London Book Fair Children's/YA Rights Guide 2020

Children’s and YA Books 2020

CONTENTS

YOUNG ADULT FICTION & NON-FICTION 3

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION 14

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 28

IlLLUSTRATORS 32

BACKLIST & ESTATES 38

CONTACT 48

YOUNG ADULT FICTION & NON-FICTION

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

THE SUMMER EVERYTHING HAPPENED by Jane Claire Bradley

Junk by Melvin Burgess meets Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon. Directly informed by the author’s experiences growing up mixed-race, poor and queer on a Salford council estate, The Summer Everything Happened explores themes of home, trauma and identity – asking the question: can you ever really escape who you are and where you’re from?

Agent: Silvia Molteni Winner of the Northern Debut of the Year at the Northern Writers Awards. Longlisted for the Mslexia On submission Children's and YA Novel Competition.

Age: 14+ Meet Cookie: so nicknamed because she’s smart and tough

Genre: Contemporary, (and because her mum doesn’t like her using her real realistic name). Cookie and her best friend Ash are sixteen, inseparable and have just finished their GCSEs.

Unsure what's next but unable to face another summer on their Salford council estate, Cookie contacts her cousin, Bea, a wild child currently managing a bar in Ibiza. With no money, no passport, and a mentally ill mother struggling with PTSD from events in her past, spending the summer in Ibiza initially seems like an impossible dream for Cookie, but she and Ash are determined to get themselves to the hedonistic clubbers' paradise.

But once on the White Isle, things get complicated: Ash is caught up in a risky holiday romance, Cookie's entangled in secrets, lies and dangers extending from Ibiza to home, and there's a storm coming in more ways than one.

Jane Claire Bradley is a writer, educator and therapist based in Manchester, writing mostly about being young, queer and working class. Jane is the founder and co-director of For Books' Sake (wwww.forbookssake.net), the non-profit championing women and non-binary writers through a nationwide programme of live events, workshops, writing retreats and other projects.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

EASTLAND by Nadine Doolittle

X Files meets Stranger Things; Nadine Doolittle’s EASTLAND is inspired by the Danish folktale Agnete and the Merman and The Haunting of Hill House. The story blends supernatural mystery with elements of fantasy and romance.

Eastland was a spit of sand and rock severed from the American mainland and marooned in the Atlantic Ocean. Accessed by ferry over a choppy channel of water. I watched the coastline disappear behind me, feeling like I Agent: Lucy Irvine was leaving the known world...

On submission A cryptic message from her dying mother haunts seventeen-year-old Wren Caldwell when she’s sent to an Age: 14+ island off the coast of Maine for the summer. Eastland is unsettling—an impression reinforced by Colin Garrity, the Genre: Supernatural, brother of a missing boy, and by a strange encounter with paranormal, horror Jamie Harnett, a popular high school student.

When a vision of a boy in a red sweater draws Wren to an abandoned mansion called Eastmuir, she teams up with Colin to find his brother while at the same time finding herself drawn to Jamie. Plunged into a supernatural world that is somehow connected to her mother’s dying words, Wren soon realises that a malignant evil is taking possession of the Island, one that is as compelling as it is destructive...

Nadine Doolittle was born in British Columbia and now lives in the wilds of Quebec, where she writes full time. Her debut novel, Iced Under, (Bayeux Arts Press, Calgary) was shortlisted for Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel in 2009. Her second book, The Grey Lady, was published by Toronto's McArthur and Company in 2012 and her third in the series, The River Bride was published in 2014. Eastland is her first Young Adult novel.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

THE UNDYING TOWER by Melissa Welliver

The first instalment in a political trilogy set in a future world in which an overpopulation crisis has caused society to collapse, The Undying Tower is The Hunger Games for 2020.

‘Melissa Welliver has no problem inventing adventures and once she’s let loose she’ll run and run’ Jeanette Winterson

When the world discovered that a small percentage of the Agent: Lucy Irvine population stopped aging, it tore itself apart. Fifty years later, The Avalonia Zone is one of the only civilisations On submission left. A place where healthcare is restricted; religion is banned; hangings are televised; and the terrorist group the Three-book series Alchemists fight for Undying rights.

Age: 14+ Sadie cares for her father and yearns for a heart

Genre: Political future transplant for him. But after she is injured in a terrorist attack and a blood test reveals her to be one of the Undying, she and her family are no longer eligible for med- ical treatment. The government give Sadie an ultimatum: find the Alchemist leak inside the Tower, the highest security Undying prison in the country, and her father can have his heart transplant.

As Sadie probes deeper into what she always considered a criminal underworld, she begins to realise that there is more to the Undying than is reported on the news. And when she discovers the Tower’s darkest secret, will she risk everything to save the Undying, or will she abandon them to save her father?

Melissa Welliver studied Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. Her work has listed in Bath Novel Award; Mslexia; the #BNAKids Award; and was recently shortlisted for the inaugural Hachette Children’s Novel Award. She has been published in two short story collections. The Undying Tower is her first novel.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

WITCHES OF ASH AND RUIN by E. Latimer

Modern witchcraft blends with ancient Celtic mythology in a mesmerizing novel that’s perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab’s Shade of Magic trilogy and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that’s impossible to put down.

Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope Agent: Silvia Molteni with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as

US publisher: Little Brown bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the Books for Young Readers return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and US editor: Alvina Ling finally, finally becoming a full witch—plans that are complicated when another coven, rumoured to have a US publication: 3 March sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with 2020 premonitions of death.

Page extent: 384 Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the Age: 14+ granddaughter of their coven leader. And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the Genre: Fantasy blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester—an infamous Rights sold: serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. Audio US (Listening Library) Spanish and Catalan The killer’s motives are enmeshed in a complex web of (Editorial Planeta) witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all.

If they don’t stop the Butcher, one of them will be next...

E. Latimer lives in Canada. Her breakout success on the online writing platform, Wattpad.com, has resulted in a fan base of nearly 90k followers, with over 20 million combined reads. Her first MG novel, The Strange and Deadly Potraits of Bryony Gray was published by Tundra Books in February 2018. Witches of Ash and Ruin is her first Young Adult novel.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

WE ARE NOT OKAY by Natália Gomes

From the author of Dear Charlie and Blackbird, comes a new provocative and eye-opening novel for young adults, perfect for fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, All The Bright Places, and Girl Online.

‘Beautifully written [...] sensitively portrayed and ultimately uplifting, this book deals with serious issues and their potential outcomes’ Goodreads reviewer

‘A gripping, eye-opening YA novel that I wish I could put in everyone's hands’ Pretty Little Memoirs on Dear Charlie Agent: Silvia Molteni Four girls. Four voices. All unheard. UK Publisher: HQ Young Adult Lucy loves to gossip. If she’s pointing fingers at everyone else, no-one will see the secret she’s hiding. UK editor: Sarah Goodey Ulana comes from a conservative Muslim family where Publication: 2 May 2019 reputation is everything. One rumour – true or false – can

destroy futures. Page extent: 320

Age: 14+ Trina likes to party, and she’s kissed a lot of boys at school. But she didn’t say ‘yes’ that night… and Genre: Contemporary, no-one believes her. realistic Sophia loved her boyfriend. She did everything for him. Previous works: When he asked her to pose for photos, she didn’t hesitate Blackbird (HQ, 2017) – but then he betrayed her trust. So why’s she the one Dear Charlie (HQ, 2016) being shamed?

