MacPhee Goes Mammalistic At Norton
John Glusman at Norton took world rights to Ross MacPhee’s Hugest, Fiercest, Strangest: The Remarkable Lives and Untimely End of the World’s Megabeasts. MacPhee is the curator of mammals at the Museum of Natural History in New York, and the book, which features illustrations by widely published wildlife artist Peter Schouten, explores the variety of the world’s current (and expired) mammals. Norton said MacPhee will also delve into “why all the biggest beasts went extinct when humans arrived on the scene and the very real possibility of de-extinction.” Hugest, set for spring 2017, was sold by Gillian MacKenzie at the Gillian MacKenzie Agency.

Dutton Invests in Wolk
After a six-house auction, Julie Strauss-Gabel at Penguin Young Readers Group, took North American rights, in a two-book deal, to Lauren Wolk’s Wolf Hollow. The middle-grade novel is set in 1943 and follows an 11-year-old who lives in a Pennsylvania farming community; the second book in the deal is currently untitled. Wolk, an award-winning poet and author of the adult novel Those Who Favor Fire (Random House, 1999), was represented by Jodi Reamer at Writers House. PYRG compared Wolf Hollow to To Kill a Mockingbird, saying it “explores a resilient young woman’s coming of age as she risks herself for what’s right at a tortured crossroads in American history.” Wolf Hollow is slated for publication in 2016; the second book in the deal is not yet scheduled.

Hoffmeister Takes Love and Basketball to Knopf Kids
For Knopf Books for Young Readers, Katherine Harrison took world rights to Peter Brown Hoffmeister’s YA novel This Is the Part Where You Laugh. Harrison preempted the title, in a two-book deal, from Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary Services. Ranta said the book follows a boy “navigating friendship [and] love and basketball under the specter of crime, low expectations, and a family history of drug abuse.” Hoffmeister, once a homeless teen, is now a high school teacher, and Ranta noted that the novel is informed by the author’s own experiences.

Aussie Novelist Re-ups at SMP
Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin’s Press bought world English rights to Sally Hepworth’s third novel, By Myself, with You. Hepworth, who is Australian, is already an SMP author; her debut, The Secrets of Midwives, was acquired by Enderlin in 2013 and will be published in February. Hepworth is represented by Rob Weisbach at Rob Weisbach Creative Management. Weisbach said that in her first deal with SMP, Hepworth landed a “significant” two-book preempt. (Hepworth’s second book from SMP, The Things We Keep, is set for 2016.) The Secrets of Midwives has been getting strong pre-pub attention—blurbs have come in from Emily Giffin and Liane Moriarty, among others—and has sold in a number of foreign markets. By Myself, Weisbach said, is about a single mom who, once she’s dealt a terminal cancer diagnosis, becomes set on finding her teenage daughter a new home.

Gonzalez Hits Her ‘Target’ At Scholastic
David Levithan and Emily Seife at Scholastic bought world rights to Christina Diaz Gonzalez’s new middle-grade novel, Moving Target. Jennifer Rofé at Andrea Brown Literary represented the author, and the agent said she pitched the book as “Percy Jackson meets The Da Vinci Code.” Moving Target is set for 2015 and follows a 12-year-old girl who, while studying in Rome, “discovers that she is a member of an ancient bloodline that enables her to use the Spear of Destiny, a legendary object that can alter the future,” Rofé explained.

Briefs
Nancy Miller at Bloomsbury nabbed world rights to Clair Brown’s Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science. Brown teaches at UC Berkeley, and the book, Bloomsbury said, is based on her work studying “the economics of well-being.” Lisa Adams at the Garamond Agency represented Brown.

Navah Wolfe at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers bought world rights to Stefanie Gaither’s currently untitled sophomore novel. (Her debut, Falls the Shadow, was published by S&SBYR in September.) Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary represented Gaither and said the new book follows an “evil clone” and a boy who discover “a conspiracy within the world’s only cloning corporation and decide whether to fight for humans or machines.”