KIDLIT FBF 2020€¦ · lifetime for Kobe Morrison, except for the strange, robotic counselors, and the suspicious and dubious owners, and the fact ... just finding Jake, she finds

KIDLIT

FBF 2020

AgenceNouveau tampon

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

MIDDLE GRADE4. GREETINGS FROM ROBOT C.A.M.P. by Pat Giles 5. THE CHALICE OF POWER by Ali Hunt6. Jeanne and the Argonauts by Danna Staaf7. GOING VEGAN: IT’S NOT JUST A DIET by Miriam Porter

YOUNG ADULT9. Ghettostan by H. N. Khan10. MARGARET FAYE, JUNIOR BRIDESDMAID by Kalena Miller11. Sleight by Jennifer Sommersby12. The Undoing by Jennifer Sommersby13. The Story of my Life Ongoing by C.S. Cobb by Candas Jane Dorsey

middlegrade

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GREETINGS FROM ROBOT C.A.M.P.

PAT GILESA summer camp filled with robots would be the dream of a lifetime for Kobe Morrison, except for the strange, robotic counselors, and the suspicious and dubious owners, and the fact that, five minutes after he arrived with a group of three other kids, one of them went missing.

In fact, nothing about Robot C.A.M.P. seems right at all.

After their fellow camper Trish goes missing, Kobe, Kimmy, and Zach confront Doctors Pappas and Bashkow (who definitely don’t act like real doctors), but they insist she never existed, despite the fact that all three of them clearly remember the sarcastic, pink-haired girl.

The trio decide to escape their pods and find her, but as they explore the strange world of Robot C.A.M.P., they discover that everything is definitely NOT as it seems, and their counselors might not be planning campfires and s’mores, but world domination.

Rights Sold: AvailableGenre: Contemporary Science Fiction (Graphic Novel)

AGENT: LINDSAY LEGGETT

Pat Giles is a cartoonist with a long career in animation, working on seven hit shows including MTV’s Daria and Disney’s Stanley, several award winning-web series and hundreds of commercials for major marketers like General Mills and Hasbro. Giles is currently working on an animated stage show, The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa.

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THE CHALICE OF POWER

ALI HUNTEmma is less than excited about her family’s move from Florida to rural New York. Their new farmhouse property is far from her friends, civilization, and most importantly, a good WiFi connection. Emma isn’t addicted to Ranger of the Realms, an online RPG with both in-game and augmented reality play, but she does spend most of her time wandering with friends to find Ranger stations in mundane places like local parks and shops.

With a major Ranger of the Realms tournament coming up, being in the middle of nowhere means Emma won’t be able to participate. Then, while watching her younger brother Jake explore the creepy barn behind the house, she loses sight of him—because she’s busy playing her game.

Wracked with guilt, she searches within the barn, but instead of just finding Jake, she finds a mysterious tunnel surging with purple energy beams. Joined by their common-sense neighbour Andy, the trio realize they’re trapped, and an ominous voice, called the

"Keeper", explains the only escape is to complete Scavenger Hunt, a game eerily similar to the one Emma has dedicated so many hours to.

Thrust into real-life adventure, Emma, Jake, and Andy must use their skills, both realistic and virtual, to complete the mysterious game and find their way home.

Rights: Available Genre: Contemporary Fantasy

AGENT: LINDSAY LEGGETT

Ali Hunt is a Long Island native with a penchant for adventure and mystery. As Lena Gregory, she has published cozy mysteries and has been nominated for RT Book Review’s Reviewer’s Choice Award (2016), and been a finalist in OKRWA’s IDA contest (2015). She taught dance for more than twenty years, and has been choreographer for many high school musicals.

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JEANNE AND THE ARGONAUTSDANNA STAAF

Have you ever visited a public aquarium, or enjoyed the fish tank in a waiting room? Perhaps you’ve even kept aquatic pets in your own home! For these pleasures, we have 19th-century female scientist Jeanne Villepreux-Power to thank, designer of the first modern aquarium!

In this narrative biography of the French naturalist, readers follow Jeanne Villepreux-Power’s invention of the aquarium as the key to solving the two-thousand-year-old mystery of the argonaut octopus’s shell: Do they make it themselves? Or steal it from other animals?

With her innovative aquariums and hours of careful observation, Jeanne identified for the first time how the argonaut octopus comes by its delicate and exquisite shell. But as a woman, would the male-dominated field of science take her seriously? In her struggle for recognition, Villepreux-Power became the first female member of numerous scientific societies, published the first observations of octopuses using tools, and made suggestions for sustainably farming fish that were many years ahead of her time.