What happens when the friends you should be turning to are turning against you?

Natália Gomes is completing an MLitt in Literature and Creative Writing. She also holds an M.Ed. in Education and worked for several years in the US public education system. Her first novel, Dear Charlie, was published in 2016, followed by Blackbird in 2017 and We Are Not Okay in 2019. Gomes currently lives in Scotland.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

BLACKBIRD by Natália Gomes

‘A study of grief and how tragic events can push us apart or bring us together’ IShouldReadThat

‘A raw, emotional book’ Goodreads reviewer

Olivia disappeared the night the blackbirds died.

It was New Years Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before fourteen year old Alex McCarthy’s sister Olivia went missing from a party.

Committed to finding out what happened to her Agent: Silvia Molteni sister, within the previously safe walls of their subarctic

Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, UK Publisher: HQ Young Adult, 16 November 2017 sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot. UK editor: Sarah Goodey Yet as they uncover the secrets behind Olivia’s last night, Page extent: 289 Alex starts to find things she may be better off never knowing… DEAR CHARLIE by Natália Gomes

‘At its searing best the novel demonstrates how the perpetrator of a despicable act can still be loved, forgiven and very missed’ The Financial Times

Death should never meet the young. But it did. Thanks to my brother, death made fourteen new friends that day. Maybe even fifteen, if you count Charlie.

At sixteen, Sam Macmillan is supposed to be thinking about girls, homework and his upcoming application to music college, not picking up the pieces after the school Agent: Silvia Molteni shooting that his brother Charlie committed.

UK Publisher: HQ Young Yet as Sam desperately tries to hang on to the memories Adult, 20 October 2016 he has of his brother, the media storm surrounding their

UK editor: Sarah Goodey family threatens to destroy everything. And Sam has to question all he thought he knew about life, death, right Page extent: 290 and wrong.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

DON’T FORGET ME by Victoria Stevens

‘[A] highly emotional yet approachable journey searching for acceptance, friendship, and love… A satisfying coming- of-age story’ School Library Journal

‘Family isn't limited to those connected by blood; sometimes it includes the people who are dearest to you. Themes of family, hope, and love permeate the novel as the three teens try to move forward with their lives, never forgetting those who are most important. Sweet but never sappy; heart-breaking but always hopeful’ Kirkus

Agent: Silvia Molteni Don't Forget Me is Victoria Stevens's sparkling debut, and

US publisher: Farrar, Straus a touching testament to coming of age, falling in love, and and Giroux finding home in unlikely places.

US editor: Melissa Warten Seventeen-year-old Hazel Clarke is no stranger to heartbreaks, and being sent to live with a father she’s Publication: 13 February never met is the latest in a string of them. 2018 Even the beauty of eastern Australia isn't enough to take Page extent: 356 her mind off of her mother, who suffers from early-onset Alzheimer's and is living in a nursing home in England. Age: 12+ But when Hazel meets the friendly, kind-hearted Red and Genre: Romance, literary fiction his elusive twin, Luca, she begins the slow process of piecing together a new life - and realizes she isn't the only Rights sold: one struggling with grief. US (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) As friendships deepen and love finds its way in, Hazel also Danish (Palatium Books) learns that when you truly love someone, they are never French (Hugo et Cie) really gone.

After spending four years in London studying for a Masters degree in Creative Writing at the University of Roehampton, Victoria Stevens now lives in Whittlebury, England, where she spends her time writing stories. Don't Forget Me was inspired by childhood vacations to Australia and her grandmother's diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

YOUNG ADULT NON-FICTION

IN THEIR SHOES by Jamie Windust

A fun and feisty guide to living your best non-binary life, written by a rising star in the trans community.

There is no one way to be non-binary, and that's truthfully one of the best things about it. It's an identity that is yours to shape.

Combining light-hearted anecdotes with their own hard-won wisdom, Jamie Windust explores everything from fashion, dating, relationships and family, through to mental health, work and future key debates. From trying on clothes in secret to iconic looks, first dates to Agent: Silvia Molteni polyamorous liaisons, passports to pronouns, Jamie shows you how to navigate the world and your evolving UK publisher: Jessica Kingsley identity in every type of situation.

UK editor: Andrew James Frank, funny, and brilliantly feisty, this must-read book is a call to arms for non-binary self-acceptance, self- UK publication: 21 October appreciation and self-celebration. 2020

Page extent: 208

Age: 18-30

Genre: Memoir, narrative non-fiction, self-help

Jamie Windust is an award-winning non-binary writer, public speaker and model from London. They have written for The Independent, Gay Times, British GQ, Cosmopolitan and INTO More, and were named as one of London's most influential people, in the story telling category, by the Evening Standard. In Their Shoes is their first book.

YOUNG ADULT NON-FICTION

TRANS MISSION: MY QUEST TO A BEARD by Alex Bertie

A brave and ground-breaking first-hand account of the life, struggles and victories of a transgender teen, as told by YouTuber Alex Bertie.

No. 1 Amazon bestseller in Homosexuality and Bullying.

Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. Featured on The One Show, Buzzfeed, BBC Radio 1 and Gay Times Magazine.

Agent: Silvia Molteni ‘Must read… [a] moving memoir’ NME Magazine UK publisher: Wren & Rook I guess we should start at the beginning. I was born on 2 UK editor: Liza Miller November 1995. The doctors in the hospital took one UK publication: 2 November look at my genitals and slapped an F on my birth 2017 certificate. 'F' for female, not fail - though that would actually have been kind of appropriate given present US publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers circumstances.

US editor: Hallie Tibbetts When I was 15, I realised I was a transgender man. That makes it sound like I suddenly had some kind of lightbulb US publication: 12 May 2020 moment. In reality, coming to grips with my identity has Page extent: 304 taken a long time.

Age: 12+ Over the last six years, I've come out to my family and Genre: Coming-of-age, memoir, friends, changed my name, battled the healthcare system, narrative non-fiction started taking male hormones and have had surgery on my chest. My quest to a beard is almost complete. This is Rights sold: US (Little Brown Books for my story. Young Readers) Alex Bertie is a young transgender YouTuber from rural Dorset. While still attending school at just 14 he started making videos on sexuality and gender identity. To this day, he has reached over 300,000 subscribers. His work has been picked up by organisations such as Childline and Stonewall, and has been recognised by The One Show, the Independent, Gay Times Magazines, Buzzfeed, BBC Newsbeat, BBC Radio 1, YouTube magazine TenEighty and trans publication FTM Magazine.

YOUNG ADULT NON-FICTION

CAN I JUST CHECK?: A guide to growing up with the doubting disease by Sarah Collins

Mad Girl for the young adults, Can I Just Check? is a hilarious yet important account of navigating teenage life with OCD, or, as Sarah calls it, the doubting disease.

