Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has announced that Tony DiTerlizzi, author and illustrator of The Spiderwick Chronicles, is writing a new middle-school series called The Search for WondLa. The first book in the series, also called The Search for WondLa, will be published on September 21, with a first printing of 300,000 copies.
The Search for WondLa is a fantastical story about a space-age adventure and a child’s wish to belong:
“When an intruder destroys the underground sanctuary that Eva Nine was raised in by her robot, Muthr, the twelve-year-year-old girl is forced to flee aboveground: somewhere she’s never been before. Eva Nine is searching for anyone else like her, for she knows that other humans exist, because of an item she treasure, a scrap of cardboard on which is depicted a young girl, an adult, and a robot, with the strange word, ‘WondLa.’”
The book will feature two-color two-page spread, spot illustrations, and for those readers with a webcam, “Augmented Reality” in several places.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers negotiated the deal with the Gotham Group. The deal includes world and audio rights.
