Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Agent, Coco Fox, graphic novel, mg, Right To Left

Right To Left, Middle-Grade Basketball Graphic Novel Debut by Coco Fox

Published Sat, 16 Apr 2022 07:56:12 -0500

Last updated Sun, 09 Jul 2023 07:39:16 -0500

Right to Left by Coco Fox, is a new middle-grade graphic novel memoir debut about a sixth-grader who's determined to make friends on her school's basketball team—even after she breaks her dominant right hand and is forced to play with her left.

After it was announced on Publisher;'s Weekly, Coco posted to Instagram saying "Wahoo! @harperalley acquired my middle grade graphic novel Right to Left!! Thank you @rosepleuler I can't wait to work with you and @andyru12 on this bball book! @comicsispeople you are the best, thanks for making this happen! Can't wait to draw 6th grade basketballers!! (Maybe I'll sneak some dinosaurs on the court too). Best day! Hard to believe that a little zine I made in @james_sturmish 's crit group is now going to be a book!! Dang. Seeing this on the PW page was super surreal and awesome. I can't wait for you all to see these lil kids play basketball, cry, and make friends. Gotta go dance and shoot hoops "

Rose Pleuler at HarperAlley has acquired world English rights to Right to Left which will be published in the summer of 2024. Coco Fox's agent Charlie Olsen at InkWell Management brokered the deal.

HarperAlley is a graphic novel imprint launched from HarperCollins Children's Books under the direction of former art director and acquiring editor at First Second, Andrew Arnold last year, described as a "collaborative, creator-focused publisher" that will specialize in graphic novels for "readers of all ages." The new line is "looking to publish books that readers of all ages can enjoy, from the youngest readers to teens and adults. We believe that a good story is a story that any reader can relate to. That's what we mean when we say "readers of all ages." HarperAlley is looking to publish about ten books a season, or about thirty books a year and is one of a number of mainstream book publishers that has been rapidly increasing the number of graphic novels for younger readers.

The expansion of children's graphic novels is fuelling all manner of publishers extending into the comics medium. Right now it seems like an infinite market that is being tapped into, and creating longstanding comic book readers for decades to come. It is not for nothing that kids graphic novels in bookstores are being referred to as the newsstand of the twenty-first century, and the future readers of the medium are being formed and created right here, right now.

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