Can I just check is a stereotype busting non-fiction book aimed at young adults, based on Sarah’s first-hand experience of growing up with OCD and battling with intrusive thoughts, rumination and reassurance seeking. Agent: Lucy Irvine Challenging the narrative that OCD is always about On submission symmetry, tidiness and order, this book will explore the symptoms of OCD that don’t match the stereotypical Age: 14+ and often mocked traits.

Genre: Non-fiction, memoir, Centred around 10 ‘OCD questions’ that Sarah has mental health grappled with in an unsuccessful quest for certainty whilst growing up, each question will be accompanied by a real life anecdote on how Sarah’s search for answers impacted on her teenage life—from learning to drive to her first kiss.

Funny and relatable as well as informative, this book will be as much about the awkwardness of growing up as it will be about OCD, and will aim to serve as a guide to navigating the turbulent interplay between puberty and the ‘doubting disease’.

Sarah Collins is a freelance writer and poet, reviewer for The Arts Desk., and occasional stand up comedian. She performed her anecdotal sketch The unbelievable hangover caused by Pure-O at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019, after which it was picked up by the BBC and reformatted as a BBC Sounds podcast.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

UNDERGROUND by Isabelle Marinov

A modern day The Goonies set in the old limestone quarries, 20 meters below Paris.

I’m like Antartica. Pale, isolated and with a permanent risk of meltdown.

Twelve year-old Hugo, a self-declared map nerd on the spectrum, doesn’t have any friends. He has maps instead. Train maps. Subway maps. Maps of the world’s highest mountains. Maps of the world’s deepest seas. Agent: Silvia Molteni But mostly, maps of the Paris underground: a maze of On submission: Spring 2020 tunnels, quarries, bunkers and catacombs, 20 meter under the city that Hugo has memorised entirely. His Age: 8+ world is full of loud noises, strange smells, and bright lights. Everything must be better down there, in the Genre: Adventure underground. Silent, dark, and peaceful.

When his classmate Julie goes missing, Hugo knows that’s where she went, but why nobody believes him? Determined to rescue her, he strikes an unlikely alliance with school bully Alex and, armed with his maps and encyclopaedic knowledge, they go after her down in the catacombs.

As they encounter secret societies, a gang of champagne thieves and even a real monster, the trio discovers that there is more beneath the surface of the city – and each other – they ever imagined, and the very weaknesses Hugo was bullied for become their strengths and only hope for survival.

Isabelle speaks four languages fluently but English is her preferred language for prose. She likes to write across genres, from picture books and middle grade novels to screenplays. A member of the SCBWI, she was a Children’s Literature Fellow at Stony Brook University in Southampton. Isabelle is a graduate of Cornell Law School and lives in Luxembourg with her husband, two sons and a cat.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

WHO’S HAUNTING HARVEY HALL? by Wendy White

A hilarious mystery aimed at the younger middle grade market sees Finn and the rest of the Sunny Hill school blog team investigate the haunting of Harvey Hall.

Do you believe in ghosts? I don’t ‒ not really. So when the Sunny Hill Bloggers decided to investigate the ghost of Harvey Hall, I was determined to prove there wasn’t one.That was the plan, anyway... Agent: Lucy Irvine For ten years, the children of Sunny Hill School have On submission: Spring 2020 been terrified by the ghost of Harvey Hall. But eleven- year-old Finn doesn’t believe in ghosts. Age: 8+ So when he and the other Sunny Hill Bloggers decide to Genre: Mystery, adventure investigate the spooky happenings at Harvey Hall Activity Centre, he’s determined to prove the ghost doesn’t exist.

Investigations don’t always go to plan, though, and sometimes spooky stories aren’t quite what they seem…

Wendy White grew up in Llanelli, an industrial town in west Wales, and has worked as a library assistant and primary school teacher. Her first book, Welsh Cakes and Custard, was published by Gwasg Gomer Press. It won the Tir na n-Og Award in 2014 and she has written a further three books, Three Cheers for Wales, St David's Day is Cancelled and Mamgu's Campervan and the Knights in Shining Armour. She also writes for adults as Sara Gethin and her first novel, Not Thomas was shortlisted for The Guardian's Not the Booker prize and the Waverton Good Read Award in 2017.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

FIREBLOOD by Samantha Stewart

An ambitious fantasy adventure that sets up a magical and incredible world. The first istallment in a middle grade series for fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

It’s true there’s no such thing as a dragon. But not true that there never was.

When the knights of the realm slew the last dragon over 2000 years ago, her blood fell on each of the knights, Agent: Lucy Irvine and each of them inherited an essence of dragon kind.

On submission: Spring 2020 Abandoned, hunted, and feared, the descendants of the knights hid their powers, retreating to hidden corners of Multiple books series the land where they could live undisturbed.

Age: 10+ In modern day Bristol, Finn and Tula Flint have lost their father. When an attempt to find him goes wrong, they Genre: Fantasy, adventure are pulled into a world that they never knew existed, a world of fire and dragons to which their father is somehow connected.

But with Tartarus plotting to escape from Hell, demon attacks on the rise, and an impending volcanic eruption that could end the world as we know it, soon Finn and Tula realise that their missing father is the least of their problems.

Or is he the cause of them?

Sam Stewart was born in Zambia, grew up in South Africa and now lives in England with her two children. She has been fascinated by fire since a very early age when she accidentally set her bedroom alight with her sister in it (luckily, her sister escaped unscathed!). Most of her days have been spent working in publishing at HarperCollins Publishers, which doesn’t feel like work when editing other people’s brilliant books, and her nights are spent trying to write her own.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

HET RAADSEL VAN DE ZEE (THE MYSTERY OF THE SEA) by Jonne Kramer

‘A wonderful story about friendship and overcoming fear,’ Boekenkrant (Dutch national book magazine)

‘[…] all the perfect ingrediens for a fun, exciting children’s book’, Grietje Braaksma, NPO Radio 4

Nominated for Hotze de Roosprijs 2019, Dutch award for best children’s book debut.

An exciting sea adventure full of heavy storms, sea monsters and mysterious islands. Agent: Silvia Molteni When fisherman Lasse doesn’t come home for his son’s Dutch publisher: Billy Bones birthday, Ravian knows something must have happened to his father. He ventures out to find him, along with his Dutch editor: Bibi Rumping best friend – a seagull named Marvin – only to end up on a cursed pirate ship, The Privateer. Dutch publication: 1 July 2019 On board there are only two other people: Kars, a kind, Age group: 10+ gentle boy his age who forms a bond with Ravian; and Bank, a grumpy old pirate, bound to the ship by the sea Genre: Adventure, mystery as punishment for mutiny years in the past. Now, anyone

who boards the ship is cursed to never leave, so that Bank won’t be alone.

And so Ravian embarks on the biggest sea adventure of his life... All while wondering if he’ll ever be able to get back to land, find his father, and overcome his fear of the water.

