Pasi Pitkänen

29th territory for MONSTER NANNY series!

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We are very happy to announce that Ukrainian publisher School Publishing House has now acquired the rights for all 3 titles in Monster Nanny series. The series now has 29 rights sold and a feature film in development by Scott Free Productions.

Congratulations to Tuutikki Tolonen, Pasi Pitkänen and School Publishing House!

The rights are still available in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Japan, Serbia, Slovakia, Iceland, Korea, Croatia, Israel etc
If you are interested, request the full English materials for Monster Nanny trilogy by clicking here.

 

MONSTER NANNY TRILOGY:

Book 1: Monster Nanny
Mörkövahti. Tammi 2015, 300 pp.

The Hellman children must make do with a nanny while their mother is away at a spa. The only problem? Their nanny is a monster.

Grah is hairy, dusty, and doesn’t talk. When the siblings discover that other neighborhood kids have been left with similar creatures, they start to wonder where the monsters came from. With the parents away, the kids work together (between bickering) to figure out the mystery of the monsters.
Book 2: Monster Route
Mörköreitti. Tammi 2016, 280 pp.

Mimi 6 years, has snuck into the monsters’ underground world after her monster friend Grah. She travels in their tunnels, led by the odd Gate Keeper. Back at home, Koby and Halley put their heads together and manage to get in touch with Mimi. But who is the mysterious and frightening ruler of the monster world?

Book 3: Monster Message
Mörköviesti, Tammi, March 2020, 250 pp.

Hellman kids face new troubles. Mom and Dad want to move into a bigger home on the other side of the city. Mimi’s talking bathrobe feels strangely shrunk, and drops hints of leaving. Monstrologist Runar Kalli is starting to act his age without his rejuvenating root potion – and he’s 122. Something must be done. When Mimi finds crumpled leaves with strange markings in her room, they look like messages from underground, but who’s delivering them and why? And why does the Gatekeeper of the underground world appear in their bathroom?

The three books are all illustrated by Pasi Pitkänen.

MONSTER NANNY SERIES:

Rights sold:

FINLAND, Tammi (orig. publisher)

AUSTRALIA, Allen & Unwin
BOSNIA, Šahinpašić
BRAZIL, DarkSide Books
CHINA, Beijing Children’s Publishing House
CZECH REPUBLIC, Portál
DENMARK, Turbine
ESTONIA, Tiritamm
FRANCE, Editions Robert Laffont
GERMANY, Carl Hanser Verlag
HUNGARY, Tessloff Babilon
ITALY, Salani/Mauri Spagnol
LATVIA, Zvaigzne
LITHUANIA: Nieko Rimto
NETHERLANDS, Luitingh-Sijthoff
NEW ZEALAND, Allen & Unwin
NORWAY, Gyldendal Norsk
OCEANIA, Allen & Unwin
POLAND, Vesper
PORTUGAL, Asa Editiones/Leya
ROMANIA, Editura Univers
RUSSIA, Rosman
SLOVENIA, Mladinska knjiga
SPAIN (Spanish), La Galera
SPAIN (Catalan), La Galera
SWEDEN, Rabén & Sjögren
TURKEY, SEV Redhouse Kidz
UKRAINE: School Publishing House
VIETNAM, Nha Nam
UNITED STATES: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
FILM RIGHTS, Scott Free Productions

 

Pasi Pitkänen


Pasi Pitkänen has become known for his richly detailed illustrative work on several children’s books such as the Monster Nanny duology by Tuutikki Tolonen. He has also worked at Rovio Entertainment as an illustrator, character designer and graphic designer; Angry Birds: Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes (Rovio Books 2012), illustrated by Pitkänen, was named Best First Cookbook of the Year at 2012’s Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Among Pitkänen’s hobbies are quantum physics, people-watching, B-movies, insects and baking.

Author page Author webpage

Tuutikki Tolonen


Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, Finland’s only literary journal for children. Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny duology sparked during a family breakfast. “My son Leo, then six, said: ‘I heard on the radio yesterday that all moms have to go on vacation and monsters will take their places,” she says.

Tolonen is currently writing Agnes series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" won the honorary award in Runeberg Prize 2020.

Author page

Second deal for THE ISLAND OF LOST ANIMALS! MARESI is now sold to 25 territories!

