We are thrilled to announce that the Bulgarian rights for MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES by Noora Kunnas and Teemu Juhani have been acquired by Enthusiast! The deal was closed by Sten-Erik Tammemäe at Elina Ahlback Literary Agency. Enthusiast in an imprint of Alto Communications and Publishing Ltd. and their children’s authors include Tim Collins, Roald Dahl, Marcella Ward, Sam McBratney, and Quentin Blake.

In April, the German edition of MABEL MERRYWEATHER AND THE MINIATURE PIRATES won the Prix Chronos literature prize in Switzerland:
“Two children, two elderly people, a rooster and a horde of mini pirates: A colorful bouquet of different people and animals plays into this story and makes the book a unique and humorous reading pleasure.”
– Prix Chronos 2023 jury

Written by Noora Kunnas and illustrated by Teemu Juhani, the wonderful MABEL MERRYWEATHER series has now been sold to 9 territories!
Rights are available in US, UK, France, Spain, Korea, Portugal, Turkey…

Download materials for the MABEL MERRYWEATHER series here!

Mabel Merryweather and the Miniature Pirates

Noora Kunnas, illustrated by Teemu Juhani

A fast and funny middle grade mystery series by a Finnish children’s book author who loves Roald Dahl and crazy stories!

• Series sold to 9 territories!
• Winner of the Prix Chronos 2023 in Switzerland!

Supergranny, a singing rooster, and mischievous mini pirates – a new series begins!

Nick and Lilly’s visit to their rule-loving, child-hating uncle turns into an adventure as the children get to know their exciting, eccentric neighbor: Mabel Merryweather. Mabel and her friends are preparing for a flower arranging competition, when the town is hit by a jewel thief. Nick, Lilly, and Mabel have their own problems as Mabel’s decorative miniature pirates have come to life and are rummaging through backyards. And what happened to the main judge of the competition – a pop singer Monika who disappeared that same day? Something must be done to bring peace and order back to the town of Dalton.

Mabel Merryweather and the King of Thieves

Noora Kunnas, illustrated by Teemu Juhani

The wild gang is back! Nick, Lilly, Supergranny Mabel and her speaking rooster face a new enemy: an art hustler. Second book of a new middle grade mystery series!

The town of Dalton is celebrating a local children’s poet’s 140th anniversary, and everyone is dressed up as a character from a poem. But amongst the happy people there’s also a gentleman thief who has terrorized art museums all spring. Through many mistakes and misunderstandings Nick and Lilly help the police to catch a thief – and to teach a lesson to a grumpy literary critic.

Mabel Merryweather and the Cheesy Mystery

Noora Kunnas, illustrated by Teemu Juhani

The streets of Dalton have turned holey like Emmental cheese!

Mabel Merryweather’s friend Bruno and his goats have arrived from Switzerland to perform at the Dalton cheese festival. This fragrant event has attracted a lot of people to the venue, but to the horror of the townspeople, mysterious holes have started to appear on streets and courtyards at night. Who digs them – and why? The rumor spreads that the town is infested by aliens, but Lilly, Nick, and the mighty Mabel Merryweather don’t believe the gossip. With the help of yodeling goats, they dig up the truth.

Mabel Merryweather and the Crowbar Gala

Noora Kunnas, illustrated by Teemu Juhani

A fast and funny middle grade mystery series by a Finnish children’s book author who loves Roald Dahl and crazy stories!

A bandit gathering at an awards gala causes havoc in town! The fourth title in this cracking detective series for middle-grade readers.

Nick and Lilly go camping and birdwatching on an island. Visiting Mabel’s inventor-friend Helga turns out to be anything but quiet when Pedro the Rooster vanishes. To boot, the news reports say that a bunch of bandits have escaped from prison.

Soon, they find out that the old factory building on the opposite shore is not being used for filming the newest season of a popular game show, but instead for organizing the Crowbar Gala, in which awards for the most successful bandits are given out. Without the wits of Nick, Lilly, and the mighty Mabel Merryweather, these goons would be able to continue with their mischief.

