Whatever you do, don’t call them fairies. They are Small Persons with Wings, and Mellie’s family has the dubious distinction of an ancestral legacy (or curse) of obligation to the Small Persons. As long as the Turpin family holds the Gemmaluna, a magical moonstone that uncovers deception, they must provide a home to the Small Persons. What this means for Mellie is that when she and her parents move from Boston to her deceased grandfather’s dumpy inn in a coastal village, they inherit an infestation of artifice-loving Small Persons—and that tribe is rife with discord. Take cranky, squabbling Small Persons, bohemian, sweetly ineffectual parents, a nosy neighbor who happens to be the chief of police and his scrawny, likable son, and Mellie’s got her hands full. Booraem’s debut, The Unnameables (2008), presented readers with an utterly original American fantasy, and this follow-up, though unrelated except in its examination of creativity, is equally fresh and distinctive. Frequently hysterical dialogue, a hugely sympathetic protagonist and a baroque concatenation of magics and counter-magics will keep readers glued to this smart, earthy and thoughtful tale.

Yay, Ellen!

Call them Parvi Pennati, call them Small Persons with Wings, just don’t call them fairies. Booraem’s middle-grade novel, in which an outcast girl comes into her own, is frequently sad, but those moments are perfectly balanced with humor and hope. The result is a deeply believable and human story—one that also has room for vainglorious fairies, talking mannequins, and other wonders.

Congrats to Ellen, and may many more accolades come your way!

It was a very casual retreat — no planned team-building or trust exercises, no organized activities, just conversation around a roaring fire (Thanks, Erin!), some good food, and lots of Diet Coke.

I recall when the idea for a retreat first came up, it was part of a conversation on Twitter wondering if they made the clients of an agency feel like a clique, and I have to say that, having been part of a successful retreat now, I think it’s about bonding, sure, but not to exclusion of others, as a clique would be. In addition, my authors couldn’t be more excited now to support each other, and that’s the best benefit to come out of the weekend.

I’m already looking forward to planning the next one, for 2012! Where will it be? And will YOU be there? Maybe!

The Whole Gang, from left: Julia Karr, Kate Testerman, Erin Danehy, Ellen Booraem, Rebecca Petruck, Sara Beitia, Kiki Hamilton, Carrie Harris, Kater Cheek, Amy Spalding, and Josie Bloss

Author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and the Fall 2011 title LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, Stephanie Perkins’s ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, again to Julie Strauss-Gabel at Dutton Children’s, in a nice deal for publication in Fall 2012, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (World English).

Then, there was this:

Author of BAD TASTE IN BOYS and Class of 2011 member, Carrie Harris’s next Kate Grable novel BAD HAIR DAY, plus a second untitled YA novel, again to Wendy Loggia at Delacorte, in a nice deal, for publication in Summer 2012 and 2013, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (World English).

There was also this:

New York Times-bestselling author of THE FALLEN Thomas E. Sniegoski’s next two novels in his Remy Chandler series, about an angel moonlighting on Earth as a private investigator, once again to Ginjer Buchanan at Ace/Roc, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2012 and 2013, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (World).

And this:

Author of the multi-starred SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS (Dial, January 2011) and THE UNNAMEABLES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2008), Ellen Booraem’s CONNOR’S BANSHEE, in which a Irish-American boy is visited by a banshee prophetizing death for someone in his family, once again to Kathy Dawson at Dial Books For Young Readers, for publication in Spring 2012, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (World).

And there’s more to come!

And now, more good news! As you may recall, back in August I participated in the online writers conference WriteOnCon, contributing a presentation on query don’ts and taking part in an online pitch session via live chat. Well, I’m thrilled to announce that I just signed a new client who “attended” WriteOnCon, and I look forward to shopping her MG novel next year. Everyone, please welcome Rebecca Petruck to the kt literary stable of authors! You can learn more about Rebecca on my clients page. As for her novel, it’s exactly the kind of “boy book” I’ve been asking for and looking for all year.

I’ll have even more good news to share in January, of five new deals for new books I recently closed. It’s been a very happy holiday season, indeed!

And stay tuned on Friday for a final About My Query for the year — yes, on Christmas Eve!

When 13-year-old Mellie Turpin was very young, her best friend was a three-inch-tall Small Person with Wings (or Parvi Pennati–but never call them fairies!) named Fidius. She hasn’t seen Fidius since she was in kindergarten, but when her grandfather dies and leaves the family his Parvi-infested inn, she discovers that she’s the latest in a long line of Turpins who provides sanctuary for the creatures in return for getting to keep a magical moonstone. They are having problems with their magic, so they want to release the Turpins from their contract and get the moonstone back but no one knows where it is. Mellie, matter-of-fact and slightly bad-tempered, narrates this hilarious tale of these enchanting, annoying little beings who sprinkle their speech with Latin and French phrases and are obsessed with appearances and enamored with high drama and style. Every character, human or Parvi, is drawn with singular care and humor, from the disgracefully clumsy Inepta to Mellie’s patient, maybe-new-friend Timmo. Spells turn people into drooling frogs and irascible bonging clocks, the truth-seeing magic of the moonstone turns out to be something of a liability, and Mellie “grows into her grandeur” just in time to save the Parvi as well as her entire family. Readers will share the girl’s irritated fondness for the ridiculous and lovable Parvi. A great choice for all who favor funny and intelligent fantasies with quirky characters and an unpredictable, fast-moving plot.

And that’s not even all of today’s good news! Booklist also says of SPWW, “This clever tale [...] wraps a story of acceptance, both of self and family, in the fairy dressing.”