Jonne Kramer studied creative writing in London. She now teaches creative writing at primary and secondary schools. Het Raadsel Van de Zee is her debut novel, written in response to her own fear of boats and water.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

SCHOOL FOR NOBODIES by Susie Bower

A girl goes in search of her past in this hilarious, captivating debut. Full of magic, mystery and humour, School for Nobodies is a delightful story of friendship, self-discovery and the importance of family - those we are born into and those we make.

Until she was 10, Flynn didn’t even know her real name. Her adoptive parents have always kept her past a secret, but one mysterious note transforms her world and sets her on a path to discover who she really is. How did she get the burn that covers Agent: Silvia Molteni most of her face? And could she really have a twin?

UK Publisher: Pushkin Press Packed off to a boarding school for misfits, Flynn tries to adjust to the unfair rules and stomach- UK editor: Sarah Odedina churning soup while making friends with her unusual classmates. All the while, she receives more cryptic Publication: 7 May 2020 messages that slowly bring her closer to her true Page extent: 304 identity.

Age: 8+

Genre: Adventure, mystery

Rights sold: Audio (WF Howes)

Susie Bower has been a teacher, a tour-guide, a typist, a workshop facilitator, a PA and a painter. She formerly wrote and directed TV programmes for children at the BBC and Channel 4, for which she won a BAFTA Award. Susie lives in Bristol and School for Nobodies is her debut novel.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

THE PECULIAR PEGGS OF RIDDLING WOODS by Samuel J. Halpin

An astonishing debut, a peculiar and vivid tale guaranteed to delight fans of Neil Gaiman and Roald Dahl.

‘The real joy of [Halpin’s] writing lies in his ability to observer adult vanities through the eyes of a child’ The Telegraph

‘A thrilling read... flavoured with fairy tales, drizzled with a syrup of fear and sprinkled with heart’ M.G. Leonard Agent: Silvia Molteni author of Beetle Boy

UK Publisher: Usborne Books ‘A story woven in the finest of silk threads and stitched full of imagination. Poppy and Erasmus will warm even UK editor: Rebecca Hill the coldest of beating hearts’ Helena Duggan, author of A Place Called Perfect Publication: 10 January 2019 ‘A deliciously dark tale with an original premise’ Lisa Page extent: 352 Thompson, author of The Goldfish Boy

Age: 8+ This is the story of a sleepy town called Suds. A place where stories fill the air of children who keep turning Genre: Fantasy, adventure grey and disappearing without a trace…

Rights sold: Audio (WF Howes) Poppy and Erasmus are certain there's something Dutch (Billy Bones) peculiar going on in Suds, and they're determined to French (Pocket Jeunesse) unravel its secrets. But when they discover the answers Swedish (Modernista) might lie in the dark and twisting woods, can they find Polish (Foksal) the courage to creep inside and solve this riddling Russian (Eksmo) mystery?

Born in Tasmania with Irish roots, Samuel J. Halpin is a writer of children's fiction living in London. His first book, The Peculiar Peggs of Riddling Woods, was influenced by the brooding fairy tales he so enjoyed reading as a kid.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION THE GOLDFISH BOY by Lisa Thompson

Page-turning, heartbreaking, but ultimately life-affirming, this is a book that will make you laugh and cry. Nominated for the Carnegie Medal, The Branford Boase Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

Twelve-year-old Matthew is trapped in his bedroom by crippling OCD… Until the day he is the last person to see his next door neighbour's toddler, Teddy, before he goes missing.

Agent: Adam Gauntlett Matthew must turn detective and unravel the mystery of Teddy's disappearance - with the help of a UK Publisher: Scholastic, brilliant cast of supporting characters. 5 January 2017

Page extent: 400 Rights sold: US (Scholastic Press), Chinese simplified (Jieli), Dutch (Billy Bones) Farsi (Porteghaal), French (Pocket Age: 8+ Jeunesse), Greek (Kedros Publishers), Italian (DeA Planeta Libri), Korean (See & Talk), Romanian (Art Grup Editorial), Russian (MIF), Spanish & Catalan (Planeta), Turkish (Pegasus)

THE LIGHT JAR by Lisa Thompson

A story of fear and hope, loneliness and friendship. Longlisted for The Grampian Children’s Book Award and nominated for the Children’s Book Award.

Nate and his mother are running away, hiding out in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of a forest. When Mum heads off for provisions, and then doesn't return, Nate is left alone and afraid, with the dark closing in all around him. Agent: Adam Gauntlett Will Nate find the bravery needed to face the troubles of UK Publisher: Scholastic, his present and ultimately illuminate the future? 4 January 2018

Page extent: 240 Rights sold: Audio (Bolinda), US (Scholastic Press), Chinese simplified (Jieli) Dutch (Billy Bones), French (Pocket Age: 8+ Jeunesse), Italian (DeA Planeta Libri), Korean (See & Talk), Romanian (Art Grup Editorial) Russian (MIF), Spanish and Catalan (Planeta) Turkish (Pegasus)

Before becoming a novelist, Lisa worked as a broadcast assistant for BBC Radio 2 and CPL Productions where she got to make tea for lots of famous people. She lives in Suffolk, UK with her family.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

THE DAY I WAS ERASED by Lisa Thompson

Maxwell Beckett wishes he’d never existed, but soon learns that you should be careful what you wish for.

Maxwell Beckett keeps getting into trouble. His sister hates him, his parents are living separate lives in the same house and his neighbour, Mrs Banks is planning to call the police about his wayward dog, Monster.

Maxwell has had enough. All he wants is to be erased from the world; he wishes he had never existed. And then… his wish comes true. Agent: Adam Gauntlett Rights sold: Audio (Bolinda), US (Scholastic Press), Dutch UK Publisher: Scholastic, (Billy Bones), French (Pocket Jeunesse), Russian (MIF), 3 January 2019 Spanish and Catalan (Planeta)

Page extent: 360

Age: 8+ THE BOY WHO FOOLED THE WORLD by Lisa Thompson

Telling a little white lie now and then is harmless, right? But what if it leads to you being a household name and international celebrity?

Cole is the boy who fooled the world and finds himself trapped in a huge web of lies... can he break free?

Cole is the odd one out at school: the other kids have the latest gadgets and trainers while his family struggles to make ends meet. Until the day one of his paintings is talent -spotted and sells for thousands of pounds at a posh London gallery.

Agent: Adam Gauntlett Suddenly, Cole is the toast of the international art world, the star guest on TV shows, rich beyond his wildest UK Publisher: Scholastic, dreams, hailed as a boy genius! Being famous is 2 January 2020 FANTASTIC...

Page extent: 300 But Cole has a guilty secret that if exposed will bring Age: 8+ everything crashing down around him...

Rights sold: Audio (Bolinda), Russian (MIF)

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

OWEN AND THE SOLDIER by Lisa Thompson

A touching story of loss and remembrance, particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant or dyslexic readers. Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards 2020.

‘A clever, thought provoking story that draws parallels between past and present conflicts, and how we remember those lost so that we can move on’ Emma Carroll, Author

A crumbling stone soldier sits on a bench in the park. Only Owen understands how important he is.

