Publishers Marketplace: Erin Murphy

--World rights to two new novels by Janette Rallison, award-winning author of seven published humorous middle grade and YA novels and the forthcoming JUST ONE WISH (G.P. Putnam's Sons) and MY FAIR GODMOTHER (Walker & Company), to Timothy Travaglini at G.P. Putnam's Sons.
--World rights to author of NOT NORMAN Kelly Bennett's latest, YOUR MOMMY WAS JUST LIKE YOU (a companion to YOUR DADDY WAS JUST LIKE YOU, signed last year), a warm and funny look at how parents were once little, too, and how kids are the same through the generations, to Susan Kochan at G.P. Putnam's Sons. David Walker is to illustrate for release in 2010, with the companion book to follow a year later.
--World rights to author of THE THREE BEARS CHRISTMAS Kathy Duval's I THINK I SEE A UFO, a bouncy, irreverent account of an alien landing in rural Texas, in which the little green men are infatuated with barbecue and hoedowns, to Tamson Weston of Disney Hyperion Books.
--World rights to Audrey Vernick's IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN? and TEACH YOUR BUFFALO TO PLAY DRUMS, which will help responsible children guide their own bovines through the personal and social challenges of starting school and embracing creative passions, to Kristin Daly of Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins. Newcomer Daniel Jennewein will illustrate, with the first book to release summer 2010.
--World rights to THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS author R.L. LaFevers's first two titles in a new illustrated chapter book series, NATHANIEL FLUDD: BEASTOLOGIST, in which Nathaniel loses his parents, is shipped off to a distant cousin, adopts a gremlin, and begins his travels as a Junior Beastologist tending to the world's mythological creatures, again to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
--World rights to WHEN PUPPETS ARE OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE PUPPETS, in which a troupe of puppeteers, including a member of a royal Faerie family and a teenaged runaway, stage elaborate illegal shows blending magic and social commentary, by Penny Blubaugh, author of the forthcoming SERENDIPITY MARKET, to Jill Santopolo at Laura Geringer Books.
--World rights to THE SWAN MAIDEN and the forthcoming AURELIE author Heather Tomlinson's third YA novel, TOADS AND DIAMONDS, a retelling of the Perrault tale set in pre-colonial India, in which two sisters receive gifts from a goddess and each walks her own path to find her gift's purpose, finding romance along the way, again to Reka Simonsen at Holt.
--World rights to DEFENDING IRENE and SAVING THE GRIFFIN author Kristin Wolden Nitz's contemporary mystery STAND-IN FOR MURDER, in which a teenage girl has a summer job at her grandmother's B&B where her duties include stepping into the role of the victim at the annual murder mystery weekend in a plot designed to unearth new clues about her mother's long-ago disappearance, to Lisa Mathews at Peachtree Publishers.
--North American rights to RED GLASS author Laura Resau's middle-grade novel STAR IN THE FOREST, about a girl who befriends a dog abandoned in a junkyard and comes to believe it is the spirit animal of her father, who has recently been deported to Mexico, again to Stephanie Lane at Delacorte. World English/translation: AlexandraDevlin@rightspeople.com.
--World rights to Jean Reidy's picture book MY OWN LITTLE PIECE OF THE UNIVERSE, a cumulative verse celebrating a child's comforting sense of place, to Tamson Weston of Hyperion Books for Children.
--North American rights to Mary Hershey’s third middle-grade novel starring Effie Maloney (who first appeared in MY BIG SISTER IS SO BOSSY SHE SAYS YOU CAN'T READ THIS BOOK), in which Effie and her friends go to Angel Scout camp, again to Wendy Lamb at Wendy Lamb Books/Random House. World English/translation: AlexandraDevlin@rightspeople.com.
--R.L. LaFevers's next sequel to THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS and THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS, another adventure set at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, in which Theo must convince her parents to take her back to Egypt so she can beat two competing secret societies in the race to find a cache of hidden magical artifacts, to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin.
--North American rights to Olugbemisola Amusashonubi-Perkovich's debut middle-grade novel SEVENTH-GRADE SUPERZERO, about Brooklyn middle-schooler Reginald "Pukey" McKnight, a nobody who discovers the superhero within himself thanks to his friends, his work at a local homeless shelter, his campaign for school president, and a pair of "Dora the Explorer" sneakers; to Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic. (UK and Translation: Rights People.)
--North American rights to Cate Tiernan's IMMORTAL BELOVED trilogy, about an Immortal named Nastasya who has lived a dark life for centuries but is now turning toward the light, by the author of the SWEEP and BALEFIRE series, to Jennifer Hunt at Little, Brown Children's, in a very nice deal, at auction (UK and translation rights: Rights People).
--Lewis Harris's SVETLANA GRIMM AND THE CIRCLE OF RED, a humorous middle-grade novel about a Goth middle-schooler who believes she's a vampire but is actually gifted with the means to destroy vampires and other monsters, and has to learn to care about the world in order to save it, to Jennifer Wingertzahn at Clarion, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2009. German rights to Random House Germany by Rights People.
--Two new novels by Laura Resau, author of WHAT THE MOON SAW and RED GLASS; the first, exploring the heart's definitions of home and family through the eyes of a girl whose wanderlust-filled mother keeps them constantly on the move; and a possible sequel, to Stephanie Lane at Delacorte, in a very nice deal.
--Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg's ABIGAIL IRIS: ONE OF MANY, a chapter book story in which plucky and precocious third grader Abigail Iris, part of a large blended family, longs to be an only child until taking a vacation to San Francisco with one of her "Only" friends, to Stacy Cantor at Walker & Company.
--Jean Reidy's two concept books, TOO PURPLEY! TOO PRICKLY! and TOO MUSTARDY! TOO MUSHY!, about picky toddlers' search for clothes and food, respectively, that are "just right," to Jill Davis at Bloomsbury USA. To be illustrated by Genevieve Leloup, who is represented by Michele Mannasse.
--Chris Barton's YA collection of profiles of real-life impostors ranging from charlatans to survivors, to Nancy Mercado at Dial.
--Elizabeth Van Steenwyk's picture book BLACKSMITH'S SONG, in which a child learns to communicate messages to travelers on the Underground Railway using his father's hammer and anvil before his family joins the others traveling to freedom, to Kathy Landwehr at Peachtree Publishers.
--Chris Barton's YA biography of Alan Lomax, 20th century folklorist and musicologist who preserved countless folk songs from America and around the world through his travels and recordings in a career that spanned seven decades and left its mark on musicians ranging from Leadbelly to Moby, to Jill Davis of Bloomsbury USA.
--Chris Barton's picture book, much buzzed about on his blog (http://www.chrisbarton.info/blog/blog.html) because of the mysterious placeholder title S.V.T. and the attachment of wonderful illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown.
--World rights to Penny Blubaugh's THE SERENDIPITY MARKET, in which a group of storytellers band together to heal the world with their tales of enchantment and magic, to Jill Santopolo at Laura Geringer Books.
--Dotti Enderle's picture book GINGERBREAD MAN: Superhero ("Run, run as fast as you can. You can't escape me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!") to be illustrated by Joe Kulka, to Nina Kooij at Pelican.
--STORMWITCH and TRIGGER author Susan Vaught and her son JB Redmond's OATHBREAKER, a fantasy set in a complex world of political power shifts, shapeshifters, assassins, and magic, to Victoria Wells Arms at Bloomsbury.