What authors received YA book deals in September?
Contemporary
Sharon Biggs Waller’s Girls on the Verge sold to Simon & Schuster for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. When Camille discovers she can’t get an abortion near her hometown, she sets off for a Planned Parenthood one state over.
Katy Upperman’s The Impossibility of Us sold to Feiwel and Friends, according to . An aspiring photo-journalist tries to keep her romance with an exchange student secret as their families try to tear them apart.
Jaime Reed’s Perfect Match sold to Scholastic for publication in 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. When Janelle’s childhood-BFF-turned-rival Alyssa is hospitalized due to complications from diabetes and volunteers as a donor – and when her kidney is the only donor match, Janelle could save or take Alyssa’s life.
Lauren Strasnick’s Sixteen Ways to Break a Heart sold to HarperCollins’ Katherine Tegen Books imprint for publication in summer 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. This he said / she said epistolary novel follows the post-breakup of Dan and Natalie as Natalie sends him 16 letters about their romance that expose an ugly truth about their relationship.
Jen Lancaster’s The Gatekeepers sold to Harlequin Teen for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Students at a high school in Chicago form a support group after a suicide cluster exposes the dark side of perfection.
Jennie Liu’s Girls on the Line sold to Carolrhoda for publication in 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A teen pregnancy puts two orphan girls in China on a collision course with factory bosses, family planning regulators and a bride trafficker.
Tiffany Stewart’s Christmas in July sold to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Darby attempts to save a rundown holiday-themed amusement park in Christmas, Kentucky.
Tracy Barrett’s My Freefall Summer sold to Charlesbridge for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A teen comes of age at her father’s skydiving drop zone, where her mother died years before.
Jennifer E. Smith’s Windfall sold to Random House Children’s imprint Delacorte Press for publication on May 2, 2017, according to Entertainment Weekly. Alice buys her best friend Teddy – who she is secretly in love with – a lottery ticket for his 18th birthday and is shocked when they win.
Mariah MacCarthy’s Squad sold to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for publication in fall 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A cheerleader becomes alienated by her best friend and her cheer squad and sets out to discover who she is without the things that defined her.
Kirsty Eager’s Summer Skin sold to Feiwel and Friends for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A modern-day riot grrl and an alpha male jock explore love, trust, and double standards in college hookup culture.
Shivaun Plozza’s Frankie will publish in the U.S. with Flatiron Books for the first time in fall 2017, according to . Previously published in Australia, Frankie follows a girl from a gritty suburb of Melbourne who goes looking for answers about her family.
AJ Steiger’s When My Heart Joins the Thousand sold to HarperCollins for publication for February 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A girl with Asperger’s with a passion for Watership Down falls for another young misfit.
Meredith Goldstein’s Chemistry Lessons sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for publication in 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A teen science whiz tries to crack the chemical equation for lasting love and instead wreaks havoc.
Abdi Nazemian’s The Authentics sold to Balzer + Bray for publication in summer 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Iranian-American Daria is fiercely proud of her heritage and her high school anti-clique The Authentics, but is launched on a journey when she discovers she was adopted.
Fantasy
Olivia Cole’s The Whitecoat’s Daughter sold to HarperCollins’ Katherine Tegen Books imprint for publication in winter 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. On Faloiv, a small community thrives, despite the fact that the planet was never meant to support human life. But when a girl realizes her ability to communicate with the creatures of the planet, it could expose and worsen a dangerous conflict brewing between the leaders and the planet’s indigenous people.
Shaun David Hutchinson’s The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza sold to Simon Pulse for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The first scientifically confirmed “virgin birth,” Elena discovers she can heal with a touch, and when people stay disappearing in beams of light, she wonders if she’s brought on the Apocalypse.
New York Times bestselling author Danielle Paige will write a new as-of-yet-untitled fantasy series about a fairy godmother, the first which will be published in fall 2018 by Bloomsbury, according to USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog. The story will follow the journey from “charmed teen to wish-wielding enchantress.”
Shannon M. Parker’s The Rattled Bones sold to Simon Pulse for publication in August 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Maine lobster boat captain Rilla Brae is grieving after her father’s death, but as the veil between the living and the dead begins to lift, Rilla sees a mysterious girl haunting the shores of an abandoned island.
Jessica Leake’s From Blood and Ash sold to HarperTeen for publication in winter 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A romantic fantasy inspired by Norse and Celtic mythology set in ancient Ireland, two enemies are forced to unite to stop a power that threatens their world.
Sci-Fi
Ashley Poston’s Heart of Iron sold to Balzer + Bray for publication in winter 2018, according to Publisher’s Weekly. An orphan girl raised by a band of space pirates discovers the truth about her origins; her and her android best friend get wrapped up in a political conspiracy.
Historical
Miriam McNamara’s The Unbinding of Mary Reade sold to Sky Pony Press for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. A girl disguises herself as a boy to sail with Anne Bonny and “Calico” Jack Rackham.
Elizabeth Wein’s The Pearl Thief sold to Disney-Hyperion for publication in May 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. This prequel to Code Name Verity follows Julie solving a mystery on her grandmother’s estate in Scotland in 1938.
Graphic Novel
Juliet Kahn and Amanda Scurti’s Fabiola & Ylini sold to Oni Press for publication in spring 2019, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Fabiola meets loudmouthed mermaid Ylini and love is quick to blossom.
Nonfiction
Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long’s memoir sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for publication in spring 2018, according to Publisher’s Lunch. It will include personal anecdotes, photos, stories of her childhood and her return to Siberia to meet her parents, and her rise in the Paralympic swimming world.
Jessica Burkhart’s anthology Side Effects: 31 YA Authors on Mental Illness sold to Simon Pulse for publication in fall 2017, according to Publisher’s Lunch. The anthology highlights personal essays dealing with the impacts of mental illness and includes contributions from 30 young adult and middle grade writers.
A young adult adaptation of Bernie Sanders’ Our Revolution: A Future To Believe In sold to Henry Holt for publication in April 2017, according to Publisher’s Weekly. The book highlights his Presidential campaign and the road ahead for political young readers.
