2025 Foreign Rights Guide
Meet International Monster Hunter, Seraphina Strange!
The Adventures of Seraphina Strange
In Emmy-award winning animator Dan Krall’s debut graphic novel series THE ADVENTURES OF SERAPHINA STRANGE, young heiress Seraphina Strange discovers her late great-grandfather Uno Strange’s hidden underground library documenting his search for the world’s rarest monsters. Seraphina promptly decides that following in her intrepid ancestor’s footsteps is just the life mission she’s been looking for. With the loyal assistance of her manservant Atherton, and the considerable monetary resources of Strange family fortune, Seraphina sets out in the family jet to document the existence of the globe’s most elusive, rarest, oddest, and deadliest creatures.
First to land Seraphina’s attention is Finland’s ancient Snake Mother, the Syojatar, not spotted in over 300 years. The locals are none too happy about outsiders asking intrusive questions, particularly not the members of the Snake Mother’s cult who meet every Tuesday in the community center (after senior Zumba) and who mourn her continued absence as well as the absence of a delicious Finnish cheese due to too many rodents and too few snakes. But Seraphina has a plan to bring back the Snake Mother and restore the natural balance—and it only involves luring the Syojatar out with a promise of Atherton as a tasty human snack! But ever-loyal Atherton is always game for Seraphina’s plots and the Finnish cult members would certainly love a nice photo of the Syojatar for their altar. Will Atherton survive Seraphina’s intrepid plan? And will the Finns survive their Snake Mother noxious (and stinky) breath?
Krall creates a plucky, daring, unpredictable, somewhat callous (particularly toward poor Atherton) heroine in Seraphina Strange that readers will eagerly follow around the globe. Along the way, they’ll learn about an array of culturally diverse folk stories, from Chile’s bull-like Camahueto, who has the ability to control both time and the weather, to Japan’s deceptively adorable Nobusuma, ancient vampire-like flying fluffy squirrels. Each 128-page book in the series would feature a different monster and target readers ages 9 to 12.
Three books in the series contracted.
🌍 Translation Rights Available
Anne Lambelet’s Marine Life Graphic Guides:
Educational graphic novels that inspire curiosity about the ocean
I’m a Dumbo Octopus
Lerner/Graphic Universe
We Are Dwarf Sperm Whales!
I’m A Shark!
Written & Illustrated by Anne Lambelet
A Graphic Guide to Chondrichthyes
Publisher: Lerner/Graphic Universe
Get ready for the most thrilling installment yet! Dive into the world of sharks, rays, and skates in this exciting addition to the popular marine life series.
🌍 Translation Rights Available except Spanish
Picture Books
Scritch! Scratch!
Written by Teri Sloat
Scritch! Scratch!
What was that?
A witch is in the pumpkin patch.
In New York Times Best Picture Book winner Teri Sloat’s SCRITCH! SCRATCH! a trio of siblings spy a spooky old witch who seems to be lurking in their pumpkin patch. Misty shadows across the moon, creakings in the branches, flickering match flames—all speak to the sinister mischief of that unseen scritchy-scratchy witch!
Has she left? Do they dare take lift the latch and take a peek? Did the scritches and scratches all come from a hungry little cat after all? Or has the witch played them the ultimate trick?
A pitch-perfect Halloween read-aloud by the author of ZIP! ZOOM! ON A BROOM (Little Brown, 2017) whose rhymes The Horn Book called “bewitching,” (and which was a Scholastic Book Club selection), SCRITCH! SCRATCH! is destined to be yearly favorite that’s begged to be read again and again.
🌍 Translation Rights Available
How to Be a Proper Ogre
Welcome to Sabor!
Cover not final
Written by Rick Bayless
Illustrated by John Sandford
Kirkus praised Sandford’s recent BRINDLEFOX, saying, “What shines through in the sweet, simple telling is its message about kindness and the idea that cold hearts can thaw through patience and understanding. The oil-paint illustrations are standouts.” Illustrations from the book were selected as one of 48 pieces for the 2024 Bologna Book Fair’s Original Art Show (https://tinyurl.com/y54x8u6u ) John lives in Chicago. See more of his work at https://redfoxliterary.com/johnsandford-illustrator.html.
🌍 Translation Rights Available
The Brilliant Calculator
How Mathematician Edith Clarke Helped Electrify America
Author: Jan Lower
Illustrator: Susan Reagan
Pages: 40
Price: $18.99
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
2024 RISE Honoree
2024 Mathical Prioze Honor Book
2024 Best STEM Books (NSTA)
A JLG selection
Hidden Figures meets Rosie Revere, Engineer in this STEM/STEAM picture book about Edith Clarke, the innovator who solved an electrical mystery and built the first graphing calculator—from paper!
