Young adult novelist Julie Kagawa (pictured, via) has signed a seven-figure multibook deal with Harlequin Teen.

Executive editor Natashya Wilson negotiated the deal with senior literary agent Laurie McLean of the Larsen Pomada Literary Agency. Wilson, who will edit the book, secured world rights.

Kagawa has also written the Iron Fey series and the the Blood of Eden series. According to the release, the series “will feature mythical creatures in a contemporary setting.” The first book is expected to come out in 2015. (via Agent Savant)

He makes his living scaring children and has been called the Stephen King of children’s books.

“Goosebumps” author, R.L. Stine sat down with mediabistroTV to talk about how finding a typewriter at the age of nine started him on his journey to becoming one of the most successful children’s book authors in history.

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YA novelist John Green captured four spots on the New York Times Young Adult Best Sellers list for the week of January 20, 2013.

His most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, took the No. 2 slot while Looking for Alaska came in at No. 6, An Abundance of Katherines hit No. 10 and Paper Towns held at No. 15.

Penguin Young Readers Group released An Abundance of Katherines  in September 2006, and this was the first time it landed on the list. Looking for Alaska came out in 2005 and Paper Towns was published in 2008. (Image via)

According to Variety, The Descendants actress Shailene Woodley has been cast as Beatrice “Tris” Prior in the upcoming adaptation of Veronica Roth‘s Divergent.

Back in August 2011, Summit snatched up the film rights to Veronica Roth‘s Divergent. At the moment, men are being screened to play Tobias “Four” Eaton. Who would you pick to play this character?

Rumors have been swirling that some of the actors competing for this part include X-Men: First Class actor Lucas Till, War Horse actor Jeremy Irvine and Beastly actor Alex Pettyfer.

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For the past 15 years, fans have circulated rumors about a film adaptation of Lois Lowry‘s The Giver. In an interview with studio 360, Lowry confirmed that the movie “is finally on the road.”

Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges has been an advocate for this project for many years. He will play the title character. At the moment, studio executives are auditioning young actors for the lead role of Jonas.

Lowry first published The Giver in 1993. The book won the Newbery Medal in 1994. The full quartet includes Gathering Blue (2000), The Messenger (2004) and the author’s latest release, Son (2012).

Universal Pictures has acquired the film rights to Laini Taylor‘s young adult novel and National Book Award finalist, Daughter of Smoke & Bone.

Oz: The Great and Powerful executive producer Palak Patel will serve as an executive producer. Snow White & the Huntsman producer Joe Roth has signed on as a producer.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers released this book in 2011. Days of Blood & Starlight, the sequel, came out in November 2012. Taylor plans to conclude her series with a not-yet-titled third book.

Scholastic Book Clubs editorial director David Allender recently shared ten trends that he thinks will dominate children’s books in 2013. Watch the video embedded above for more details, but here are the ten trends, from the release:

1. Bullying is THE Timely Topic in Kids’ Books

2. ’13 Will be a Lucky Number for Science Fiction Fans

3. Intriguing Nonfiction

4. Novels-in-Cartoons

5. Kid Lit on the Screen

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Mortal Instruments author Cassandra Clare will collaborate on a digital short story series called The Bane Chronicles, working with The Lynburn Legacy author Sarah Rees Brennan and The Name of the Star author Maureen Johnson.

This spin-off series, set in Clare’s “Shadownhunters” universe, profiles the character Magnus Bane. Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, will publish the first title in February 2013. Each of the ten Bane installments will come out on a monthly basis leading up to the release of The Mortal Instruments film adaptation. In 2014, the publisher will release a single volume containing all ten stories.

Here’s more from Publishers Weekly: “The novelty of this approach is new enough, Galen said, that S&S is having to do some things ‘on the fly.’ Unfamiliar with this type of schedule, which invokes Aaron Sorkin more than Charles Dickens, S&S is, Galen explained, still working out ‘the whole process of delivery, editing, and distribution.’ Also being worked out, albeit in a different way, is how readers will take to this model. Given the growing number of options to deliver staggered content in a quick manner, projects like The Bane Chronicles are cropping up more frequently.”

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If you could send a message to your teenage self, what would you write? The Dear Teen Me anthology collects letters from more than 70 young adult authors to their teenage selves.

You can read a whole collection of letters on the Dear Teen Me site. Here’s a letter from Laura Roecker, co-author of TheLiars Society, to her teenage self:

You’re pretty quiet. You prefer to observe and take it all in and sometimes feel like you don’t have much to add to a conversation. People will often ask you, “What’s wrong?” and you can say, “Nothing!” and actually mean it, but they’ll never believe you. You’ll slip away at parties just to breathe and sometimes feel like you don’t quite fit in, even after you’re married. But you’ll put your observations to good use one day. You’ll write about the people you watch and find friends who make you feel comfortable, who’ll never believe you’re the shy one. And then you’ll have kids who are really loud and a husband who can’t survive without socializing and you’ll learn.

Have you ever written a scary story? In honor of the Halloween season, we are interviewing horror writers to learn about the craft of scaring readers. Recently, we spoke with author Barry Lyga.

Lyga (pictured) started off writing novels for an adult audience. When those particular manuscripts did not sell, he began penning stories for a teen audience. He established his publishing career with the release of his hit young adult novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Check out the highlights from our interview below…

Q: How did you land your first book deal?
A: I had written a couple of adult-ish novels that no one seemed to want to publish. It’s not they were bad — plenty of people liked them — they just weren’t sparking anyone’s interest. But a bunch of editors and agents who read them said, “Not yet — show me the next one.” The next one was completely different from those adult books — a YA novel about a bullied, comic book-obsessed dreamer. But I proudly showed it off to every agent and editor I could, and this time the reaction was pretty astounding. Within a few months of finishing the book, I met my agent at a writers’ conference. Within six months, she’d sold The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl. It was sort of a whirlwind.

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