Publishers Marketplace: Erin Murphy

--World English rights to Erin E. Moulton’s debut novel, MAPLE T. RITTLE AND THE QUEST FOR A MIRACLE, a contemporary middle-grade tale of sisterhood, survival, and the healing power of love, following two girls who set off into the wilderness in search of a miracle for their baby sister, to Jill Santopolo at Philomel, by Ammi-Joan Paquette.
--World English rights to Michelle Ray's debut YA novel OPHELIA LIVE, a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s HAMLET with a celebrity twist, from the point of view of a kick-ass Ophelia who is neither suicidal nor anyone’s pushover, to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown/Poppy, at auction, for publication in spring 2011, by Ammi-Joan Paquette.
--North American rights to STRUDEL STORIES author Joanne Rocklin's ONE DAY AND ONE AMAZING MORNING ON ORANGE STREET, a gently humorous middle-grade novel revolving around a neighborhood's one remaining orange tree, told in the viewpoints of the street's many inhabitants, past and present, in a two-book deal, at auction, in a very nice deal, to Susan Van Metre and Maggie Lehrman at Amulet, to be edited by Maggie Lehrman, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Cynthia Levinson's WE HAVE A JOB: THE 1963 BIRMINGHAM CHILDREN'S MARCH, the true story of 4,000 children who confronted police and allowed themselves to be arrested in order to desegregate the city and revive the floundering civil rights movement, told for middle grade readers through the eyes of four people who actually participated as children, to Kathy Landwehr of Peachtree, at auction, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Katy Grant's untitled middle-grade contemporary adventure, in which a boy in the remote mountains of Arizona finds two kidnapped children and gets caught up in the escalating danger when he undertakes a plan to get them to safety, to Kathy Landwehr at Peachtree Publishers, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author of THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS Chris Barton's THE AMAZING AGE OF JOHN ROY LYNCH, picture book biography of a man who in ten years went from teenaged field slave to Reconstruction-era Congressman, to Anita Eerdmans at Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to R.L. LaFevers's THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHAROAH, the fourth book starring the 11-year-old with an impressive knowledge of ancient Egyptian artifacts and a gift for nulling curses, in which Theo returns to Egypt, gets caught up in the machinations of competing secret societies, and edges closer to answering the questions surrounding her own birth, again to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author of the upcoming SHE LOVED BASEBALL: THE EFFA MANLEY STORY Audrey Vernick's picture book MY BROTHER'S UP, a true-life story about big families, brotherly love, and baseball, focusing on the Acerras, the longest-playing all-brother baseball team ever, to Jennifer Wingertzahn at Clarion, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Conrad Wesselhoeft's YA debut ADIOS, NIRVANA, about a teenaged poet-musician who survives the first anniversary of his twin brother's death with the help of a dying blind man, the best group of thicks a guy could have, a demanding school principal who wants him to play the "pussiest song in the world" at graduation, and one very special guitar, for publication in fall 2010, to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's, in a pre-empt, by Erin Murphy.
--North American rights to debut author Jennifer A. Nielsen's middle-grade trilogy ELLIOT AND THE GOBLIN WAR, about an eleven-year-old boy who accidentally becomes King of the Brownies and provokes an interspecies war, to Daniel Ehrenhaft at Sourcebooks, for publication in fall 2010, by Ammi-Joan Paquette.
--World rights to author of the forthcoming ALL THE WORLD (illustrated by Marla Frazee) Liz Garton Scanlon's picture book NOODLE AND LOU, about a worm and a bird who have an unlikely and unconditional friendship, to be published in summer 2010 and illustrated by MR. PUTTER AND TABBY's Arthur Howard, to Allyn Johnston at Beach Lane Books, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to MAN IN THE MOON author Dotti Enderle's middle-grade novel CROSSWIRE, the story of a boy's struggle to find his place in a broken family against the backdrop of rural Texas in the late 1800s when the invention of barbed wire pitted landowners and landless cattlemen against one another, to Carolyn Yoder at Calkins Creek/Boyds Mills, by Erin Murphy.
--World English rights to debut author-illustrator C.G. Young's untitled picture book about a pig named Toast, whose job is to grant children's wishes, and the girl who becomes his best friend, to Liz Szabla at Feiwel & Friends, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Audrey Vernick's picture book SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR, which challenges kids of all ages to find out if they have what it takes to rock the world (or at least their living rooms), to Stacy Cantor at Walker Children's, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Jean Reidy's THERE'S A CORNER IN MY HOUSE, to be illustrated by Robert Neubecker, creator of WOW! CITY and WOW! SCHOOL!, a subversive look at what might happen when a kid with a big imagination is stuck in time out, to Tamson Weston at Disney, by Erin Murphy, with Linda Pratt at Sheldon Fogelman Agency representing Neubecker.