I still have a few galleys of Small Persons With Wings — let’s do ONE MORE contest before Christmas. Share your imaginary friend story in the comments — or on your own blog, with a link to it in the comments here — and one random winner will receive a copy of SPWW. I’ll pick the winner on Wednesday, so get to commenting!

And I haven’t forgotten the nerdity contest I was running, for a grab bag of kt literary titles! (Ok, fine, I forgot, but I’m remembering now!) The random winner is… Sara Mackay! Sara, email me your mailing address for a post-holiday gift bag of great books.

I also was running a contest for just a tote bag, for your pictures of you with your copy of Anna and the French Kiss. Alas, no one wanted to enter *sad face*, so I guess I’ll just keep another tote bag for myself! Unless maybe YOU have a picture of you and your ANNA? Show me the link by Wednesday (again), and you may win!

So get on it! Lots to do, and not much time left before Christmas!

But what about since then? A search of my query mailbox shows 2,130 queries received and responded to since July, with another hundred or so that went right to my spam folder. I requested 41 partials, which is a better average than the first half of the year, but does include material from a conference, as well as just emails. And I asked for three full manuscripts.

So who did I say yes to? Well, I signed Erin Danehy in July, with a YA urban fantasy. And I may have more news to share next week, on something I’ve been asking for all year. We’ll see.

But roughly, you’re looking at .04% odds. And… wow. That’s tough. It’s stark, seeing those numbers. But you know what? I’m still looking. Ok, not right now — any queries received after midnight tonight will be deleted unread. But I have no doubt that next spring, when I reopen to queries, I will be starving for something great to read, and I have no doubt you guys can bring it.

What other stats can I share that may be of interest? I closed new domestic deals for Josie Bloss, Matthew Cody, Trish Doller, Stephanie Perkins, and Ransom Riggs, plus several more that I’m excited to officially announce soon. I finalized foreign deals for rights in Chinese (both simplified and complex characters), Croatian, Germany, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portuguese (in Brazil), and Australia and the UK, and closed on a film option for Matthew Cody‘s Powerless.

We got some great reviews, including several stars, and a lot of love from the internets for for our books and our authors — I couldn’t be prouder. Tom Sniegoski‘s Fallen series hit the New York Times bestseller list, and over a million nerdfighters heard John Green praise Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

What else? Sara Beitia‘s debut The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon came out to much praise, Kater Cheek‘s weekly webcomic brought chicken-related laughs, S. Terrell French‘s Operation Redwood continued to win awards, Sara Raasch got a tattoo and finished college, Susan Steward went to the Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s TweetUp program, Daniel Blau Rogge moved back to NYC, and Amy Spalding rocked the improv stage at LA’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

And what can we look forward to? LOTS!!

January brings the release of XVI by Julia Karr, Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem, and the US release of Pink by Lili Wilkinson. Looking beyond that, Spring sees the long-awaited release of The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson, the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, while Summer brings us Carrie Harris‘ debut Bad Taste in Boys. Fall takes us to London for The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, the first in her new series, and gives us Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Faking Faith by Josie Bloss, and The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody.

Plus, my own long-expected debut of BabyUn.

I can’t wait to have even more things to celebrate! In the meantime, I hope you all have a very happy, healthy, and book-filled holiday season. I’ll check in here occasionally with more news as I have it to share. Merry merry!!!

You’ve seen the starred PW review for Small Persons With Wings by Ellen Booraem — well, Kirkus jumped on board with a star as well, saying,

Whatever you do, don’t call them fairies. They are Small Persons with Wings, and Mellie’s family has the dubious distinction of an ancestral legacy (or curse) of obligation to the Small Persons. As long as the Turpin family holds the Gemmaluna, a magical moonstone that uncovers deception, they must provide a home to the Small Persons. What this means for Mellie is that when she and her parents move from Boston to her deceased grandfather’s dumpy inn in a coastal village, they inherit an infestation of artifice-loving Small Persons—and that tribe is rife with discord. Take cranky, squabbling Small Persons, bohemian, sweetly ineffectual parents, a nosy neighbor who happens to be the chief of police and his scrawny, likable son, and Mellie’s got her hands full. Booraem’s debut, The Unnameables (2008), presented readers with an utterly original American fantasy, and this follow-up, though unrelated except in its examination of creativity, is equally fresh and distinctive. Frequently hysterical dialogue, a hugely sympathetic protagonist and a baroque concatenation of magics and counter-magics will keep readers glued to this smart, earthy and thoughtful tale.

Kirkus also reviewed Julia Karr‘s forthcoming XVI, and called it “a fun little thriller”, which it totally is!

But wait, there’s more! The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon by Sara Beitia (not an upcoming title, but one you can buy now!) also got reviewed in the December issue of VOYA. The full review’s not online, but they called it “superb”!

With all this great news, it is a wonder I’m feeling seasonally delightful?

In a fairy story that’s wistful, humorous, and clever, Booraem (The Unnameables) suggests that the real world–with its disappointments and failings–is still better than living with illusions. When five-year-old Mellie Turpin tells her kindergarten classmates that there’s a fairy living in her bedroom, it leads the Parvi Pennati–a Small Person with Wings––to move out in anger, as well as years of torment and bullying for Mellie. After her estranged grandfather dies and her family inherits an inn and moves, Mellie, now 13, hopes her life will turn around. Unfortunately, the inn is infested with Parvi, and Mellie’s parents tell her the family has a thousand-year-old pact to provide a home for the creatures. Before long, Mellie is turned into a frog, a walking mannequin tries to take over the world, and a potential friend learns all about Mellie’s previous humiliations. There are serious threads about bullying and alcoholism, and several flawed characters; as in life, many problems are never fully solved, just exchanged for new ones. The theme of making progress, rather than ignoring problems, is a strong one, gently presented. Ages 10–up. (Jan.)

Congrats to Ellen!