12
October 2, 2013
THE CHUDNEY AGENCY
2013 Fiction Rights List
Beaufrand, Mary Jane
To Believe in David Bowie, Teen novel. Sold to Abrams. New Deal!!
All around the city, girls are disappearing....No one could accuse Noah of being anything but full of attitude, green mohawk hair and a safety pin in his nose. He doesn't care much about anything, but he is interested in the missing girls. When his best friend Evan collapses on the sidewalk late one night, helpless and in pain, a man strolls out of a dark alley. He has egg-yolk yellow hair, a pastel suit, and freaky mismatched eyes. He looks like David Bowie. He says his name is Ziggy, and that he's a singer. Ziggy urges Noah and his friends to enter the Pfefferfest, a music festival for emerging rock bands, to be held at Pfefferbrau Haus, where at least one of the girls was found dead floating in a vat of beer. To Believe in David Bowieis the story of best friends, music, and murder.
Manuscript: February 2014
Foreign Language /Audio Rights: Chudney Agency World English: Abrams
Publication Date: April 2015
The River, teen novel/mystery. Sold to Little, Brown
Moving to a new town with her famous chef mother and attorney father hasn’t been easy, Ronnie is making the best of things. She has a couple of new friends, but cherishes the most little Karen Armstrong, a girl she babysits. But when Karen is found dead in the river, everything changes. The death is called an accident, but Ronnie can’t let go of the feeling that something is suspicious. When her friend Gretchen begins to act strangely and lose weight, Ronnie discovers she’s been using serious drugs, and begins to connect the dots as she investigates the drowning. What really happened to little Karen?
Foreign Language /UK /Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: February 2010
***Foreign deals: Germany (Coppenrath)
***Nominated for 2011 Edgar Award Best Mystery Teen Novel
Primavera, historical teen novel. Sold to Little, Brown
Flora is born into the second richest family after the Medici in Renaissance Florence; and her father plots to be the first. Nonna plots to keep Flora out of a convent, and Flora plots to be free, stealing gems from her father that will buy her passage aboard a ship going far away. Her father’s plotting takes on a new sinister turn when a letter with the seal of the Pope arrives with Emilio, who quickly becomes Flora’s ally and trusted friend. They soon learn about an unbelievable plot which thrusts them into a world of intrigue, betrayal, and fortunes won and lost.
Foreign Language /UK /Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: March 2008
***Foreign Deals: Poland (Jaguar)
Bigelow, Lisa
Starting From Here, teen novel. Sold to Amazon Publishing
16-year-old Colby’s heart has been broken too many times. Her mother’s been dead three years, her father’s away a lot for work, her ex-almost-girlfriend has dumped her for a boy, and now she’s failing chemistry. Why bother, she wonders? If you don’t manage to screw things up yourself, the universe steps in and does it for you, right? When a stray dog lands at her feet, bleeding and broken on a busy road, the incident only confirmsColby’s philosophy.But it also knocks a chink in the walls she’s built around her heart. Against her better judgment, she decides to care for the dog. Still, Colby manages to alienate her best friend Van, friends, and her dad--and a new girl she's attracted to. Will Colby allow the people that love her into her heart?
Books: available
Foreign Language /UK /Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: September 2012
Bonk, John
MADhattan Mystery, middle grade. Sold to Walker/Bloomsbury
Lexi and her younger brother are spending a few weeks in New York City with their actress aunt while their father is away on his honeymoon with his new wife. While waiting for their aunt in the Grand Central train station’s famousWhispering Gallery, Lexi overhears aconversationabout a big jewel heist. Once the kids meet Kim Ling Levine in the building, bold and all knowing, she urges them to ditch day camp and dig into the more excitingmystery Alexi overheard in Grand Central--even though mostlikelyit was probably a unlikely jewel heist. This is a wonderful novel set in NY, with many NY locations, quirky characters, mystery & humor.