At home, Owen and his mum are struggling and there's Agent: Adam Gauntlett nobody he can talk to. Hidden away in the park, Owen feels free to be himself. UK Publisher: Barrington Stoke, 15 June 2019 When the war-weary soldier is listening, his worries slip away. But nobody else cares about the soldier, and the Page extent: 96 town council want to tear him down.

Age: 8+ Owen's the only one who can save him but can he find the courage to speak up before it's too late?

Rights sold: Audio (Bolinda), Dutch (Billy Bones)

THE HOUSE OF CLOUDS by Lisa Thompson

A poignant and uplifting story of family, connection and imagination.

Tabby's fed up. Fed up with losing her best friend and fed up that Grandad has come to stay. Grandad's always telling the same old silly, made-up stories and now Tabby has to walk his smelly dog Buster every day after school. When one of Tabby's walks takes her to a lonely hilltop house she spots something strange going on. So strange she can't Agent: Adam Gauntlett help but mention it to Grandad who of course turns it all into another fantasy. UK publisher: Barrington Stoke15th June 2020 But when tragedy strikes, Tabby's left wondering if Grandad's impossible story could be true? Page extent: 104 Rights sold: Audio (Bolinda) Age: 8+

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

THE STRANGE AND DEADLY PORTRAITS OF BRYONY GRAY by E. Latimer

Lemony Snicket meets Oscar Wilde meets Edgar Allan Poe in this exciting and scary middle-grade novel inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray - a family curse is unleashed!

‘An action-packed adventure that is lightly laced with horror, there is a little something for everyone in this middle grade debut’ CM Magazine

Shortlisted for the Red Maple Award and the Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award. Agent: Silvia Molteni Bryony Gray is becoming famous as a painter in London US Publisher: Tundra Books art circles. But life isn't so grand. Her uncle keeps her locked in the attic, forcing her to paint for his rich US editor: Lynne Missen clients… and now her paintings are taking on a life of their own, and customers are going missing under Publication: February 2018 mysterious circumstances. (hardback), April 2020 (paperback) When her newest painting escapes the canvas and Page extent: 320 rampages through the streets of London, Bryony digs into her family history, discovering some rather Age: 8+ scandalous secrets her uncle has been keeping, including a deadly curse she's inherited from her missing Genre: Mystery, adventure father. Bryony has accidentally unleashed the Gray family curse, and it's spreading fast. Rights sold: US & Canada (Tundra Books) With a little help from the strange-but-beautiful girl next Russian (Rosman) door and her paranoid brother, Bryony sets out to break Turkish (Dogan) the curse, dodging bloodthirsty paintings, angry mobs and her wicked uncle along the way.

E. Latimer lives on the West Coast of Canada. Her breakout success on the online writing platform, Wattpad.com, has resulted in a fan base of nearly 90k followers, with over 20 million combined reads. The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray is her debut novel for middle-graders.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

HATTIE BROWN VS THE CLOUD SNATCHERS by Claire Harcup

Alice in Wonderland meets The Sisters Grimm in this imaginative, humorous series aimed at Middle Graders.

‘Super exciting’ Hamburger Abendblatt

When Hattie Brown is pulled through the fridge into a new world, she has no idea why. But everyone around her seems to be looking for someone important called Nimbus. Could it be her? After all, strange things are Agent: Silvia Molteni happening. She even seems to be able to make it rain.

German Publisher: Piper Not everyone in the new world is welcoming. The Verlag guards want to arrest her, Sir Gideon the dragon wants to get rid of her because he thinks he’ll get blamed for Three-book series the fact she’s there. But when Hattie discovers that there’s an army of kidnapped children in the new world, Publication: March 2019, she doesn’t care who wants her there and who doesn’t. March 2020 Nothing is going to stop her rescuing them. Even if she

isn’t Nimbus. Age: 8+ HATTIE BROWN AND THE LOST SEAL by Claire Genre: Fantasy, adventure Harcup

When Hattie Brown is tricked back to Somewhere- Nowhere, she’s walked into a trap. There’s a drought in the realm and Lord Mortimer, its brutal leader, wants to capture her and her friend Arthur because he knows they can make rain.

But Hattie isn’t about to go home. She’s discovered that Lord Mortimer has thrown her friend Victor into prison for his part in helping her and Arthur free an army of kidnapped children, and she’s determined to rescue him. But in the cell next to him they find Lord Mortimer’s brother, Lord Jasper. And Hattie discovers Lord Jasper is not only her father, but Arthur’s as well.

Claire is Director of Copy at Quietroom, a team of business writers, trainers and strategists. Walker published her first picture book, This is The Kiss, in January 2017. Hattie Brown is her debut series for MG. 25

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION SPIRIT OF THE JUNGLE: NEW JUNGLE BOOK ADVENTURES by Bear Grylls

An action-packed return to the jungle inspired by Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book, from real-life adventurer Bear Grylls.

Could you survive in the jungle?

After being washed away down the Wainganga River during a flash flood, Mak wakes up alone in the Indian jungle. The jungle is full of danger - poisonous snakes, Agent: Caroline Michel cunning monkeys and desperate poachers - and every step Mak takes might be his last. UK publisher: Pan Macmillan

UK editor: Venetia Gosling Mak finds help and friendship from other jungle creatures, but he will need all his skill and luck to survive Two-book series and make his way back home.

Publication: April 2016, September 2017 RETURN TO THE JUNGLE by Bear Grylls

Age: 8+ Six months after his adventures in Spirit of the Genre: Action, adventure Jungle, Mak returns to the Wainganga River, where a conservation project is tracking the elusive wild elephant, endangered by loggers and poachers.

When a young elephant is captured by an unscrupulous merchant, Mak and his friend Diya follow them into the heart of the jungle in a quest to set the animal free. But soon Mak finds that he must remember all his survival skills to escape danger.

Rights sold: US (Feiwel and Friends), Chinese, simplified (Jieli), Czech (Albatros), Hungarian (Jaffa), Slovakian (Albatros)

Bear Grylls is a world-record breaking adventurer, bestselling author of a dozen books, which have been translated into more than 20 languages, and one of the world’s most sought-after motivational speakers. He served for three years with the British Special Forces and is the UK’s Chief Scout to the Scouting Association.

MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION

MISSION SURVIVAL SERIES - GOLD OF THE GODS by Bear Grylls

10 million copies sold in China

‘Exciting, well-informed and zips along at an impressive pace’ Independent

‘If you like survival and adventure stories you’ll definitely like this book’ TBK

The first book in an explosive adventure series from real -life survival expert BEAR GRYLLS.

Agent: Caroline Michel Mission: Survival

UK publisher: Doubleday Location: The Colombian Jungle Children’s; Agora Dangers: Snakes; starvation; howler monkeys

Twenty-six book series Beck Granger is lost in the jungle with no food, no

Publication: 2008 - 2019 compass, and no hope of rescue.

