Shivaun Plozza – Jill Grinberg Literary Management

Shivaun Plozza

Shivaun Plozza is an award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Her YA novels include Frankie, a CBCA Notable Book and winner of the Davitt Awards and a commendation from the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award; Tin Heart, recipient of two starred reviews, and The Worst Perfect Moment, forthcoming from Holiday House in 2024. She is also the author of several middle-grade novels, including The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars and A Reluctant Witch’s Guide to Magic, published by Clarion Books, and Meet Me at the Moon Tree, published by University of Queensland Press. She is a frequent contributor to anthologies, and her short work has also appeared in Above Water, Vivid, and The Victorian Writer. She lives in Melbourne.

Agent

Katelyn Detweiler

The Worst Perfect Moment

Alexandra Aceves at Holiday House has acquired The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza, pitched as a queer The Good Place meets A Christmas Carol. When 16-year-old Tegan dies, she’s shocked to discover her “perfect heaven” is a replica of the Jersey shore motel where she spent the worst weekend of her life, so she and the snarky-but-cute teen angel responsible for the apparent mistake must tour through Tegan’s memories to uncover her true happiest moment. Publication is set for summer 2024; Katelyn Detweiler at Jill Grinberg Literary Management sold North American rights.

Publisher

Holiday House

Publication Date

Summer 2024

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Contemporary

Rights

JGLM

Meet Me at the Moon Tree

For ten-year-old Carina, there is nothing more magical than a moon tree – a tree grown from the seeds taken on the 1971 Apollo mission to the moon. Her father taught her everything she knows about them. Her father, who passed away before they had a chance to search for one together.

Since then, Carina’s family has been struggling to find a new equilibrium, each of them grieving in ways the others don’t understand. For Carina, her grief manifests as an all-consuming obsession with moon trees; so when Mum relocates the family to a small town in the Otways National Park, Carina becomes determined to find a moon tree in the forest behind her new house.

And she does. Believing that the moon tree’s magic will allow her to talk to her dad, she leaves a letter, telling him how much she misses him, asking his advice on how to keep her family from falling apart completely.

Then, one day, she receives a reply…

Publisher

University of Queensland Press

Publication Date

July 4, 2023

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Contemporary

Rights

JGLM

A Reluctant Witch's Guide to Magic

Kiki’s Delivery Service meets Cressida Cowell in this funny, quirky middle-grade fantasy about a non-magical girl who discovers she does, indeed, have magic—and she must choose between two warring witch covens or she’ll explode!

Willa lives in the Wild, in a city squished between two warring witch covens. The non-magical Wildians spend their days dodging wayward spells—from raining frogs to dancing chickens—all because of the witch war raging around them.

Being stuck in the middle of a magical war means the Wildians hate witches—none more so than Willa, whose parents were turned into clouds by a misplaced curse. Willa spends her days with her army of cats, dreaming of an end to the war and her parents’ return.

So when Willa is accused of being a witch after witnesses catch her accidentally stopping a spell midair, she’s certain there’s been a mistake. She can’t be a witch! Yet Willa is dragged to the palace, where she’s given one year to master her volatile magic and choose a coven to join. If she doesn’t, she’ll explode.

But her attempts to control her magic are interrupted when a rogue witch begins nefarious spells against the Ordinary Folk. What does the witch want and what does it have to do with Willa? She must unravel the mystery to save her city, her friends, and herself.

Praise for A Reluctant Witch’s Guide to Magic

“Plozza makes this most complicated, improbable scenario seem completely believable by carefully maintaining its established worldbuilding. Playful language and syntax provide a bit of comic relief in the names of some spells, instructions, and character names; the titles of the magic books are hilarious. The climax leaves important questions unanswered and begs for a sequel.” –Kirkus

“Juxtaposing Willa’s earnest internal growth with an absurd and bureaucratic magical realm, Plozza (The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars) creates a sense of alienation in the tween, even as she establishes new bonds, in this offbeat read with an archetypal heroine.” –Publishers Weekly

“A bewitching introduction to an original magical world.” –Booklist

Publisher

Clarion Books

Publication Date

July 19, 2022

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Fantasy

Rights

JGLM

The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars

A boy and his pet fox go on a quest to find a wolf who has eaten all the Stars in the sky before the Shadow Witch destroys the Stars and removes good magic from the world forever, perfect for fans of The Girl Who Drank the Moon and Nevermoor.