Including entertaining and thought-provoking sidebars—from “French fashion” to “the ethics of experimenting on animals”—and closing with information on how young readers can get involved with marine biology and conservation today, Jeanne and the Argonauts will appeal to aspiring young scientists all over the world.

Rights Sold: Lerner Publishing (World English) Pub Date: Fall 2021 Genre: Non-fiction, Science

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

Danna Staaf is a freelance writer and science communicator with special expertise in cephalopods. Her writing has appeared in Science, KQED, Earther, and Atlas Obscura, and her first book, Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, was named one of the best science books of 2017 by NPR.Like Jeanne, Danna is obsessed with octopuses and aquariums. It began at age ten with a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she saw her first giant octopus. Back home in L.A., Danna set up a saltwater aquarium to keep eight-armed pets in her bedroom, then learned to scuba dive, and eventually earned a Ph.D. in marine biology from Stanford University.Danna has created several science outreach programs for schools, including the popular biology program Squids4Kids. She has spoken at dozens of venues, including the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, public libraries, universities and schools at every grade level. She lives in San Jose with her husband and an unruly collection of kids, cats, and plants—and sadly, at the moment, no aquariums.

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GOING VEGAN: IT’S NOT JUST A DIET

MIRIAM PORTERWith an introduction by Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA, this guide book for young people covers the veganism movement: eating healthy, saving the planet and being kind to (the other) animals. The author, a renowned animal rights activist, became vegetarian at seven but it was her own young son who convinced her to take the vegan path. It is young people everywhere, like Greta Thunberg, who are changing the world.

The international community reeled in early 2020 as schools closed down and students were sent home to learn in isolation. Many scientists believe the Covid-19 pandemic is a warning sign for us to transform our global food system and our treatment of animals in wet-markets and slaughterhouses.

This guide will arm the growing number of socially responsible young people with knowledge, practical advice and inspiration. They will learn about the food production industry, our deteriorating planet, and their bodies’ nutritional needs, with advice from a

vegan medical doctor. Add to all that, they’ll get some delicious and easy vegan recipes. It is also a personal journey, inspired by the author’s love of animals, her respect for the planet and her optimism for the future.

Rights: Available Genre: Non-fiction, Health & Lifestyle

AGENT: SAM HIYATE

Miriam Porter is an award-winning writer with thousands of published articles in newspapers and magazines. She writes about veganism, social justice issues, and eco-travel. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Fodor’s Travel, Mental Floss, Yahoo, Grok Nation, SheKnows, The Toronto Star, Today’s Parent Magazine, The Canadian Jewish News, WestJet Magazine, Sierra Magazine, Canadian Travelle, and many more. She has lived in New York City and Los Angeles where she worked as an actor for many years in the film and television industry. Miriam currently lives in Toronto with her son Noah and many rescued furry friends. She is a passionate animal rights activist and speaks up for those that have no voice. Miriam is very excited to be writing her first book.

YOUNGADULT

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GHETTOSTAN

H. N. KHANFifteen-year-old Fawad Chaudhry loves two things: basketball and his mother’s potato-and-ground-beef stuffed parathas.Both are round and both help him forget about things like his dead father, growing up in Regent Park, and his mother being hell-bent on arranging his marriage to his first cousin, Nusrat, back home in Pakistan. Not to mention his estranged best friend Yousuf who’s coping with the shooting death of his older brother. Yeah, it’s complicated.

But Fawad has plans; like, asking out Ashley, even though she lives on the other side of the tracks, and saving his friend Arif from being beaten into a pulp for being the school flirt, and like making the school basketball team and being the second brown dude ever to get drafted into the NBA.

Now if only he could convince his mother to let him try out for the basketball team. Or that first-cousin marriages increase the risk of genetic disorders in babies and that he really likes Ashley. And if he

could only get Omar, the neighborhood bully, to leave him alone.

Ghettostan is an #ownvoices coming-of-age story, following Fawad through success and failure, love and loss as he navigates complicated friendships, first love, an overbearing mother, and the death of his father.

Rights: Penguin Teen Canada (North America) pub date: Spring 2022

Genre: Contemporary Realistic

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

Humayun Khan writes under the pen name H.N. Khan. Born in Pakistan, he immigrated to Canada at age seven and grew up in Regent Park, a low-income community housing project. After graduating with a business degree he decided to drop out of law school to pursue a career in Toronto’s start-up scene. Since then, he’s helped build and market software that’s used by millions around the world.

