Assistant Literary Agent at Raven Quill Literary Agency.‍ ‍

In Middle Grade I’m looking for adventurous stories showcasing big imagination and even bigger feelings. Humor is a big plus, but heart takes priority. As always, my taste bends toward genre and speculative fiction, especially fantasy and mystery, but I always have room for a contemporary piece that will sweep me away.

Note: With middle grade I’d love the “big feelings” to center things that are a big deal to middle grade kids (8-12). This may include trauma, but often means things like fitting in, sleepovers, sports tryouts, where to sit at lunch, fighting with your friends, “firsts,” etc.

• Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad is Untrue

• Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time

• Jasmine Warga’s A Rover’s Story

• Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (as well as pretty much anything by ND Stevenson)

• Netflix’s Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts

• Things that fit in the Middle Grade / YA Crossover space, like Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girl’s series

Young adult was my first love, and I’m eager to represent the kinds of books that got me into reading.

In this category I’m hungry for books that feel like they’re for teens. I’m hunting for authentic teen characters with big voice.

I love messy characters on an arc (Murtagh in Eragon, Zuko in Avatar the Last Airbender, Etc.), and would especially love to see that depicted by less represented voices.

I’d love to see some of the genre mashups I’m loving in adult fiction written for teens (ex: mystery x fantasy) I’m also excited by select horror, new takes on dystopia, and deep, complex friendships.

• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

• The Little Thieves

• We Were Liars

• Scythe

• Legendborn (YA Crossover….but I’ll still take it!)

I’m hungry for genre mashups, and am particularly loving mystery/fantasy genre blending a-la The Raven Scholar and The Tainted Cup. I love fantasy with a strong romantic B plot.

• YA/New Adult Crossover like Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn

• Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

• Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

• Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay

• HBO’s Station Eleven (yes, I know this is an exceptional book, but the show is an annual rewatch for me. I just love it.)

• Romance like Into the Blue and The League of Extraordinary Women series, particularly A Rogue of One’s Own

I want moments in books that feel like the moments in musicals when you burst into song. I want feelings that compel me to take a drive with the windows down, or jump in a lake, or travel back in time to tell someone I love them.

A lot of times, people think this means I want sad books. Of course I do. But I also want moments like….

• the triumphant, pulse-pounding worm-ride scene in Dune Part 2

• when Sam and Sadie reconnect in a video game world he built in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

• I could make an Avatar The Last Airbender exclusive list of big feelings….and you know what? I will.

  • Katara reaching out to Aang when he realizes the Airbenders are dead and creates a storm of rage-air around himself

  • Zuko lashing out in the rain

  • Zuko and Iroh reconciling

If “Big Feelings” isn’t enough to go on, here’s a long but non exhaustive list of media I love.

Recent(ish) Albums

• Petrichor - 070 Shake

• Melodrama - Lorde

• Bleachers - Bleachers

• At the Beach in Every Life - Gigi Perez

• Everybody Scream - Florence and the Machine

• (Less Recent) Anything by The Antlers

TV

• Widow’s Bay

• Westworld (Season 1)

• Doctor Who

• Fleabag (all of it, but especially Season 2)

• Station Eleven (Yes, I do know that this is also an excellent book)

• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

• Kipo and the Age of the Wilderbeasts

• Avatar The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra

Movies / Musicals

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Sinners

• KPop Demon Hunters

• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

• How to Train Your Dragon

• Hadestown