This week, Italy’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair launches its 51st festival. The event introduces the world to the next generation of children’s and YA literature, and the works of both established names and new voices will be on display as agents, managers, and publishers from across the globe showcase titles and discover new talent.
This year there will be a mix of major publishing houses (HarperCollins and Scholastic) and new players like Hot Key Books and Jacoby & Stuart. A full program of events is scheduled for attendees: debates, lectures, an awards ceremony, and the inauguration of the illustrators’ exhibit. This year’s guest country is Brazil, and the exhibit, Brazil: Countless Threads, Countless Tales, includes the artwork of 55 illustrators.
Take a look at SSN’s picks for Bologna titles that we think would translate well to the big or small screen.
The Taking
By Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperTeen
Agent: Laura Rennert/Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Film/TV Rep: WME (Ashley Fox, Alicia Gordon, and Erin Conroy)
Synopsis: The last thing Kyra Agnew remembers is a flash of bright light when she awakes to discover that five years have passed. Everyone in her life has moved on—her parents have divorced, her boyfriend is in college and dating her best friend, but Kyra's still the 16-year-old she was when she vanished. Despite her best efforts to ignore her growing attraction, she finds herself drawn to Tyler, her boyfriend's kid brother. To find out the truth, the two retrace her steps from that fateful night and discover there are others who have been “taken.” With a determined, secret government agency after her, Kyra desperately tries to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had … but what if the life she wants back is not her own?
SSN Insight: This, book one in a trilogy, comes out in April. We all know there’s a market for strong teen female protagonists (Twilight, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Buffy), and this one sounds like it has both feature and series potential. With romance, mystery, and suspense, it could be the perfect vehicle for an undiscovered young actor.
Resilient
By Patricia Vanasse
Publisher: Pants on Fire Press
Agent: Katie Reed, Andrea Hurst & Associates
Film/TV Rep: Melanie Rostock, The K Literary & Film Agency
Synopsis: Told in alternating points of view, Resilient is a gripping story of survival and romance, in which two teenagers face the consequences of being anything but normal.
SSN Insight: The story takes place in the atmospheric Pacific Northwest, and teen audiences always love an outsider. The alternating POV could be interesting in the hands of the right director, and a strong visual aesthetic could set this one apart. James Ponsoldt or Sofia Coppola could do something interesting with this premise.
Arcady’s Goal
By Eugene Yelchin
Publisher: Henry Holt Books For Young Readers
Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House
Synopsis: For 12-year-old Arcady, soccer is more than a game. Sent to live in a children’s home after his parents are declared enemies of the Soviet state, it is a means of survival, securing extra rations, respect, and protection. Ultimately, it proves to be his chance to leave. But in Soviet Russia, second chances are few and far between. Will Arcady seize his opportunity and achieve his goal? Or will he miss his shot?
SSN Insight: This one is set for an October 2014 release, and Yelchin is the author of Newbery Honor book, Breaking Stalin’s Nose. You could go the animated route with this and create a moving feature full of adventure and emotion. Animation gives the film a chance to make soccer and even Russia itself larger than life characters. If the book does well and builds an audience, it has potential.
Blonde Ops
By Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin
Agent:
Film/TV Rep: Brendan Deneen, Macmillan Entertainment
Synopsis: The Devil Wears Prada meets Ally Carter in this YA novel set in Rome. Expelled from yet another boarding school, 16-year-old Bec Jackson is shipped off to Rome to intern for one of the world’s top fashion magazines. But when the editor-in-chief has a mysterious accident, and the First Lady (in town for a cover shoot) has her life threatened, Bec must uncover what’s really going on.
SSN Insight: Writer Molly Cochran has called Blonde Ops a “hilarious, fast-paced mystery/thriller combining high fashion, computer hacking, and international intrigue.” The premise is irresistible, and sounds like Clueless meets Veronica Mars. If Tina Fey and/or Amy Poehler hopped on as producers, this one could have huge potential.
Uncaged
By John Sandford and Michele Cook
Publisher: Knopf
Film/TV Rep: Esther Newberg/ICM, Curtis Brown U.K.
Synopsis:Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, in search of her brother Odin, a brilliant hacker. After the disastrous raid of a Eugene, Oregon, research lab, Odin escapes with a set of encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog, and goes into hiding from the lab’s menacing security team. What they doesn’t know yet is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless, and will burn them to the ground if that’s what it takes to save her brother.
SSN Insight: The start of a new series from New York Times bestselling authors John Sandford and Michele Cook, this one will publish in the U.S. and Canada in July 2014. A girl and a dog on a quest to save her brother? There’s definitely feature potential here, and if it were to go the animated route it could have some of the darkness of Coraline, but still remain kid-friendly.
The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone
By Tony Abbott
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins
Agent: George Nicholson, Sterling Lord Literistic
Film/TV Rep: Jean McGinley, Harper Children's
Synopsis: Wade, Lily, Darrell, and Becca fly from Texas to Germany for the funeral of an old family friend. But instead of just paying their respects, they wind up on a dangerous quest to unlock an ancient, guarded secret that could destroy the fate of the world.
SSN Insight: This one kicks off bestselling author Tony Abbott's epic new middle-grade series The Copernicus Legacy, and it has all the ingredients of classic kids’ adventures like The Goonies and Spy Kids. It would be great to see what Richard Linklater could do with this.
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
By Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Agent:Brooks Sherman, The Bent Agency
Synopsis: The story follows 16-year-old, not-so-openly gay Simon Spier, whose sexual identity is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight after a private e-mail falls into the wrong hands. It’s an updated You've Got Mail, with gay teenage boys, good grammar, and the addictive nature of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
SSN Insight: This one is a hot title in the pub world, and though conceptually it's certainly a risk, it’s not often that you see a comedic feature film with a gay teen as the protagonist. This one could also work if it skews older, a comedic yet touching indie along the lines of Ghost World or The Way, Way Back. As a feature, it might need a title change. It’s a promising addition to the coming-of-age genre by an incredibly observant YA writer.
The 2014 Bologna Children’s Book Fair runs from Monday, March 24 to Thursday 27.