Even with the frantic pace of the tech sector, he loves using any spare moment to continue scribbling down prose and poetry. He is a recent graduate from Humber School for Writers correspondence program.

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MARGARET FAYE, JUNIOR BRIDESMAID

KALENA MILLERHigh school sophomore Margaret Faye hasn’t spoken to her cousin and (ex)best friend Ainsley in a year. It’s been rough and is a big problem now that they’re both bridesmaids in their older cousin’s destination wedding in Hawaii. Margaret Faye wants to repair her relationship with Ainsley, but her hopes plummet when she arrives in paradise, and Ainsley, cold and bitter as ever, seems determined to sabotage Margaret Faye at every turn. She even tries to steal the kinda hot groomsman that Margaret Faye definitely saw first.

To make matters worse, Margaret Faye’s family isn’t exactly a relaxing bunch. There are Mom and Mama, who thoroughly enjoy discussing feminist theory and want to know every detail of Margaret Faye’s sex life; Uncle Lester, who accidentally joined a cult and now worships a spiritual advisor named Ada; Aunt Rebecca, the overbearing mother-of-the-bride with questionable taste; and, of course, there’s Valerie, the bride-to-be who is handling her pre-wedding jitters with complimentary strawberry daiquiris.

When Valerie turns to her bridesmaids to salvage the event rapidly descending into chaos, Margaret Faye and Ainsley are forced to work together to save the wedding, and, quite possibly, their friendship.

MARGARET FAYE, JUNIOR BRIDESMAID tells the story of Margaret Faye, her hilariously dysfunctional family, and the ugliest bridesmaids dresses the world has ever seen. This young adult novel will appeal to readers who enjoyed Save the Date by Morgan Matson, those who love the humor of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, as well as anyone who has been stuck on vacation with that one aunt who just won’t shut up.

Rights: Available Genre: Romantic Comedy

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

Kalena Miller grew up in College Station, TX, with her mom, dad, and the most photographed hamster in history. After high school, she moved a thousand miles north to attend Carleton College, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelors in Religious Studies. After a brief stint working as a behavior technician in Seattle, Kalena decided she missed school too much, so she spent the next two years pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University.

Now that she is finally done with educational things (at least for the time being), Kalena lives in Hopkins, Minnesota, with her husband, Kenny, and Toy Australian Shepherd, Toshley. She mostly writes

middle grade and young adult contemporary fiction, though she could be bribed to produce some sub-par poetry. She loves books that will make her laugh and make her cry (preferably at the same time), and she firmly believes that all quality novels should feature a cat. Her first YA, The Night When No One Had Sex will be published in Spring 2021.

When she is not writing, Kalena enjoys tap dancing, scrapbooking, and watching an embarrassing amount of reality television.

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SLEIGHT

JENNIFER SOMMERSBYThe greatest treasure, a most dangerous magic.

Growing up in the Cinzio Traveling Players Company, Genevieve Flannery is accustomed to a life most teenagers could never imagine: daily workouts of extravagant acrobatics; wild animals for pets; and her mother, Delia, whose mind has always been tortured by visions—but whose love Geni never questions. In a world of performers who mystify and amaze on a daily basis, Delia’s ghostly hallucinations never seemed all that strange... until the evening Geni and her mother are performing an aerial routine they’ve done hundreds of times, and Delia falls to her death.

That night, a dark curtain in Geni’s life opens. Everything has changed.

As they reel from the tragedy, the Cinzio Players are also grappling with the circus’s new owner: a generous, mysterious man whose connection to the circus—Geni suspects—has a dark history. And with the discovery of an otherworldly inheritance and her perilous mission to protect it, Geni is suddenly stumbling into a new reality of her own, her life interrupted daily by the terrors only Delia used to see. As the visions around her grow stronger, and her magical legacy becomes even more menacing, Geni is not

sure who she should trust or love. Worst of all, she’s starting to question whether she can trust her own mind.

Rights Sold: HarperCollins (Canada); Sky Pony (US & Philippines); Prószyński i S-ka (Poland)Pub Date: April 2018 Genre: Fantasy Adventure

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

“Jennifer Sommersby’s Sleight makes magic from an enthralling premise, wonderfully-drawn characters, and beautiful words. It’s hard to avoid descriptors like entrancing, spell-binding and mystical.”