The full-color images catch the eye and playfully include mathematical puzzles. Edith’s quotes are interspersed throughout, highlighting her love of math and her determination to succeed in a traditionally male field. This one will inspire and validate any readers who love mathematics and calculations, especially anyone who has felt marginalized within STEM fields…Rousing encouragement for readers—especially math-minded ones—to follow their dreams.” —Kirkus Reviews
Long before calculators were invented, little Edith Clarke devoured numbers, conquered calculations, cracked puzzles, and breezed through brainteasers. Edith wanted to be an engineer—to use the numbers she saw all around her to help build the United States.
When she grew up, no one would hire a woman engineer. But that didn’t stop Edith from following her passion and putting her lightning-quick mind to the problem of electricity. But the calculations took so long! Always curious, Edith couldn’t help thinking of better ways to do things. She constructed a “calculator” from paper that was ten times faster than doing all that math by hand! Her invention won her a job, making her the first woman electrical engineer in the U.S. And because Edith shared her knowledge with others, her calculator helped electrify the country, bringing telephones and light across the nation.
🌍 Translation Rights Available
The Good Shepherd and the Stubborn Sheep
Written and illustrated by Hannah Harrison
2025 Christlit Book Award WINNER
Over 25,000 copies sold to date!
Psalm23 is one of the most beloved Psalms of all time…but what does it mean to be a shepherd? And how are we like sheep? And what, exactly, do you do with a rod and staff? The picture book The Good Shepherd and the Stubborn Sheep aims to answer these questions in an easily accessible way that illustrates just how comforting it is to know that the God still is, and always will be, our Good Shepherd.
🌍 Translation Rights Available excluding Portuguese, Hungarian, and Dutch.
Not Again, Dragon Chen!
Poopsie Gets Lost
Written and illustrated by Hannah Harrison
Harrison has created a wonderfully engaging tale. . . Disarming comedy from start to finish, this suspenseful tale will have children screaming at Poopsie to ignore anyone reading this aloud. Sublime.” —★ School Library Journal
Poopsie is one pampered kitty. She loves nothing more than her bed. So when a pushy narrator urges Poopsie out the cat door to find adventure, well . . . let’s just say she’s in for a few surprises. Now Poopsie must rely on her wits and skills to make it past a pack of tigers, a gang of crocodiles, and all the other obstacles standing between her and getting home. . . for a well-deserved nap!
🌍 Translation Rights Available
Brave As a Mouse
Written and illustrated by Nicolò Carozzi
Depicted in a palette of grays and earth tones, with blue accents, the characters are lifelike in both appearance and action. Carozzi’s most effective technique, however, is his ability to pause the action at
climactic points, forcing readers to wait (sometimes beyond a single page turn) before being reassured that all is well.” —★ Booklist
Author-illustrator Nicolo Carozzi’s debut picture book BRAVE AS A MOUSE tells the story of a resourceful mouse who risks her own safety to save her goldfish friend from the clutches of three circling felines. Though the mouse is small, the courage and compassion she exhibits speaks volumes. The story’s underlying message about the power of the bystander and how even the small and the weak can intervene and stand up to the big and powerful feels especially resonant these days.
🌍 Translation Rights Available except French, Portuguese, Romanian, Japanese, Italian, South Korean, and Greek.
Strong As a Lion
Middle Grade & Young Adult
Purrs and Prejudice
Cats take center stage in PURRS AND PREJUDICE, an elegantly fun—and surprisingly faithful— middle-grade graphic novel retelling of Jane Austen’s classic. A tail of manners, good breeding, and the well-placed furball, PURRS AND PREJUDICE has the Bonnet sisters maneuvering the persuasive purrs and frustratingly narrow prejudices of Regency-era aristocatic society. On the evening of the Mackerel Ball, all of Longfur is abuzz with the arrival of two handsome tomcats: the wealthy Mr. Kibble and his equally dashing friend Mr. Dewclaw. But Mr. Dewclaw does not endear himself to Lizzy Bonnet when she overhears him dismissing all the females present as unacceptable dancing partners and mentioning that she in particular “lacks luxurious whiskers.” Despite their rocky begins, fate somehow keeps throwing the two felines together and Mr. Dewclaw is surprised by his growing fondness for the spirited and clever calico. But will Lizzy ever overcome her initial prejudice for the finicky Mr. Dewclaw?
A funny and clever introduction to classic literature with charmingly hissterical art by Anne Lambelet, PURRS AND PREJUDICE paves the way for future books in a series which might include future titles such as JANE HARE, DOG QUIXOTE, PORKENSTEIN, QUAKULA, and VANITY BEAR.