Age: 9+ But Beck is no ordinary teenager - he's the world's

Genre: Adventure, survival youngest survival expert. If anyone can make it out alive, he can. Rights sold: Brazilian (Record) Chinese, simplified (Jieli) Chinese, complex (Planter Press) Czech (Jota) Hungarian (Jaffa) Korean (Jaeum & Mouem) Polish (Pascal) Romanian (Corint Junior) Turkish (Timas)

Bear Grylls is a world-record breaking adventurer, bestselling author of a dozen books, which have been translated into more than 20 languages, and one of the world’s most sought-after motivational speakers. Bear’s primetime adventure Born Survivor series reaches over a billion viewers worldwide in over 150 countries. He served for three years with the British Special Forces and is the UK’s Chief Scout to the Scouting Association.

ILLUSTRATED BOOKS

ILLUSTRATED FICTION

BOB GOES POP by Marion Deuchars

‘A dazzling example of picture book illustration’ The New York Times

‘Loose, inky brushstrokes and hand-lettered text add to the stylish presentation, and the message about taking criticism with a grain of salt, whether personal or artistic, lands with a light touch’ Publishers Weekly

From Marion Deuchars comes this charming and funny follow-up to Bob the Artist and Bob’s Blue Period, about art and friendship and working together.

Agent: Elizabeth Sheinkman There's a new artist in town making a new art, knocking

UK publisher: Laurence King Bob's beak out of joint.

Three-book series The subsequent competition to see who is the best artist escalates as the two artists try to outdo each Publication: March 2020 other.

Page extent: 32 It all ends in tears, but the two realise that they are Age: 3+ better working together rather than against each other.

Previous works: Bob’s Blue Period (Laurence King, 2018) Bob The Artist (Laurence King, 2016)

Rights sold: British illustrator and author Marion Deuchars works Chinese Complex (San Min with major design and advertising agencies, publishes Book Co) Chinese Simplified (United Sky) illustrated children's books and has created a globally Korean (Kookminbooks) recognised style of hand-lettering. Whether it’s client Portuguese (Editorial Bizancio) work for the likes of The Royal Mail and The Imperial Turkish (Fom Kitap) War Museum, or inspiring youngsters with her Let’s Make Great Art books, Marion’s impact on the creative scene continues to be wide-ranging. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and represented the UK at Helsinki's World Design Capital celebrations. She has won 5 prestigious Yellow Pencils from D&AD for her work.

ILLUSTRATED FICTION

BOB’S BLUE PERIOD by Marion Deuchars

From Marion Deuchars comes this charming and funny follow-up to Bob the Artist, about feeling sad, expressing your emotions and ways to feel better.

Bob the bird loves to paint pictures with his best friend Bat. But one day Bat goes away and Bob is sad.

He tries to paint, but everything he paints is blue! Can his friends help him to find his bright colours again?

Rights sold: Chinese Complex (San Min Book Co), Agent: Elizabeth Sheinkman Chinese Simplified (United Sky), French (Seuil), German (Laurence King Verlag), Korean (Kookminbooks. Co), UK publisher: Laurence King, 22 Portuguese (Editorial Bizancio), Turkish (Fom Kitap) May 2018

Age: 3+

BOB THE ARTIST by Marion Deuchars

An affirming picture book for age 3+ about the power of art and of being confident enough to be yourself.

Bob the bird is just like all his friends, apart from his skinny legs.

When Bob is teased, he decides to try and change himself to fit in.

But little does he know where all his efforts will lead Agent: Elizabeth Sheinkman him…

UK publisher: Laurence King, 24 Rights sold: Brazilian (Pinakotheke Cultural), Chinese March 2016 Complex (San Min Book Co), Chinese Simplified (United Sky), Dutch (Gottmer), French (Seuil), German Age: 3+ (Coppenrath), Korean (Kookminbooks. Co), Portuguese (Editorial Bizancio), Romanian (Pandora/Trei), Spanish & Catalan (Maeva), Turkish (Fom Kitap)

ILLUSTRATED FICTION

IL MARE NON SERVE A NIENTE (ANNA AND THE SEA) written by Michele Rossi and illustrated by La Bigotta

A beautiful, moving and inspirational tale - illustrated by the skilful hand of La Bigotta - that will delight art lovers of all ages.

Far, far away, there was a little girl named Anna. Anna had a bed, a doll, a pen, a pacifier from when she was a baby, and an old book with a whale on its cover. Agent: Silvia Molteni "The sea is worthless!" is all Anna hears from her Italian publisher: HarperCollins parents every single day, when all she wants to do is Italia leave the hundred floors building they live in and go swim in the sea. Italian editor: Sabrina Annoni

But Anna cannot swim and she can’t afford to dream Publication: 14 November 2018 much.

Page extent: 32 She reads everything about the sea: atlases, manuals, stories and legends. Moby Dick is her favourite novel. Age: 3+ Then one day, her mother gives her a goldfish, and Rights sold: Anna names it Moby. Together, they will finally discover Italian (HarperCollins Italia) and explore the sea and Anna will understand that Korean (Woori School) nothing is impossible and that dreams can become reality.

Michele Rossi is Fiction Publisher at Rizzoli in Italy.

La Bigotta is a social media influencer and one of the most famous Italian tattoo artists; she has designed international VIP’s jewelleries, clothing lines and tattoos.

Anna and The Sea is their first book together.

ILLUSTRATORS

ILLUSTRATORSILLUSTRATED FICTION LYDIA RIPPER

Lydia Ripper is a full-time illustrator and writer with a history of designing for entrepreneurial startups. Lydia was former Head of Design at TucanBOX, a children’s craft box subscription. She studied graphic design at Nottingham Trent University and was headhunted to join the creative team at notonthehighstreet.com. She brings an inimitable sense of style to everything she does: from makeup artistry and face painting to fashion and hair Agent: Silvia Molteni modelling. The Ant’s Pants is her first illustrated book for children and it was published by Orion, Summer 2018.

ILLUSTRATORSILLUSTRATED FICTION Anthony Lewis

Since graduating with a first class graphic design degree from the Liverpool School of Art, Anthony Lewis has illustrated more than 400 children’s books for publishers around the world. His titles include the Smarties Prize winning The Owl Tree by Jenny Nimmo and Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths by Lucy Coats, shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award. Agent: Silvia Molteni

ILLUSTRATORSILLUSTRATED FICTION Josh Martin

Josh Martin graduated from Exeter University before completing Bath Spa’s Writing For Young People MA. His particular interest in heroines, fantasy, environment, gender studies and wisdom led him to write his first book Ariadnis and Anassa, its sequel.

Agent: Silvia Molteni

ILLUSTRATORSILLUSTRATED FICTION Simji Park

Simji Park is a freelance illustrator and animator from South Korea, now based in the Netherlands. She completed an MA distinction in Animation from the Royal College of Art in London in 2017. She likes wandering in the park in search of the weight of the sky, and holding a staring contest with the sheep of Lake District. When she is not, she produces illustrations and films. Agent: Lucy Irvine

ILLUSTRATORSILLUSTRATED FICTION Sunita Chawdhary

Sunita Chawdhary is a British-Indian illustrator and doctor based in London and Oxford. She has recently studied art and design at Central Saint Martins, having completed the art and anatomy course at the Ruskin School of Art and a Foundation Course in Art Therapy. Sunita draws on her experience of growing up in Asia, America and Europe to create vibrant, multicultural worlds filled with diverse characters and stories. Sunita was shortlisted for the Penguin Random House WriteNow mentorship programme in 2018 and commended for the Agent: Lucy Irvine Faber Andlyn BAME (FAB) prize in 2019.

