Deal Announcement: K.E. Ormsbee's magical middle-grade goes to Chronicle!

I'm so happy to share this bit of news with everyone! K.E. Ormsbee, the supremely talented author of THE WATER AND THE WILD (Chronicle, April 2015), has created yet another dazzling story which will be published by Chronicle in 2017. THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD is a magical story of two young brothers that inherit a curse: lifelong service to Death and Memory. It's a lovely novel, with incredible characters and big imagination. Here's the announcement:

Children's: Middle grade

K.E. Ormsbee's THE HOUSE IN POPLAR WOOD, about twin brothers cursed to serve as apprentices to Death and Memory, and a girl from town who asks for their help solving the murder of a local teen, to Melissa Manlove at Chronicle Children's, by Beth Phelan at The Bent Agency (World).

K.E. Ormsbee is definitely one to watch. Now, please, let's all get on Twitter and congratulate her!

Follow at @Kathsby!

Middle-Grade Debut Deal for Shelley Tougas

I'm just back from Southern CA SCBWI Agent's Day, which was great, and wanted to announce TBA's deal for Shelley Tougas's THE GRAHAM CRACKER PLOT.  I knew I wanted to take Shelley's book on when I realized that I hadn't ever read a book that made me laugh out loud, that kept my stomach in knots and that broke my heart in just this way.  It tells the story of an eleven year old Daisy and her sometime-best friend, who plan to break her father out of prison and escape to Canada, in spite of a massive rainstorm, a mini-pony and other calamities.  

Look for THE GRAHAM CRACKER PLOT in Fall 2014, from Roaring Brook Press.  Congratulations, Shelley!

Children's: Middle grade

Shelley Tougas's middle grade debut THE GRAHAM CRACKER PLOT, in which an eleven year old girl and her sometime-best friend plan to break her father out of prison and escape to Canada, in spite of a massive rainstorm, a mini-pony and other calamities, to Nancy Mercado at Roaring Brook Press, in a very nice deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in Fall 2014, by Susan Hawk at The Bent Agency (World English).