We are really excited to let you know that Znak Emotikon from Poland has now pre-empted the rights for Noora Kunnas’ MABEL MERRYWEATHER series!

Natalia Sikora from the Polish publisher Znak Emotikon was really glad and said:

We really loved all the characters from Noora Kunnas’s series, but our absolute favorite is Mabel – this quirky, funny lady! These books have everything the good book for children should have – exciting action, humor, mystery, magic and a bit of… anarchy. We are sure Polish kids will love it as we do!
– Natalia Sikora, Acquisition Editor, Znak Emotikon, Poland on Mabel Merryweather series

MABEL MERRYWEATHER series by Noora Kunnas and illustrations by Teemu Juhani will be published in 7 countries, but is still available in Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Czechia, Romania, US, Turkey, Latvia etc.

Download the English samples for the Mabel Merryweather series here

About the books:

Book 1: Mabel Merryweather and the Miniature Pirates
Otava 2019, 140 pp.
Nick and Lily are spending their summer with uncle Jim, who doesn’t like children. Luckily his neighbor, Mabel Marryweather, can guarantee the their summer will be filled with adventures, mysteries and hilarious encounters, when they start to figure out who is sabotaging the yearly flower arrangement competition.

Book 2: Mabel Merryweather and the King of Thieves
Otava 2020, 140 pp.
The kids are back at uncle Jim’s – and seems like they are attracting trouble. Or is it Mabel Merryweather who makes everything happen? This time the town is terrorized by an art hustler, but luckily Nick and Lily are there to stop him.

Book 3: Mabel Merryweather and the Cheesy Mystery
Otava, May 2021, 140 pp.
Mabel Merryweather’s friend Bruno and his goat have arrived from Switzerland to perform at the Dalton cheese festival. This fragrant event has attracted a lot of people to the venue, but for the horror of the townspeople mysterious holes have started to appear on streets and courtyards at night. Who digs them – and why?

We are excited to announce that the Dutch rights to Mabel Merryweather and the Miniature Pirates written by Noora Kunnas and illustrated by Teemu Juhani, have been sold to Veltman Uitgevers.

“When I first read ‘Mabel Merryweather’ I immediately loved the funny, adventurous story. Dutch children will love the surprising characters, and the amazing illustrations. I look forward to bringing this book to the Netherlands!” – Saskia Kalter, Acquiring Editor, Veltman Uitgevers, Netherlands

The Mabel Merryweather series centers around siblings Nick and Lilly who are sent to the summery village of Dalton, while their parents are traveling. There they meet a friendly eccentric neighbor granny Mabel Merryweather and the summer adventures begin!

About the books:

Book 1: Mabel Merryweather and the Miniature Pirates
Otava 2019, 140 pp.
Nick and Lily are spending their summer with uncle Jim, who doesn’t like children. Luckily his neighbor, Mabel Marryweather, can guarantee the their summer will be filled with adventures, mysteries and hilarious encounters, when they start to figure out who is sabotaging the yearly flower arrangement competition.

Book 2: Mabel Merryweather and the King of Thieves
Otava 2020, 140 pp.
The kids are back at uncle Jim’s – and seems like they are attracting trouble. Or is it Mabel Merryweather who makes everything happen? This time the town is terrorized by an art hustler, but luckily Nick and Lily are there to stop him.

Book 3: Mabel Merrywethr and the Cheesy Mystery
Otava, May 2021, 140 pp.
Mabel Merryweather’s friend Bruno and his goat have arrived from Switzerland to perform at the Dalton cheese festival. This fragrant event has attracted a lot of people to the venue, but for the horror of the townspeople mysterious holes have started to appear on streets and courtyards at night. Who digs them – and why?

We are extremely happy to announce that the Russian rights for all 3 titles in the Mabel Merryweather series written by Noora Kunnas and illustrated by Teemu Juhani, have now been acquired by the largest publisher in Russia, Eksmo.

