Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers won world rights (excluding U.K. and Commonwealth) at auction to Laini Taylor’s tentatively titled new YA novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Daughter. Scheduled for fall 2011, Daughter is about a pair of star-crossed lovers kept apart by the fact that one’s an angel and the other’s a demon; also woven into the tale is the story of the devil’s adopted daughter, a blue-haired art student in Prague. Taylor’s Lips Touch, a finalist for the National Book Award, was published by Scholastic Press. Jane Putch at Eyebait Licensing & Management brokered the deal.
Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow Books has bought North American rights to Counting Cars by Christina Meredith in a two-book pre-empt. In the story, the three Johnson sisters never make a wrong step under their mother's watchful eye—including Leah, the youngest sister—until she meets a boy with green eyes and a red convertible. Counting Cars, which is the author’s first novel, is due out in March 2012. Steven Chudney from the Chudney Agency did the deal.
Jocelyn Davies at Razorbill has bought Crush Control, a new novel by Jennifer Jabaley, author of last year’s Lipstick Apology. In Crush Control, the daughter of a famous Las Vegas hypnotist learns the consequences of using hypnotism to make boys fall in love with her. Razorbill plans to publish the book in summer 2011; Tricia Davey at Davey Literary and Media was the agent.
Jon Anderson of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has bought A ValueTales Treasury: Stories for Growing Good People by Spencer Johnson, M.D., which Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers will publish in October 2010. The ValueTales were originally published as individual volumes in the 1970s and sold more than 10 million copies in hardcover. The new collection contains five reworked stories, to be illustrated by Dan Andreasen. Margaret McBride from the Margaret McBride Literary Agency did the deal.
