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Middle Grade

Please note: These are the entries for the Pitch Wars season beginning in 2021 and continuing through 2022. Please note that our Agent Showcase ends at 9:00 p.m. ET on Monday, February 14, 2022. Agents will not be able to leave comments requesting material after that time.

PW2021 MG #01: I AM NAYELI (Contemporary #Latinx)

Latinx BLENDED

If 12-year-old Nayeli were a superhero, her powers would be ballet dancing and keeping her divorced parents apart. Dance was her only safe space–until a chance to audition for a professional ballet company threatens to bring her Mom and Dad together. She wants them to accept both her Mexican and American identities, but after a family reunion gone wrong, owning her true self could mean losing one of her parents forever.

PW2021 MG #02: DON’T PLAY THE BONE FLUTE (Horror; BIPOC)

MG FEAR STREET X SAL AND GABI BREAK THE UNIVERSE

When 12-year-old Sam blows into a bone flute and makes a wish for his parents to stay together, he wakes up in another reality where his siblings don’t exist. Desperate for answers, he meets Lena—a spunky girl who shares his fate. Together, they set out on a mission to unravel a centuries-old mystery and save their alternate selves from a vengeful healer before they’re trapped in the wrong reality forever.

PW2021 MG #03: ASPEN SAO AND THE SERIOUS CASE OF BAD LUCK (Fantasy)

THE DRAGON WARRIOR X PJO 

When 12 y/o Cambodian witch Aspen’s ancestors go missing, her family becomes plagued with bad luck. She must journey across the country in search of the spirit realm to save her ancestors and lift the curse before it’s too late.

PW2021 MG #04: RISING LIGHT: A LOST SUN CHRONICLE (Fantasy)

TUNNEL OF BONES x CITY OF EMBER. Di's world hasn't seen the sky in two hundred years. When her parents fall to a curse that turns them into light-shunning monsters, Di must do all she can to save them. With the help of new friends and forbidden magic, she must survive a series of trials to join the very group that plans to hunt her parents down.

PW2021 MG #05: GROWING IN BETWEEN (Contemporary LGBTQ+)

As puberty drives a wedge between twelve-year-old nonbinary Ollie and their lifelong friends, they dive into a research project to understand what defines womanhood in hopes of fitting in. But when a trans classmate invites them to join her queer book club, Ollie must choose between the safety of conformity and the risks of finding their own voice. A modern, queer ARE YOU THERE GOD?  IT’S ME, MARGARET.

PW2021 MG #06: LEGEND OF THE BIGFOOT KID (Contemporary Fantasy)

THE DRAGON WARRIOR x Việt mythology

All Erica Đinh wants is to blend in. But when the Đinh family curse balloons her feet three sizes and sprouts thick hair all over her body, she has only one option: wear trench coats forever.

She commits to hiding the curse along with its resulting superpowers, but when an ancient Việt fox demon threatens her town, Erica must overcome her insecurities to embrace her ancestors’ heroic legacy.

PW2021 MG #07: SAVANNAH INDIANA AND THE CURSE OF THE SILVER KNIGHT (Contemporary Adventure, LGBTQ+ #ownvoices)

Savannah dreams of being a TV-famous archeologist like her parents. When she sneaks on-set and unleashes an ancient curse, she must solve a magic puzzle, battle a ghostly Polish hussar, and outsmart her crush-turned-rival to break the spell...all while surviving seventh grade. If she fails, she'll be history.

PW2021 MG #08: VAMPIRES DON’T DRINK BLOOD (Contemporary fantasy)

After an epic bat disaster, 12-year-old Caleb Yu wants to hide his vampire identity. When his adoptive mom goes missing, only aspiring vampire hunter Maddie Strangelove can help find her. Together, they must investigate the secret paranormal underground to save Mom, and the city, from a vengeful, bloodthirsty rockstar... before Maddie figures out who Caleb really is.

AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS x HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA

PW2021 MG #09: HEMLOCK HOLLOW (HORROR)

A Darkness sleeps in Hemlock Hollow, or so the town legend says. Jude used to love the story, until his folklorist mom died. Now he avoids it—and his mom’s memory—at all costs. But when the woods call to him, people disappear, and the hemlocks creep closer, Jude can no longer ignore the truth: the Darkness is real, and his mom knew more than anyone realized. Now Jude must uncover the secrets woven into the pages of her forgotten research—and face his own past— if he’s going to save the town and put the Darkness to sleep for good.

PW2021 MG #10: IF ELEPHANTS COULD TALK (Contemporary Novel in Verse)

ONE AND ONLY IVAN + RED, WHITE, AND WHOLE

If elephants could talk

they would narrate tales

of abuse.

If Meenakshi could speak

she would narrate tales

of loss.

After 12-year-old Meenakshi's mother dies, she loses her will to talk. Misunderstood by friends and bullied by classmates, she bonds with Ganeshan, the elephant at the temple her father works at who, like Meenakshi, understands loneliness and abuse. But when Ganeshan dies of neglect, Meenakshi must overcome grief and use her skills in dance to advocate for temple elephants—even if it means going against her community and religion.

PW2021 MG #11: BURIED (Horror)

CORALINE x HIDE AND SEEKER. Leo’s Rule of Survival is to bury everything: his anger, his fear, even his alcoholic father’s car keys. But when shadows pull his family into an underground labyrinth, Leo realizes his "rules" created actual monsters. Now Leo must dig up the truth about everything he's hidden, including from himself, or his family will stay buried forever.

PW2021 MG #12: THE LIBRARY OF MONSTERS (Portuguese Fantasy Heist)

When the powerful Biblioteca de Monstros threatens her family’s struggling charm shop, twelve-year-old Rosa’s only option is joining a thief crew as a magical safecracker to steal from the Biblioteca itself. One problem: she’s not who the crew thinks she is. Rosa must learn to trust her magical abilities and her crew or risk losing her home, her livelihood, and her grandmother if their epic heist fails. 

MORRIGAN CROW x OCEAN’S 8

PW2021 MG #13: BEA MULLINS TAKES A SHOT (LGBTQ Contemporary #OwnVoices)

12-yo Bea thought the hardest part of girls’ hockey was falling down. Turns out that’s nothing compared to falling for her teammate. When a lack of funding threatens the team’s future, she’ll have to face her insecurities to keep her friends—and her crush—on the ice. SIDETRACKED x ALMOST FLYING

PW2021 MG #14: GEORGE THE MEATBALL WILL NOT BE EATEN (Contemporary Fantasy)

REX DEXTER meets Gary Schmidt. George the meatball thinks he can escape digestion by fleeing the kitchen table, but in a world of pets, vacuums, rodents, corvidae, and existential crises, there are lots of things that can eat a meatball...

PW2021 MG #15: POPCORN AND PROMISES (Contemporary)

Ari can’t wait to finish seventh grade and get to Jewish summer camp—the one place where she doesn’t feel different. But when her BFF crashes her camp—and upstages her—Ari must overcome jealousy or risk losing her friend and the chance to find her voice.