Summers Goes High School Noir

Sara Goodman at St. Martin’s Press took world English rights to a new YA thriller from her current author, Courtney Summers, called All the Rage. The book, about a 17-year-old who gets into hot water after attempting to blackmail her rich classmates, is Summers’s fifth work; her fourth, the zombie novel This Is Not a Test is coming from SMP in June. Amy Tipton of Signature Literary closed the deal, and likened All the Rage to the film Brick and the TV show Veronica Mars. Summers is a CYBIL (Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary) Award winner.

Atheneum Nabs Poet’s First YA

Caitlyn Dlouhy at Simon & Schuster Children’s Atheneum imprint bought North American rights, in a two-book pre-empt, to poet Jason Reynolds’s first YA novel. The tentatively titled Jerk was sold by Elena Mechlin at Pippin Properties Inc. Reynolds spoke at the recent Kennedy Center unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and his last poetry book, My Name Is Jason, Mine Too, which he co-wrote with Jason Griffin, was published by HarperTeen. Jerk is about the friendship between three friends living in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

PYRG Pre-empts YA Debut

Lucy Carson at the Friedrich Agency sold world rights to the first young adult novel by 21-year-old Jessica Khoury, Origin. Razorbill’s Laura Arnold pre-empted world rights and Penguin has already made a major commitment, promising a first announced printing of 250,000 copies when it publishes the book in September 2012. The novel is narrated by a teenage girl who has, per the publisher, been “bred for immortality” and then uncovers the dark secrets behind her creation. The book is set in a lab hidden in the Amazon. Khoury grew up in Georgia, where she was homeschooled; she has a B.A. from Toccoa Falls College.

Foodie Podcasters Sign with S&S

The duo behind the popular podcast The Sporkful, Dan Pashman and Mark Garrison, sold their first book, at auction, to Simon & Schuster’s Michael Szczerban. Eat More Better: The Sporkful Guide to Eating is scheduled for 2013 and will play off the pair’s podcast, which was named one of the best of 2010 by Apple. In the program Pashman and Garrison debate and discuss all things food; S&S called the show “the gastronomic equivalent of Car Talk.” Kate Lee at ICM represented the authors.

Faulkner Fellow To Holt

Callie Wright, a Poe/Faulkner fellow at the University of Virginia, sold her debut novel, Love All, to Sarah Bowlin at Henry Holt. Amy Williams at McCormick & Williams sold world English rights in a pre-empt. Wright, who also does reporting and research for Vanity Fair, follows a family dealing with (current and past) scandals. Williams said the book is reminiscent of work by writers like Tom Perrotta and Ethan Canin.

A.L. Kennedy Goes ‘Blue’ for Amazon

Amazon Publishing’s Ed Park took U.S. rights to Scottish author A.L. Kennedy’s new novel, The Blue Book. Grainne Fox at Fletcher & Co. brokered the deal on behalf of British agency Antony Harwood. The book, about a woman fleeing her home in England ( as well as her crooked ex-boyfriend and their once joint life of crime), was published in summer 2011 by Jonathan Cape in the U.K., and has sold in a number of other countries; Amazon will publish the book in spring 2013.

Briefs

In a reprint deal, Penguin Classics associate publisher/editorial director Elda Rotor bought world English rights to Eleanor Roosevelt’s Tomorrow Is Now. Anna Olswanger of Liza Dawson Associates closed the sale with Rotor. The book was originally published in 1963, after Roosevelt died and, as Dawson explained, was the former First Lady’s “declaration against fear, timidity, complacency, and American arrogance.” The Penguin edition, which will feature a new foreword by Bill Clinton along with an introduction by Dr. Allida Black (George Washington University professor and editor of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers), is set for a fall 2012 release to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Roosevelt’s death.

Bestseller Louise Penny has re-upped with her current publisher, Minotaur. The four-time Agatha Award–winner signed a major deal to write three more books in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. Andrew Martin took North American rights from British agent Teresa Chris working with American agent Patricia Moosbrugger. Minotaur also has two yet-to-be-published books in the series still under contract, and the next Gamache novel is scheduled for fall 2012.