," takes place in a United States much like our own, but one in which the major crime families are in the organ replacement business. Main character Penelope is about to get caught in the crossfire as rival families scramble for prominence. Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary did the deal for North American rights.
Sharyn November at Viking took world English rights to The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove, first in a planned series. Set in an alternate reality, the story follows a 13-year-old girl who lives in Boston, circa 1891, in a world that has been "remade by the Great Disruption of 1799, when all of the continents were flung into different time periods." When the heroine's uncle, and the city's leading cartologer, is kidnapped, she sets off, with a new friend, to find him. A summer 2014 release is planned; Dorian Karchmar at William Morris Endeavor was the agent.
Emily Seife at Scholastic Press has acquired three books in Cynthia Lord's new chapter book series, Shelter Pet Squad. Second-grader Suzannah volunteers at her local animal shelter's program for kids, gaining confidence as she and her new friends help different animals find their forever homes. The series will launch with Jelly Bean in 2014, with one book following per year. Tracey Adams at Adams Literary negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Marilyn Brigham at Amazon Children's Publishing's Skyscape imprint has acquired world English rights to Erin Fry's YA novel The Benefactor. In the book, eight high school seniors compete for a college scholarship on a reality show where do-or-die challenges require more than high SAT scores to avoid elimination. The Benefactor will be released as a Kindle Serial in six weekly episodes beginning October 8, and the trade paperback edition will be available in January 2014. Jill Corcoran negotiated the deal while still at the Herman Agency.
Erin Clarke at Knopf has bought, in a pre-empt, debut writer Holly Bodger's YA novel 5 to 1, a dark look at the near future as shaped by gender selection in India (boys outnumber girls five to one), told through the alternating perspectives of two teens who dare to challenge the system. Publication is set for spring 2015; Lauren MacLeod at the Strothman Agency did the deal for world rights.
Melanie Cecka at Knopf has acquired Sarah Dillard's Mouse Scouts, an illustrated chapter book series, in a four-book deal. The series, set to launch in spring 2015, follows a troop of young mice who are rising through the ranks of a Girl Scout-like organization, and includes tips from the Mouse Scout Handbook. Lori Nowicki at Painted Words sold world rights.