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We are very happy to announce that Lithuanian publisher Aukso pieva has now acquired the rights for THE ISLAND OF LOST ANIMALS by Pasi Pitkänen.
The captivating picture book is a vibrant adventure story with illustrations for young readers and fans of The Jungle Book, Tarzan and Where the Wild Things Are.

Previously, the title was acquired by Hunan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House in China, all other international rights are still available!

Request the full English PDF for THE ISLAND OF LOST ANIMALS by clicking here.

We also cannot be happier to also announce that  MARESI by Maria Turtschaninoff has now been sold to 25 territories!
The Albanian rights were now bought by Dritan. Rights were also recently acquired in Azerbaijan by Alatoran and Bulgaria by Izida.

This bestselling YA title has sold to already 25 territories, but the rights are still available in Russia, Czech Republic, Greece, Lithuania, Slovenia,  Japan, Portugal, Croatia and in many other countries. See the rights sold list on the right.

MARESI is the first title in The Red Abbey Chronicles and an international feature film is under development by Film4/The Bureau.
MARESI RED MANTLE, book 3 in the trilogy,  was awarded earlier this month the 2020 Global Literature in Libraries Translated Book Prize, as the best translated book of the year!

Request the full English PDFs for the trilogy by clicking here.

FILI TRANSLATION GRANTS REMINDER!

Don’t forget to apply for FILI translation grants this week before Friday 1st of May 23:59.
FILI Translation grant can cover 50-70% of your translation costs from Finnish.
All applications that meet the grant criteria are guaranteed at least 50% grant towards translation costs. Picture books can also get a grant up to 1000€ towards their printing cost.

Read more and apply here.

See all of our Spring 2020 Children’s titles here

THE ISLAND OF LOST ANIMALS
by Pasi Pitkänen

Mathias takes his little sister Jenny to the circus for her birthday. Jenny adores lions; she has dressed up in a lion costume for the occasion and is invited in to the circus ring to pet a lion cub. Suddenly, a monstrous creature bursts through the roof of the circus tent, seizing the lion cub and Jenny!

Mathias and the lion cub’s dad set off on a rescue mission, far across the sea to a mysterious jungle island that is home to weird and wonderful creatures. But can Jenny and the lion cub be there too? And why are the island’s inhabitants so peculiar?

A captivating, vibrant adventure story with illustrations for young readers and fans of The Jungle Book, Tarzan and Where the Wild Things Are.

THE RED ABBEY CHRONICLES
by Maria Turtschaninoff

The Red Abbey is a refuge for women and girls, where everyone pursues their own areas of interest. Maresi prefers to spend her time reading and learning.
Everything changes when the frightened Jai arrives on the island. She has seen her sister get buried alive for speaking to a young man, and her father and a crew of thugs are after her. Maresi and her friends have to fight to defend both Jai and their community.

THE ISLAND OF LOST ANIMALS
Rights sold:

FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)

CHINA:Hunan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
LITHUANIA: Aukso pieva

 

RED ABBEY CHRONICLES
Rights sold or the series:

Original publisher: FINLAND, Schildts & Söderströms (Book 1)
Original publisher: FINLAND, Förlaget (Books 2-3)

ALBANIA: Dritan (Book 1)
AZERBAIJAN: Alatoran (Book 1)
BELGIUM, Clavis (Book 1-2)
BRAZIL, Morro Branco (Books 1-3)
BULGARIA, Izida (Books 1-3)
CANADA (French), Editions de la Bagnole (Book 1)
CHINA (Simplified), Shanghai 99 (Books 1-3)
DENMARK, Turbine (Book 1)
ESTONIA, Varrak (Book 1-2)
FINLAND, Tammi (Books 1-2)
FRANCE, Rageot (Books 1-2)
GERMANY, Random House/Heyne (Book 1)
HUNGARY, Scolar (Books 1-3)
ITALY, Atmosphere Libri (Books 1-3)
LATVIA, Petergailis (Book 1-2)
NETHERLANDS, Clavis (Book 1-2)
NORWAY, Gursli Berg Forlag (Books 1-3)
POLAND, Wydawnictwo Debit (Books 1-3)
WORLD SPANISH, Penguin Random House/Alfaguara (Book 1)
SWEDEN, Berghs (Books 1-2)
TURKEY, Altın Kitaplar (Book 1)
UNITED KINGDOM, Pushkin Press (Books 1-3)
UNITED STATES, Abrams (Books 1-3)

FILM, Film4