BACKLIST & ESTATES

CHILDREN’S FICTION

THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF CLEVER POLLY AND THE STUPID WOLF by Catherine Storr

‘The stories were every bit as brilliant as I remembered’ The Guardian

‘All the wolf wants to do is eat a little girl, but he has chosen one very clever girl, and he is unfortunately one very stupid wolf! A charming, classic tale’ Waterstones Guide for Kids' Books Agent: Giulia Bernabè

UK publisher: Puffin Once upon a time the front door bell rang and Polly went to open the door. There was a great black wolf Four-book series: Clever Polly who said he had come to eat her up. and the Stupid Wolf; Polly and the Wolf Again; Tales of Polly and the Hungry Wolf; More All four Clever Polly books in one volume Stories of Polly and the Wolf including Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, Polly and the Wolf Again, Tales of Polly and the Hungry Publication: July 2015; January Wolf and More Stories of Clever Polly and the Stupid 2016 Wolf. First publication: 1955; 1980; 1990 Drawing occasionally on well-known fairy tales, and skilfully blending fantasy and reality, these stories are Page extent: 160; 176; 160; 128 bursting with humour, originality and charm. And Polly, Age: 5+ not scared at all, outwits the wolf on each and every occasion! Genre: Adventure

Rights sold: US (NYRB) Chinese (Shanghai 99) French (Editions Nathan) Italian (Mondadori) Japanese (Iwanami Shoten) Korean (Bir Publishing Co. Ltd.) Slovenian (Kud Sodobnost Int.) Catherine Storr (21 July 1913 – 8 January 2001) was an Taiwanese (The Eastern English author best known for her novel Marianne Publishing Co.) Dreams and for the series of books about a wolf ineptly pursuing a young girl, beginning with Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf. Married to psychologist Anthony Storr for over 20 years, her books often involve children confronting their fears.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

THE WIND ON THE MOON by Eric Linklater

Winner of the Carnegie Medal.

‘Eric Linklater is not primarily a novelist, or an essayist or a dramatist. He is above all else an enchanting prose poet. These fragments of wonderful singing prose are scattered all over his books, and through them English literature is permanently enriched’ George Mackay Brown

In the English village of Midmeddlecum, Major Palfrey asks his two daughters to behave themselves while he’s off at Agent: Giulia Bernabè war.

UK publisher: Vintage Dinah sighs, ‘I think that we are quite likely to be bad, however hard we try not to be,’ and her sister Dorinda Publication: August 2013 adds helpfully, ‘Very often, when we think we are behaving well, some grown-up person says we are really First publication: 1944 quite bad. It’s difficult to tell which is which.’

Page extent: 448 Sure enough, the mischievous sisters soon convince a Age: 9+ judge that minds must be changed as often as socks, they stage an escape from a local zoo (thanks to a witch’s Genre: Fantasy, adventure potion that turns them into kangaroos), and – in the company of a golden puma and a silver falcon – set off to Rights sold: rescue their father from the tyrant of Bombardy. US (NYRB) Chinese (Aurora) German (DVT) Polish (Muchomor) Romanian (Grup Media Litera) Swedish (En Bok for Alla) Thai (Matichon Publishing House)

Eric Linklater (1899–1974) wrote scores of novels for adults and children. He was also a journalist in India, commander of a wartime fortress in the Orkney Islands, and rector of Aberdeen University.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

THE RESCUERS by Margery Sharp

‘A devastating mixture of magic and fantasy’ Evening News

‘Margery Sharp is an adept describer of situations; whether comic or merely piquant, embarrassing or exciting. Her dialogue is brilliant, uncannily true. Her taste is excellent: she is an excellent story teller’ Tatler

Bianca and Bernard, agents for The Prisoners’ Aid Society of Mice, rescue prisoners and outwit villains in this enchanting story, made world-famous by the Walt Disney Agent: Giulia Bernabè film.

UK publisher: HarperCollins The Prisoners’ Aid Society of Mice discusses the proposed

Nine-book series: rescue of a Norwegian poet from the terrible Black Castle. The Rescuers; Miss Bianca; Miss Bianca, the pet white mouse belonging to the The Turret; Miss Bianca in Ambassador’s son, is sent to Norway on a mission to the Salt Mines; Miss Bianca recruit the bravest Norwegian mouse she can find. She in the Orient; Miss Bianca finds Nils, and brings him back triumphantly. Then she, in the Antarctic; Miss Nils, and Bernard, a pantry mouse who falls in love with Bianca and the Bridesmaid; her, set off for the Black Castle. Bernard the Brave; Bernard into Battle They set up home in a mouse-hole in the Chief Jailer’s room, and narrowly avoid the jaws of Mamelouk, the cruel Publication: June 2016 Persian cat. Eventually, they trick the cat and the jailer, and

get into the prisoner’s cell. First publication: 1959

Page extent: 176 A dramatic rescue via an underground river, and they are all free – and the Nils and Miss Bianca medal for bravery is Age: 7+ struck in the mice’s honour!

Genre: Adventure

Rights sold: Japanese (Iwanami Shotep) Margery Sharp was born in 1905, and died in 1991. She is best known for her books for children, but she also wrote for adults. She was a prolific writer in her long career: twenty-six novels for adults, fourteen stories for children, four plays, two mysteries, as well as numerous short stories.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

FOLLYFOOT SERIES by Monica Dickens

FOLLYFOOT

A popular TV series in the early 1970s that formed the basis for the subsequent beloved series of children’s books.

‘This will be greeted with delight by pony-loving children who are starved of well-written horse stories’ The Bookseller

Agent: Giulia Bernabè ‘A pony lovers dream - this heart-warming story stands the test of time brilliantly’ Julia Eccleshare UK publisher: Andersen Press ‘A welcome reissue of the nineteen-seventies classic proves that it hasn't dated at all: good stories, wonderful Five—book series: Follyfoot, Dora at Follyfoot, characters and some animals you'll love. Definitely The Horses of Follyfoot, recommended’ Sue Magee Strangers at Follyfoot, Cobbler’s Dream Follyfoot Farm is a retirement home for old or unwanted horses, invariably horses rescued from a cruel fate or cruel Publication: December owners. 2019 It's run by the Colonel who is helped by his stepdaughter, First publication: 1971 Callie, and two stable-hands, Dora and Steve.