—Michael Grant, NYT bestselling author of the Gone series

“Fantasy readers will fall in love with Sleight. Like a circus, it’s an intoxicating mix of beauty, humor, magic, and danger that means the reader can’t bear to look away until the final page.”

—Eileen Cook, author of With Malice

“Startlingly imaginative and vividly realized.” —Ira Bloom, author of Hearts & Other Body Parts

“Genevieve’s grief is profound . . . necessary fuel for the scary, magical quest that she must undertake.”

—The Globe and Mail

AWARDS: • Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Book for Kids & Teens Fall 2018• Ontario Library Association Best Bets Honourable Mention Book for Young Adults 2019

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THE UNDOING (SCHEME)

The most dangerous magic must be destroyed.Genevieve Flannery’s family inheritance is both an invaluable gift and an unspeakable curse: Genevieve is one of the heirs of the Avrakedavra, a trio of ancient texts capable of preserving everlasting life—or eroding it completely. Burdened with the power of untold magic and tormented by those who would seek to exploit it, Genevieve knows that the three Avrakedavra texts must be destroyed.

If only the road ahead were easy. Genevieve is grateful to have her fellow heir, the irresistible Henry, by her side, but when the father she never knew she had becomes their guide, all bets are off. Together, this new team must rely on unexpected allies as they embark on a harrowing global search to acquire the pieces necessary to destroy this ancient magic and complete the Undoing.

But loyalties among the magical community are fragile. Genevieve, grieving the loss of her mother, struggles to control her new Avrakedavra-bestowed gifts, and with mounting threats to her psyche and body, she clings mightily to the promise of a brighter future once this quest is over—if she can survive it. And Henry, broken by his father’s treachery but entranced by the

heartwarming connection his family’s text has granted him, grapples with the fact that once they succeed in destroying the books, he’ll lose the only family he has left.

Forced to question all that they hold dear, the young heirs must remember Genevieve’s mother’s greatest lesson: the key to good is found in truth.

Rights Sold: HarperCollins (Canada); Sky Pony (US & Philippines); Prószyński i S-ka (Poland)Pub Date: Spring 2020 Genre: Fantasy Adventure kkkk

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

JENNIFER SOMMERSBY

Jennifer Sommersby writes young adult and middle grade fiction (as well as romantic comedies and women’s fiction for grownups under the pen name, Eliza Gordon). She is also the author and co-creator of the YA novel, Fish Out of Water: A Little Mermaid Story, in conjunction with the Young Actors Project (YAP), a popular YouTube Channel with over 1.6 million subscribers. An eighteen-year resident of Coquitlam, BC, Jenn is mom to three kids and two very spoiled tuxedo cats.

“A taut, dangerous adventure with a romance worth rooting for, Scheme is a satisfying conclusion to Sleight. Genevieve Flannery is a tough hero whose magic comes with a high price—but that price must be paid in order to save everyone she loves.”

—Margaret Dilloway, author of the Momotaro series and Summer of a Thousand Pies

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THE STORY OF MY LIFE ONGOING, BY C.S. COBB

CANDAS JANE DORSEYCorey Cobb was born intersex. Corey’s parents didn’t make a big deal of it, but when Corey’s dad dies unexpectedly, their mother forces them to make a gender choice—like that is even possible. Corey is Corey.

Now legally old enough to refuse medical intervention, but not old enough to prevent “choosing not to choose” being considered a psychiatric condition, Corey’s mother has them committed. While in the youth psych ward, Corey meets Kim, diagnosed as anorexic but really a victim of her mother’s Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Together, the teens try to prove the legitimate cause of Kim’s ailment, and in the process discover important—perhaps catastrophic—truths about their pasts.

Rights Sold: Inanna (World English) Pub Date: Spring 2021Genre: Contemporary LGTBQ+

AGENT: STACEY KONDLA

Candas Jane Dorsey is the internationally-renowned, award-winning author of science fiction, mystery, and young adult novels; short story and poetry collections; and anthologies, reviews, and critical essays. For fourteen years, she was an editor, and later publisher, of literary press The Books Collective, including River Books and, for a time, Tesseract Books. She teaches creative writing to adults and youth, and professional communications at MacEwan University, and speaks widely on science fiction and other topics. As a community activist, advocate and leader, Jane has won two human rights awards and has served on many community boards and committees supporting neighbourhood, heritage, social planning, and human rights advocacy.

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