--World rights to author of THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS R.L. LaFevers's third globe-trotting, action-packed installment in the forthcoming NATHANIEL FLUDD: BEASTOLOGIST chapter book series, entitled THE WYVERNS' TREASURE, again to be illustrated by Kelly Murphy, to Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author of HOW NOT TO BE POPULAR Jennifer Ziegler's SASS & STUPIDITY, the contemporary tale of two very different sisters, their broken family, and their dating adventures, loosely based on Jane Austen's SENSE & SENSIBILITY, again to Stephanie Elliott at Delacorte, by Erin Murphy.
--World English rights to author of RED GLASS Laura Resau's QUEEN OF WATER, based on the life story of co-author Maria Virginia Farinango, who left her family in an impoverished indigenous Ecuadorian village as a 7-year-old to be a servant, and struggled to hold onto her spirit throughout her oppressive girlhood, ultimately reclaiming her identity as an indígena at the age of 16, to Stephanie Elliott at Delacorte, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to NOT NORMAN author Kelly Bennett's picture book VAMPIRE BABY, to Sarah Ketchersid at Candlewick, with Noah Jones (illustrator of NOT NORMAN) set to illustrate (and separately represented by Edward Necarsulmer IV at McIntosh & Otis), by Erin Murphy.
--World English rights to Melissa Glenn Haber's middle-grade novel DEAR ANJALI, in which a 12-year-old struggles with her grief over the unexpected death of her best friend, Anjali; her loneliness at suddenly being half of a pair; and her guilt at finally being noticed by a boy whom the friend also had a crush on, told in a series of letters to Anjali, to Liesa Abrams at Aladdin, by Erin Murphy.
--World English rights to novelist and nature writer Brenda Peterson and photographer Robin Lindsey's picture book about the phenomenon of seal sitting, in which people (including children) keep vigil over baby seals while their mothers swim off to fish, to Christy Ottaviano at Christy Ottaviano Books/Holt Children's, by Erin Murphy.
--World English rights to Susan Meyer's middle-grade novel BLACK RADISHES, loosely based on her father's experiences as a Jewish child in Nazi-occupied France, focused on Gustave, who moves with his parents from Paris into what becomes the Unoccupied Zone, while friends and family remain trapped in the world they left behind, to Francoise Bui and Rebecca Short at Delacorte, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author of MAYBELLE IN THE SOUP and MAYBELLE GOES TO TEA Katie Speck's new chapter book, MAYBELLE AT THE FAIR, with Paul Ratz de Tagyos illustrating, the third chapter book featuring the spunky cockroach with the gastronomi obsession, again to Reka Simonsen at Holt Children's, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author-illustrator of ELLIE MCDOODLE: HAVE PEN WILL TRAVEL and ELLIE MCDOODLE: NEW KID IN SCHOOL Ruth McNally Barshaw's ELLIE MCDOODLE: BEST FRIENDS FUR-EVER, another installment packed with drawings, notes, diagrams, lists, and games, again to Melanie Cecka at Bloomsbury, in a two-book deal, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Jennifer Stewart's picture book THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN ARIZONA, to join others in the multi-author TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS series, to Meredith Mundy Wasinger at Sterling, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Katy Grant's three new titles to follow the middle-grade Summer Camp Secrets trilogy, further chronicling the pranks, friendships, traumas, and joys of tween girls at camp, again to Liesa Abrams at Aladdin, by Erin Murphy.
--North American rights to author of NOT NORMAN Kelly Bennett's picture book DANCE, Y'ALL, DANCE!, which uses a two-step rhythm to portray a rural dance hall and the people who bring it to life, to Lucy Chambers at Bright Sky Press, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg's follow-up to the forthcoming ABIGAIL IRIS: THE ONE AND ONLY, again starring plucky and precocious third grader Abigail Iris, to Stacy Cantor at Walker & Company, by 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, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to author of NOT NORMAN Kelly Bennett's picture book 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, by Erin Murphy. 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 picture book 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, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to Audrey Vernick's picture books 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, by Erin Murphy. Newcomer Daniel Jennewein will illustrate, with the first book to release summer 2010.
--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, by Erin Murphy,
--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, by Erin Murphy.
--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 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).
--Chris Barton's YA collection of profiles of real-life impostors ranging from charlatans to survivors, to Nancy Mercado at Dial, by Erin Murphy.
--World rights to 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, by Erin Murphy.