The Eksmo-AST publishing group is among the top 40 largest publishing houses in the world.

The Mabel Merryweather series centers around grade-schoolers Nick and Lilly who are sent to the summery village of Dalton, while their parents are traveling.
They meet a friendly eccentric neighbor granny Mabel Merryweather and the summer adventures begin! The series is illustrated by very talented Teemu Juhani (also illustrator of Little Shop of Nightmares series).

Download the English sample and synopsis for the first 2 titles here.

As soon as we saw the covers, illustrations and read reviews, we immediately fell in love with these stories! A detective mystery, magic, dynamic plot, humor, attractive characters, and beautiful illustrations by Teemu Juhani (whose works are already very loved by our readers) – all this helped us to make the quickest decision about the deal.
– Darya Bozhko, Foreign Rights Manager, Children’s Books Department, EKSMO Publishing House, Russia

We are also really excited to announce that the 3rd book of the series Mabel Merryweather and the Cheesy Mystery will be published by Otava in June!

Book 3: Mabel Merryweather and the Cheesy Mystery

The streets of Dalton have turned holy like Emmental cheese!

Mabel Merryweather’s friend Bruno and his goat have arrived from Switzerland to perform at the Dalton cheese festival. This fragrant event has attracted a lot of people to the venue, but for the horror of the townspeople mysterious holes have started to appear on streets and courtyards at night. Who digs them – and why? The rumor speards that the town is infested by aliens, but Lily, Nick, and the mighty grandmother Mabel Merryweather don’t believe the gossips. With the help of yodeling goats, they dig up the truth.

About the authors:

Noora Kunnas is a children’s author from Helsinki, Finland. She has the knack for making both children and grownups laugh while they’re immersed in he rbooks.The trademark of her books is a nutty humor, spiced with quirky characters, as well as the titillating mood of various settings, where anything – and we mean anything – is possible.

Teemu Juhani is a Finnish illustrator, comic artist and graphic designer whose illustrations have been published in picture books and children’s fiction in 20 countries, including Finland, UK, US, Germany and China. In addition to children’s books Teemu has illustrated magazines and educational material.

We are excited to announce that the first foreign rights of Mabel Merryweather series by author Noora Kunnas and illustrator Teemu Juhani have been sold. The German rights were acquired by Mixtvision Verlag, and Danish rights went to ABC Forlag.

“We are beyond delighted to publish Noora Kunnas’ and Teemu Juhani’s books at Mixtvision in 2021. The story is hilariously funny and quirky in the very best way and we can’t wait to see what our German readers think about the books!” – Kerstin Rabe, Editorial Director, Mixtvision Verlag, Germany

This fast and wacky middle-grade series has adorable, quirky black-and-white illustrations by Teemu Juhani, and the humorous story draws inspiration from the world of Roald Dahl.

About the books:

Book 1: Mabel Merryweather and the Miniature Pirates
Otava 2019, 140 pp.
Nick and Lilly’s visit to their rule-loving, child-hating uncle Jim turns into an adventure as the children get to know their exiting, eccentric neighbor: Mabel Merryweather. Mabel and her friends are preparing for a flower arrangement competition, when the town is hit by a jeweler thief. Nick, Lilly and Mabel have their own problems as Mabel’s decorative miniature pirates have come to live and are rummaging through the backyards. And what happened to the main judge of the competition – a pop singer Monika who disappeared in the same day?  Something must be done to bring peace and order back to the town of Dalton.

#2 Mabel Merryweather and the King of the Thieves
Otava 2020, 144 pp.
The town of Dalton is celebrating a local children’s poet’s 140th anniversary, and everyone is dressed up as a character from a poem. But amongst the happy people there’s also a gentleman thief who has terrorized art museums all spring. Through many mistakes and misunderstandings Nick and Lilly help the police to catch a thief – and to teach a lesson to a grumpy literary critic.