Books: available
Foreign Language /UK /Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: May 2012
***Foreign Deals: Germany (DTV)
Chapman, Elsie
Divided, teen novel. Sold to Random House. Companion novel to Dualed.
West Grayer is finally a Complete. She’s defeated her Alt, has proved her worth as a soldier, and her rightful place to live within the gated city of Kersh. She now has the life she’s always wanted: advanced education, better food, the freedom to dream about all that is possible for her and boyfriend Chord. Except West is still haunted. Not just by the memory of her own Alt, but everyone she had to kill as she trained her way towards survival. So when Kersh’s governing body contacts her with an offer that promises eventual redemption, she finds herself suddenly thrust back into a life she thought she’d long left behind. Soon she begins to question just how far the Board will go to ensure Kersh remains safe from the war-torn Surround beyond its walls. And instead of escaping the guilt of the past, West now faces a new danger, one that threatens not only her future and the future of those she loves, but her own mental grasp on an already fragile sense of what’s real and what’s not.
Manuscript: December 2013
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: June 2014
***Foreign Deals: Germany (Droemer/PAN), France (Lumen), Korea (Bookscent)
Dualed, Teen novel. Sold to Random House
An Alternate. West Grayer has one, just like everyone else in the world. A double, a virtual twin in every way. Chances are they would never have even met, except for the fact that she is the one person West has to kill, before her Alt kills her. West is haunted by guilt over the hand she played in her brother Luc’s death, and is torn by her feelings for his best friend Chord--who has demons of his own regarding how Luc died. Terrified of what she has to face--West runs. As a means of escape, she continues to work as a Striker, a hired assassin for other people’s Alternates. Each target, each contract, numbs her that much more. But as events come to a head, West must find her way back home--not only to save Chord from the danger that spills over to threaten his life, but to save herself…in every way that counts.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: February 2013
***Foreign Deals: Germany (Droemer/PAN), France (Lumen), Korea (Bookscent)
Davis, Tanita
Happy Families, Teen novel. Sold to Knopf / RH
A teenage brother and sister spend Spring Break with their father in an effort to come to terms with his newly exposed gender identity lifestyle while struggling through individual challenges, prejudices and fears to trust the love that once made them a happy family. Insightful, dignified, well written.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: May 2012
Mare’s War, teen novel. Sold to Knopf / RH
Mare's Waris the story of how a young, poor, African American girl in the 1940s manages to escape her terrible life on the family farm who lies about her age in order to enlist in the army during World War II and eventually gets shipped of to England and Paris for her service. This was unusualenoughfor any woman tohavedoneso in those days, but for African American women--even more so. Mare's voiceis exceptional, and the novel is told in alternating periods: back during the War, and some present day chapters when we see Mare take her 2 granddaughters on a car trip to tell them her story.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: May 2009
***Coretta S. King Honor novel / Selection of the Junior Library Guild
***Audio sold to Recorded Books
A La Carte, teen novel. Sold to Knopf / RH
Lainey is an aspiring chef, and hopes one day to have her own TV cooking show—why not dream large? When Simeon, a former guy friend that Lainey had a wicked crush on returns to her life, he shakes things up for her once again—and Lainey isn’t sure if even her cooking muse and goddess Julia Child can save her.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: May 2008
Flores-Scott, Patrick
Jumped In, Teen Novel. Sold to Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Sam's life sucks. Dumped at his grandparents after his mom leaves him to “find herself,” Sam is content to disappear under his sweatshirt hood. But then he finds his life altered when Luis, one of the school’s bad boy is seated next to him--for every single one of his classes. Soon Sam is forced by Luis to team up for the tenth grade poetry jam--which terrifies Sam. When Luis disappears on the day of the slam, Sam revels in success, alone, but not fully fulfilled--and then embarks on a journey to find the real Luis, his new friend.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: Fall 2013
Harazin, Shirley
Blood Brothers, Teen novel. Sold to Delacorte.
