What authors received YA book deals this month?
Contemporary
Terese Toten’s unnamed psychological thriller sold to Delacorte in the U.S. and Doubleday in Canada for publication in 2018, according to Publisher’s Lunch.
Malinda Lo’s A Line in the Dark sold to Dutton for publication in 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. “The YA novel is a murder mystery about the shifting boundary between young and adult and the half-seen spaces where friendship slides into love, where love twists into jealousy, and where life crosses over to death.”
Jenn Bennett sold two novels to Simon Pulse, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Alex, Approximately follows a girl who can’t stand the boy at her summer job, but is falling for his anonymous online persona, and will release in spring 2017. A second untitled novel will be published in spring 2018.
Amy Reed’s Nowhere Girl will publish with Simon Pulse in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Three girls come together to avenge the rape of a girl none of them knew.
Trish Doller will release two novels with Simon Pulse, according to Publisher’s Weekly. In A Perfect World follows an American girl who moves to Cairo and falls for a Muslim boy; it will publish in summer 2017. The second YA novel is currently untitled and will release in summer 2018.
Marianna Baer’s The Inconceivable Life of Quinn sold to Abrams/Amulet for publication in spring 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The daughter of a politician struggles to stay out of the media spotlight as she tries to uncover how she, a virgin, could be pregnant.
Shalanda Stanley’s It Didn’t Have To End This Way sold to Knopf for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. June and Nick are both on the run from authorities and from their own pasts – her suffering with mental illness, and he from a criminal past.
Natalie Anderson’s debut The Breaking Wheel sold to Putnam for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Congolese refugee Tina envisions revenge after witnessing her mother’s murder.
Dial bought Martin Wilson’s We Now Return To Regular Life for publication in summer 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. After disappearing for teen years, a teen returns home to questions about what happened as his sister and friend struggle with his return.
Cordelia Jensen’s The Excavation of Lincoln Malone, a novel-in-verse, sold to Philomel for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The Excavation of Lincoln Malone “tells the story of ‘virtual’ twins: Holly, adopted from Ghana, who fits in perfectly at the sisters’ competitive school and at home; and Linc, who struggles to fit in despite her biological connection.”
A.V. Geiger’s Follow Me Back sold to Sourcebooks Fire for publication in summer 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A disguised pop star and his number one fan arrange to meet in real life, but the meeting turns deadly.
Christopher Barzak’s The Gone Awry Place sold to Knopf for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A girl suffers from survivor’s guilt after a natural disaster devastates her community.
HarperCollins’ Balzer + Bray bought a companion novel to Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ to publish in 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. It takes place months after Willowdean competes in the Clover City pageant.
Helene Dunbar’s Boomerang sold to Sky Pony Press for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A teen ran away from his hometown and returns with a scheme to save a boy “he had an intense, complicated relationship with during his years away” – but the town assumed him kidnapped, and things have radically changed.
Fantasy
Ransom Riggs will publish two books with Dutton Children’s Books for publication in late 2016, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The first, Tales of the Peculiar, is a collection of fairy tales set in the same universe as his Miss Peregrine series. The second is a new YA story.
Lauren Oliver’s The Book of Shhh will release in May 2016, according to . The free mini e-book will contain “unreleased passages from the prominent religious, social, and scientific compendium of the Delirium world.”
Lauren Karcz’s No More Blues sold to HarperTeen for publication in summer 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A teenage artist searching for inspiration finds a mysterious studio where her paintings are perfect and the girl she loves might love her back.
Samantha Mabry’s The Real Marvelous sold to Algonquin Young Readers for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A young couple working the maguey plantations of the Southwest must flee their old home for one that maybe cursed.
Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller will team up to write a new young adult series for Delacorte Press. Awkward teenage gamer Simon is given the opportunity to be the first to test the newest set of virtual reality goggles before they hit the market. When his friend Katherine disappears, however, it’s no longer a game. Katherine’s been kidnapped by someone or something inside the virtual world, and saving her is up to Simon.
Historical
Vesper Stamper’s The Orange Tree, along with a second untitled novel, sold to Knopf, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The Orange Tree follows two teenage Holocaust survivors in a displaced persons camp after WWII and will be published in spring 2018.
Destiny Soria’s Iron Cast sold to Abrams / Amulet for publication in fall 2016, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Two illusionist best friends fall into trouble with mobsters when a con goes wrong.
Science Fiction
Lauren Oliver sold Replica to HarperCollins for publication in September 2016, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Lyra is a replica, or a human model, who was born and raised – and observed – in the Haven Institute. When she escapes the institute and meets Gemma, secrets shatter Lyra’s world.
Nonfiction
Sandra Uwiringiyimana’s War Child, co-written with journalist Abigail Pesta, sold to HarperCollins’ Katherine Tegen imprint for publication in spring 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The memoir follows Sandra’s escape from a refugee camp in Africa as a child to her life as a teenager in America.