Page extent: 192 pages These three youngsters have plenty to do at the stables, but can always find time to get involved in the mysteries Age: 7+ and adventures that abound at Follyfoot. Genre: Adventure

Rights sold: Monica Dickens was born in London and was the great- Large Print UK (Ulverscroft) granddaughter of Charles Dickens. While her father and Russian (Abris Books) grandfather pursued the legal profession which was also Charles Dickens’ first career, his great-granddaughter

followed in his literary steps. Disillusioned with the world she was brought up in, she decided to go into domestic service despite coming from the privileged class; her experiences as a cook and general servant would form the nucleus of her first book, One Pair Of Hands in 1939.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

DORA AT FOLLYFOOT by Monica Dickens

The Colonel, owner of Follyfoot, the Home of Rest for Horses, has been ill and has to go away to convalesce. Dora and Steve are left in charge, with the strict instruction, 'Don't buy any horses'. But when Dora sees the rangy, cream-coloured lame horse, Amigo, she is determined to save him from spending his last days pulling a heavy log-cart - even if it means borrowing money from sly Ron Stryker. But to pay Ron back, someone from Follyfoot must win the Moonlight Pony Steeplechase…

UK publisher: Andersen Press

Publication: June 2011

THE HORSES OF FOLLYFOOT

Dora is invited out to America to help set up a home of rest for horses. When she leaves and is given a horse to take back to Follyfoot, she can't believe her luck. But once they're home things start to go badly wrong. One of the horses falls ill. And it looks like the same epidemic that is sweeping… Has Dora's horse brought the disease to England?

UK publisher: Andersen Press Monica Dickens was born in London and was the great- Publication: January 2013 granddaughter of Charles Dickens. While her father and grandfather pursued the legal profession which was also Charles Dickens’ first career, his great-granddaughter followed in his literary steps. Disillusioned with the world she was brought up in, she decided to go into domestic service despite coming from the privileged class; her experiences as a cook and general servant would form the nucleus of her first book, One Pair Of Hands in 1939.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

WORLD’S END SERIES by Monica Dickens

THE HOUSE AT WORLD’S END by Monica Dickens

The House at World's End is the first adventure in The World's End series.

Carrie, Tom, Em and Michael Fielding are at the mercy of their rotten Uncle Rudolph after a fire leaves them homeless, with their mother in hospital and their father abroad at sea. Agent: Giulia Bernabè Uncle Rudolph and his vain wife Val reluctantly take UK publisher: Bloomsbury the children in, but soon let them live alone at Reader World's End, their ramshackle house in the countryside, rather than look after them. Four-book series: The House at World’s End; Summer at World’s End; So begins a life with no grown-ups where the Fielding World’s End in Winter; children can adopt as many dogs, cats, monkeys and Spring Comes to World’s horses as they like. End Free at last from interference from their relatives, they Publication: 2012 begin to fend for themselves, adding to their already

First publication: 1970; sizeable collection of animals – rescuing them from the 1971; 1972; 1973 thoughtless cruelty of adults.

Page extent: 154; 168; 148; 170

Age: 7+ Monica Dickens was born in London and was the great- Genre: Adventure granddaughter of Charles Dickens. While her father and grandfather pursued the legal profession which was also

Charles Dickens’ first career, his great-granddaughter followed in his literary steps. Disillusioned with the world she was brought up in, she decided to go into domestic service despite coming from the privileged class; her experiences as a cook and general servant would form the nucleus of her first book, One Pair Of Hands in 1939.

CHILDREN’S FICTION SUMMER AT WORLD’S END by Monica Dickens

Summer at World's End is the second adventure in The World's End Series.

Tom, Carrie, Em and Michael are still living on their own at World's End. In between wondering where the next meal will come from, and trying to avoid interfering grown-ups, they are never short of fun and excitement. Carrie cannot stand to see an animal suffer, and when she plunges into another rescue operation, more perilous than any she has attempted before – putting her, and faithful dog Charlie, into terrible danger – things quickly spiral out of control. Desperately the children struggle to save Charlie from a dreadful fate; but it is a race against time.

WORLD’S END IN WINTER

World's End in Winter is the third adventure in The World's End Series.

Carrie and Michael befriend Priscilla who has been left wheelchair-bound by a riding accident. Letting Priscilla ride Oliver is making her happy once again, but when the old barn collapses, there is nowhere for them to practise. Together Tom, Carrie, Em and Michael must come up with a scheme to raise the money to fix the roof and save Priscilla from her smothering mother. But where in the world will they find that sort of money?

SPRING COMES TO WORLD’S END

Spring Comes to World's End is the last animal-packed instalment in The World's End Series.

With their parents working on a boat in the Mediterranean, Tom, Carrie, Em and Michael have learnt to look after themselves – and their menagerie of animals in their tumble-down house at World's End. As their Uncle Rudolph threatens to sell their beloved home, the children are determined to earn the money to buy it themselves. But money disappears as fast as it comes in, especially when there are thirty-nine mouths to feed, and time is running out. 45

CHILDREN’S FICTION

MY FRIEND FLICKA by Mary O’Hara

A much-loved classic and firm favourite with horse lovers for over sixty years, and made into a major motion picture in 1943, featuring young Roddy McDowall, and in 2006, featuring Alison Lohman.

A stirring tale of the American plains and one boy’s belief in a horse.

Ken was entranced to watch Flicka - the speed of her, the power, the wildness - she led the band. Ken loves Agent: Giulia Bernabè riding on the ranch in Wyoming.

UK publisher: Egmont All he wants is a colt of his very own. Horses are the family’s livelihood, and Dad can’t afford to waste a Publication: 2007 valuable animal on a dreamer like Ken.

Three-book series: My Friend Flicka (1941), Will Ken ever get to own the horse of his dreams? Thunderhead (1943), Green Grass of Wyoming (1946)

Page extent: 288; 383; 368

Age: 9+

Rights sold: Danish (Bechs Forlag) French (Callman-Levy) German (Ullstein) Mary O'Hara (1885—1980) was born in Cape May Point, New Jersey. She grew up in Brooklyn Heights, New York. In 1905 she married Kent Kane Parrot and moved to California where she became a screenwriter during the silent film era. Her second marriage to Heige Sture-Vasa, in 1922, took her to Wyoming, and there she wrote the three classics about the range country: My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming.

CHILDREN’S FICTION

CAPTAIN SLAUGHTERBOARD DROPS ANCHOR by Mervyn Peake

‘Peake’s books are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we have never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of the possible experience’ C.S. Lewis

Captain Slaughterboard is the most ferocious and wicked pirate you could ever imagine. He likes nothing better than cutting people up with his cutlass or making them walk the plank. Agent: Giulia Bernabè

UK publisher: Walker Books Then one day, on a remote island, he spies a strange Yellow Creature – and from that time on, he’s a Publication: November changed man. How he loves the Yellow Creature! 2009 They become the best of friends, always together, sailing the oceans. First publication: 1939

Page extent: 48 But will Captain Slaughterboard ever drop anchor for good? Age: 3+

Rights sold: French (Joie de Lire) German (Scheidegger & Spiess)

Born of British parents in China in 1911, Mervyn Peake was an acclaimed writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for his Gormenghast books.

CONTACT

Silvia Molteni International Rights Agent Email: [email protected]

Peters, Fraser + Dunlop 55 New Oxford Street London, WC1A 1BS Tel: + 44 (0)2073441000