Long ago, the land of Ulv was filled with magic. But that was before a wolf ate all the Stars in the night sky, ridding the world of magic and allowing Shadow Creatures, beasts made of shadow and evil, to flourish. Twelve-year-old Bo knows the stories but thinks the Stars and the wolf who ate them are nothing more than myths—until the day Bo’s guardian, Mads, is attacked by a giant wolf straight from the legends. With his dying breath, Mads tells Bo that Ulv is in danger and the only way to prevent the Shadow Creatures from taking over is to return the Stars to the sky.

And so Bo—accompanied by his best friend, a fox called Nix, a girl named Selene whose magic is tied to the return of the Stars, and Tam, a bird-woman who has vowed to protect Bo at all costs—sets off on a quest to find the three magical keys that will release the Stars. But Bo isn’t the only one who wants the Stars, and the friends soon find themselves fleeing angry villagers, greedy merchants, and a vengeful wolf. And all the while, an evil witch lurks in the shadows and time is running out.

Praise for The Boy, the Wolf, and the Stars

“A relentless plot keeps the pages turning” –Kirkus

“With this fanciful adventure, Plozza invokes the language of myth and fairy tales to construct a complex, heartwarming hero’s quest.” –Publishers Weekly

“Readers who enjoy fantastical quests will happily tag along with Bo, who must solve riddles and survive many dangers during his journey.” –Booklist

“Readers will want to have tissues handy for the conclusion…. A good choice for fans of Kelly Barnhill and Grace Lin.” –BCCB

Publisher

Clarion Books

Publication Date

November 17, 2020

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Fantasy

Rights

JGLM

Tin Heart

When Marlowe gets a heart transplant and a second chance at life, all she wants to do is to thank her donor’s family. Maybe then she can move on. Maybe then she’ll discover who she is if she’s no longer The Dying Girl.

But with a little brother who dresses like every day is Halloween, a vegan warrior for a mother, and an all-out war with the hot butcher’s apprentice next door, Marlowe’s life is already pretty complicated. And her second chance is about to take an unexpected turn…

Praise for Tin Heart

“Funny and direct, this book is capable of balancing heartbreak, first love, mortality, and the absurd―or, as Marlowe puts it, ‘that moment when you’re standing in front of Bert’s Quality Butchers holding a speaker blasting ‘Meat is Murder.’” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Readers will cheer for Marlowe’s bildungsroman―simultaneously unique and universal.” –Kirkus, starred review

“Would you still be the same person if you had someone else’s heart? Marlowe Jensen is proof that a borrowed heart can be a big one, and from cover to cover her story is swoon-worthy, moving, deep, and funny. I loved it.” –Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places

Publisher

Flatiron Books

Publication Date

March 12, 2019

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Contemporary

Rights

JGLM

Frankie

Frankie Vega is angry. Just ask the guy whose nose she broke. Or the cop investigating the burglary she witnessed, or her cheating ex-boyfriend, or her aunt who’s tired of giving second chances.

When a kid shows up claiming to be Frankie’s half brother, it opens the door to a past she doesn’t want to remember. And when that kid goes missing, the only person willing to help is a boy with stupidly blue eyes, a criminal record, and secrets of his own.

Frankie’s search for the truth could change her life, or cost her everything.

Praise for Frankie

“Readers will love Frankie for her courage, passion, and honesty as a narrator, and supporting characters are equally well-drawn. A powerful debut about a girl learning to love despite the dangers.” –Booklist

“A gritty, darkly witty debut.” –Kirkus

“Frankie’s a great, gutsy character, full of heart.” –Printz Award winner Melina Marchetta, author of Jellicoe Road and Saving Francesca

Publisher

Flatiron Books

Publication Date

November 7, 2017

Age Category

Young Adult

Genre

Contemporary

Rights

Macmillan