Lauri Hornik at Dial has bought Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts by Susan Cain, based on her bestseller for adults, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. The new version will focus on the strengths and challenges of being an introverted child and teenager. Publication is set for May 2015; Richard Pine at InkWell Management sold North American rights.
Kathy Dawson at Penguin's Kathy Dawson Books has bought two YA novels from debut author Moïra Fowley-Doyle. In the first, The Accident Season, Cara and her family become mysteriously accident-prone during the same time every year, until Cara begins to unravel the accident season's dark origins, revealing the secrets her family members are hiding from one another. Publication is scheduled for 2015; a standalone YA novel will follow a year later. Maeve Banham at Random House U.K. negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Sarah Landis at HMH has acquired at auction Janet Taylor’s debut The Dim and a sequel, pitched as Outlander for teens, about a 16-year-old girl who must travel back in time to 12th-century England to rescue her mother. Along the way, she becomes entangled with a secret society of time travelers and a mysterious boy who may be the key to setting her mother free. The book is scheduled for summer 2016; Mollie Glick at Foundry Literary + Media did the deal for North American rights.
Martha Mihalick at Greenwillow has acquired three picture books by Christie Matheson, author-illustrator of last year's Tap the Magic Tree. First up will be Plant the Tiny Seed, an interactive book where readers help to plant a seed and nurture it as rain falls and the sun shines and it turns into a plant that grows roots, sprouts, grows flowers, drops seeds, and so on. It will be published summer 2016; Stacey Glick at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management brokered the deal for world rights.
Christian Trimmer at Simon and Schuster has bought world rights to Tiger Tail, plus a second untitled book, by author-illustrator Mike Boldt. Tiger Tail tells the story of a girl who wakes up on the first day of school… with a tiger tail. It's a disaster and she can't possibly be seen like this! Or can she? Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Jennifer Rofé at Andrea Brown Literary Agency held the five-house auction.
Abby Ranger at HarperCollins has bought world rights to Wing & Claw, a new series by Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park. In the middle-grade fantasy-adventure, a gifted young apothecary must protect the creatures of the Forest of Wonders from the dangerous effects of his own botanical creations. The first book, Wing & Claw: Forest of Wonders, is slated for winter 2016; Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown brokered the three-book deal.
Rotem Moscovich at Disney-Hyperion has acquired children's book editor and author Kallie George's Heartwood Hotel chapter book series in a preempt. The first of this “Peter Rabbitmeets Downton Abbey” series follows Mona the Mouse from the dark and stormy woods into the wondrous world of the grandest, most spectacular hotel in the forest. It's set for summer 2017; Emily van Beek of Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management brokered the four-book deal for world English rights excluding Canada.
Arianne Lewin at G.P. Putnam's Sons has bought two new middle-grade novels from Dreamwood author Heather Mackey. In The Shadow Clock, 13-year-old orphan Thorn is a renowned criminal in the dark market of buying and selling magic. All his skills are put to the test when a rival thief offers information about his family in exchange for a dangerous job. Publication is scheduled for 2016; an untitled middle-grade will follow a year later. Tracey Adams of Adams Literary negotiated the deal for world rights.
Sarah Dotts Barley, in her first deal at Flatiron Books, has acquired former Harvard Lampoon president Alison Umminger's debut novel My Favorite Manson Girl. It tells the present-day story of 15-year-old Anna, who escapes to Los Angeles for the summer and finds herself immersed in the story of the Manson Girls and begins to see disturbing parallels around her. It will pub in 2016; Neeti Madan at Sterling Lord Literistic did the deal for North American rights.
Kate Sullivan at Delacorte has won North American rights at auction to Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison's A Totally Awkward Love Story (previously titled Lobsters in the U.K.). The book, which Sullivan calls The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight meets Bridesmaids, is a dual narrative novel by authors who dated when they were in high school, about a boy and girl who must navigate social misunderstandings, the plotting of well-meaning friends, and their own fears about being virgins forever. It's slated for summer 2016; Allison Hellegers of Rights People brokered the deal on behalf of Barry Cunningham and Elinor Bagenal at Chicken House in the U.K.
Hilary Van Dusen at Candlewick has acquired world rights to two works of narrative nonfiction by Paul B. Janeczko: Phantom Army: The U.S. Ghost Soldiers of World War II, about the dangerous game of deception played by a unit of U.S. soldiers with the Nazi Army during the last year of WWII; and Heist: Art Thieves and the Detectives Who Tracked Them Down. The projects are unagented, and are scheduled for publication in spring 2017 and spring 2018.
Emily Easton at Crown has bought rights to U.K. author Cat Clarke's The Lost and the Foundat auction. It's a psychological suspense novel about a girl whose older sister turns up 13 years after being kidnapped – and she begins to suspect that it's not really her sister after all. The book is slated for summer 2016; Allison Hellegers at Rights People sold North American rights in a two-book deal on behalf of Julia Churchill at A.M. Heath in the U.K.
Margo Lipschultz at Harlequin Teen has acquired North American rights to Flower, a contemporary romance by TV writer and producer Elizabeth Craft (l.) and debut author Shea Olsen. In the story, 17-year-old Charlotte has sworn off boys in her quest to be the first person in her family to go to college. But her plans are derailed when she crosses paths with Tate Collins, a reclusive, mysterious singer who has walked away from his superstardom. Publication is set for February 2016; Josh Bank and Annie Stone at Alloy Entertainment did the deal for North American rights.
Michael Strother at Simon Pulse has pre-empted world English rights to Violent Ends, a novel with 17 authors, edited by Shaun David Hutchinson. The story centers on a 16-year-old school shooter, with each chapter set at a time before the shooting and told by characters who knew him, trying to answer one question: Why? Contributing authors include Beth Revis, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brendan and Neal Shusterman. Fall 2015 is the projected pub date; Amy Boggs at Donald Maass Literary Agency negotiated the deal.
Nancy Paulsen at Penguin's Nancy Paulsen Books imprint has signed a currently untitled middle-grade novel by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, in which Darlene "Baby" Clemens, who has seen the return of a long-missing parent, learns to shake off the dream of the perfect life to appreciate what she already has. It's planned for the second half of 2016; Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency brokered the deal for world rights.
Laura Schreiber at Disney-Hyperion has acquired a legal thriller by Ashley Elston, author ofThe Rules for Disappearing. In This Is Our Story, a teenage girl acts as the eyes and ears of the local prosecutor who must determine which of four boys killed the fifth member of their hunting party. Publication is scheduled for spring 2016; Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Literary Agency did the deal for North American rights.
Jacquelyn Mitchard at Merit Press has bought a YA novel by Trisha Leaver (l.) and Lindsay Currie, called Sweet Madness. It's a reimagining of the Lizzie Borden murders, told through the perspective of Bridget Sullivan, Lizzie's maid and confidant, who finds herself in a perilous situation. Kathleen Rushall and Kevan Lyon Marsal Lyon Literary Agency brokered the deal for world English rights.
Marlo Scrimizzi at Running Press Kids has acquired world rights to Miles to the Finish author-illustrator Jamie Harper's new picture book, Bella's Best of All. The story celebrates the delight of a young mouse who loves her mother's stuff so much more than her own – mom's clothes, mom's drums, even mom's office – but in the end her own kitty – not her mother's – steals the day. The book is due out in fall 2015; Victoria Wells Arms at Wells Arms Literary negotiated the deal.
