Deal announcement: Tricia Stirling's YA debut to Scholastic

Sometimes a manuscript works its way into your heart and sets up shop there, distracting you from everything else you're supposed to be doing and making your throat catch when you suddenly remember a perfect line, or a surprising description that makes you look at something mundane in a whole new way. Tricia Stirling's WHEN MY HEART WAS WICKED is that kind of novel. Her writing feels as arresting to me as Francesca Lia Block's, and as she's worked on the manuscript over many months, Tricia's shown she's not only gifted: she has the kind of tenacity that makes me believe she could move mountains if she wanted to.

This project inspired passionate responses from editors, but none more than Mallory Kass at Scholastic Press. Like Tricia's main character Lacy, Tricia, Mallory, and I are California girls, and we all know—as Lacy does—that magic exists in the everyday, a truth at the heart of this beautiful novel. I'm thrilled Lacy's found the perfect home at Scholastic, and even happier that readers will soon discover this beautiful, haunting book for themselves. Congratulations, Tricia!