Clay is about to graduate from high school when his best friend Joey enters the Intensive Care Unit in a coma, where clay works as an orderly. Clay is implicated in the accident, and as the novel progresses backwards in time, we learn the truth of what had occurred, and what clay’s role was in the accident. Sparingly and tautly written, this first novel touches on the unusual issue of organ donations, but it is ultimately about true friendship and the strength of the human spirit.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK/Audio Rights: Chudney Agency
Publication Date: June 2007
***Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Teen Mystery
Harkrader, Lisa
Cool Beans, Middle Grade. Sold to Houghton Mifflin.
Sequel to the Beanboy novel.
Manuscript: December 2013
Foreign Language/UK Rights/Audio: Chudney Agency
Pub. Date: Fall 2014
The Adventures of Beanboy, middle grade. Sold to Houghton Mifflin
Tucker Bean wasn't born with any super powers. If he did, he could stop his mom from working long hours at work, move his dad back home.But Tucker loves everything about comic books: reading them, writing them, collecting them and drawing them. So when a contest is announced with the grand prize of a full college scholarship and getting his comic book published--Tucker is psyched. The scholarship is perfect for his mom, and having his comic book published would be a dream come true! But then his arch-enemy, Sam Zawicki, gets in the way and nearly spoils everything. How could one girl create so much chaos so quickly? Fully illustrated by the author.
Books: available
Foreign Language/UK Rights/Audio: Chudney Agency
Pub. Date: Fall 2012
Airball: My Life in Briefs, middle grade novel. Sold to Roaring Brook Press.
Kirby loves basketball: He loves to watch it on TV, loves to talk about it, loves to dream about it—too bad he’s terrible at playing it. But when he gets the chance to meet a famous basketball player who Kirby suspects of being his long lost father, well, that’s when Kirby realizes he’ll need all the help he can get on the court—even if it comes in the form of wearing “invisible” basketball outfits from the teams odd coach.
Books: Available
Foreign Language/UK Rights: Chudney Agency Audio: Roaring Brook
Pub. Date: Fall 2005
Hicks, Deron, The Letterford Mysteries—Sold to Houghton Mifflin—2 book deal.
Book #2—Tower of the Five Orders, Middle Grade
Colophon Letterford’s life changed overnight when she uncovered Shakespeare’s lost manuscripts. These discoveries are putting herself and her family in the spotlight….and in danger. Colophon and her cousin Julian are back on the case, secreting through Oxford University’s gothic halls and running for their lives through the damp and dreary London Underground. Will they expose Shakespeare’s true identity and crack an ancient code in time?
Manuscript: available
Foreign Language/UK Rights: Chudney Agency Audio: Houghton
Pub. Date: Fall 2013
Book #1—Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave, Middle Grade.
12-year-old Colophon Letterford is the daughter of the owner of a prestigious publishing company -- Letterford & Sons. The company has suffered a number of serious financial problems. Colophon decides to help out by finding the family's rumored lost treasure. The search begins with deciphering clues contained in a 400 year old painting, and takes her to Stratford, England and then to London. Will Colophon and her brother Case find the family treasure in time to save the family business? Antique paintings, secret passages, locked rooms, family secrets and treasure, puzzles and riddles, quirky characters and humor all combine to make for an engaging and fun series debut.
Books: available.
Pub. Date: Fall 2012
Book #3: Info to follow
Foreign Language/UK Rights: Chudney Agency Audio: Houghton
Hilmo, Tess
Skies Like These, middle Grade. Sold to Farrar Straus & Giroux
Jade is visiting her aunt in Wyoming for the summer and doesn't know her parents are down-sizing and moving to a smaller apartment due to the economy. Jade meets Roy, a boy who believes he is a distant relative of the illustrious Butch Cassidy; he has even sent away for his genealogy to prove his Wild West royal connection. Over the weeks of helping her aunt on her dog boarding business, and star gazing on the roof of her aunt's house, Jade and Roy find out whether he is related to Butch Cassidy, and most importantly, now that Jade knows about her folks situation back home, will she even want to return to Philadelphia?