Secondhand Dogs
By Carolyn Crimi
Age Range: 8–12 years
A timely and big-hearted reminder of what’s most important in life for all creatures, whether two- or four-legged”—Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor-winning author of HATTIE BIG SKY
A heartwarming—and heart-tugging—middle grade novel about love, loyalty, and what it means to be part of a family—from author Carolyn Crimi, with adorable illustrations by Melissa Manwill. Perfect for fans ofA Dog’s Life and Because of Winn-Dixie.
Miss Lottie’s home was for second chances.
When she adopted Gus, Roo, Tank, and Moon Pie, Miss Lottie rescued each member of the pack—including herself, her helper, Quinn, and her reclusive cat, Ghost—and turned them into a family. But when a new dog, Decker, arrives and tries to hoard Miss Lottie’s heart and home for himself, the pack’s future is threatened.
At first, Gus, the insecure pack leader, only notices little things, like tiny Moon Pie being kicked out of the bed and Ghost acting spooked (then again…Ghost is a cat). But things soon go from bad to worse as Decker’s presence causes disharmony in the group.
When Decker convinces Moon Pie to embark on an impossible journey, it’s up to Gus to gather his courage, rally his splintered pack, and bring the little dog home. And with coyotes and cars on the loose, the pack must push through obstacles and dangers to reunite with Moon Pie before he can get hurt—or, nearly as bad, get his heart broken.
🌍 Translation Rights Available except Czech, Slovak
The Bottle Imp of Bright House
Author: Tom Llewellyn
Illustrator: Gris Grimly (repped by Shannon and Assoc.)
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication Date: October 9, 2018
Format: HC with Jacket
Pages: 224
Price: $17.99
Seventh-grader Gabe is in a world of trouble after he purchases a bottle that he’s told contains an imp. At first it seems like a great deal. The imp will fulfill his every wish, but the Devil, Gabe discovers, is in the details. He may win by getting his wish, but someone else will, in turn, have to lose. . . Lively, over-the-top characterizations and a heavy use of foreshadowing draw readers into this brisk, suspenseful, and highly imaginative tale. . . Exciting and irresistible, this effort casts a spell.” —Kirkus
“Gather your Dahl and Snicket fans . . . Llewellyn writes with an edge and with heart.”—Booklist
Gabe Silver lives in the derelict Bright House Apartments, a building full of wacky tenants, including a sneaky landlady hellbent on finding out his secret. And his secret is a big one. Because Gabe has just purchased a bottle with a devious, invisible imp inside—one that grants wishes, but with a catch. Because when one person wins from a wish, someone else has to lose. Gabe can get his dad a better job, get the dream car for his family, or even cure his new friend Joanna’s dying mom. But at what price?
🌍 Translation Rights for text available except Russian, Dutch, and German
The Silent Unseen
by Amanda McCrina
Publisher: FSG
Publication date: April 2022
Format: HC with Jacket and PPK
Price: $17.99US/$11.99US
School Library Journal Best Young Adult Books of the Year
Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year
McCrina soars in her writing as she depicts this complicated piece of forgotten history. Well researched, accurate, and smartly written, this is a page-turner, weaving together the horrors of war and its psychological consequences beautifully. With a touch of romance thrown in, this suspenseful thriller is . . . a must-buy.” —★ School Library Journal
A mesmerizing historical novel of suspense and intrigue about a teenage girl who risks everything to save her missing brother.
Poland, July 1944. Sixteen-year-old Maria is making her way home after years of forced labor in Nazi Germany, only to find her village destroyed and her parents killed in a war between the Polish Resistance and Ukrainian nationalists. To Maria’s shock, the local Resistance unit is commanded by her older brother, Tomek—who she thought was dead. He is now a “Silent Unseen,” a special-operations agent with an audacious plan to resist a new and even more dangerous enemy sweeping in from the East.
When Tomek disappears, Maria is determined to find him, but the only person who might be able to help is a young Ukrainian prisoner and the last person Maria trusts—even as she feels a growing connection to him that she can’t resist.
Tightly woven, relentlessly intense, The Silent Unseen depicts an explosive entanglement of loyalty, lies, and love during wartime, from Amanda McCrina, the acclaimed author of Traitor, a debut hailed by Elizabeth Wein as “Alive with detail and vivid with insight . . . a piercing and bittersweet story.”
🌍 Translation Rights for text available except Romanian
Nonfiction
Follow the Water
Ten at Ten:
The Remarkable Childhoods of Ten Remarkable People
Author/Illustrator: Carlyn Beccia
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Pub Date: Spring 2022
Format: Hardcover, Jacketed
Price: $18.99 US
Pages: 64
Age: 4–8
From the award-winning author-illustrator of Monstrous, They Lost Their Heads, and Fashion Rebels, comes a new nonfiction project.
Audrey Hepburn, Bruce Lee, Albert Einstein―kids know the names, but do they know what some of history’s most famous figures were like at the age of ten? Carlyn Beccia presents ten brief and beautifully illustrated biographies to give young readers a fresh look at the lives of people they may only know through history books. Colorful timelines provide context and add additional details about these extraordinary lives.
🌍 Translation Rights Available except Spanish
Arm In Arm: The Grimke Sisters’ Fight for Abolition and Women’s Rights
by Angelica Carpenter
“This relatively short book thoughtfully presents a period of upheaval and change and traces the sisters’ long-lasting impact as well as recent, more critical perceptions of their motivations and behavior that bring welcome nuance to their story. . . Informative and insightful.”—Kirkus Reviews
In the early 19th century, when slavery was at its cruel heights in the American South, two sisters from a plantation-owning family left wealth and privilege behind to become abolitionist activists in the North. Defying the norms of the times, the Grimké sisters were some of the first women in U.S. history to become public speakers and it was through their speaking tours that they educated the white northern majority about the reality of slavery—its inhumanity, its violence, its cruelty. Angelina and Sarah’s critics and detractors were many. Some called Angelina “Devilina.” Some called them traitors to their gender AND their race. The mayor of their hometown of Charleston threatened to arrest Angelina if she ever set foot in his city again. In letters and newspaper editorials, they were regularly threatened with violence. When Angelina and others spoke at a women’s anti-slavery meeting in Philadelphia, a mob of 15,000 pro-slavery men attacked the building, howling, cursing, throwing bricks through the windows, and, after the 3,000 women left, arm-in-arm, black and white together, the mob burned down the building while the fire department stood by and watched. Still, the Grimké sisters persisted: In speaking publicly about the realities of slavery, in speaking about women’s rights, and stating, “I recognize no rights but human rights.”
In Arm In Arm: The Grimke Sisters’ Fight for Abolition and Women’s Rights, historian and author Angelica Carpenter tells the remarkable story of the sisters’ lives—from five-year-old Angelina witnessing an enslaved woman in her household being whipped and realizing for the first time the cruelty of the system from which her family benefitted, to their later support of their half-Black nephews who became prominent Philadelphians and abolitionists. Find out how the notorious Grimké sisters inspired Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and why their struggle is still important today.
Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Invention of Wings, which features the sisters, has inspired renewed interest in their story. No middle-grade or young-adult biography of the Grimkés has been published since the 1990s. With activist students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, using the Grimké quote, “Stand Up, Speak Out” during their anti-gun violence protests, now is the time to revisit these fascinating women who had the rare ability to raise themselves out of their cultural and historical prejudices and the courage to risk persecution from their family and community for the radical belief that all Americans should have equal rights.
The Most Mysterious Book In the World:
Unlocking the Secrets of the Voynich Manuscript
by Carolyn DeCristofano and Lisa Fagin Davis
Prepare to delve into one of the world’s most enduring and captivating real-life mysteries: the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript. In The Most Mysterious Book in the World: Unlocking the Secrets of the Voynich Manuscript, co-authors Carolyn DeCristofano and renowned medievalist Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis invite nonfiction readers ten and up to join them on a gripping quest to unravel the secrets hidden within this perplexing codex.
For over a century, the Voynich Manuscript has confounded scholars, cryptographers, and curious minds alike. Its pages are filled with bizarre illustrations and an indecipherable script known as “Voynichese,” which has yet to be cracked despite the relentless efforts of some of history’s greatest code-breakers. This peculiar manuscript has been a magnet for wild theories and speculation, but now it’s time for a fresh perspective, thoroughly rooted in facts.
In this meticulously researched and engagingly written book, ALA Notable and Orbis Pictus-recognized author Carolyn DeCristofano and scholar Lisa Fagin Davis guide readers through the manuscript’s tantalizing history, from its discovery by rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in 1912 to the cutting-edge scientific analyses and AI-aided research being conducted today. Along the way, they explore the various hypotheses surrounding the manuscript’s origin and purpose, delving into the realms of botany, astronomy, chemistry, linguistics, and cryptography among others, and taking hard, critical looks at some of the more fanciful claims about extraterrestrial involvement and secret societies.
Both detective story and a primer on critical thinking, The Most Mysterious Book in the World peels back the layers of this centuries-old enigma, introducing the tools of scholarly investigation and encouraging readers to question assumptions, analyze evidence, and think like investigators.
🌍 Translation Rights Available
A Heart On Fire