AGNES sold to Germany, THE LITTLE SHOP OF NIGHTMARES series to Italy!

We are very happy to announce 2 new children’s translation rights sales!

Tuutikki Tolonen’s AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS was acquired by Carlsen Verlag (also German publisher for J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer etc)

Agnes is a very charming story about friendship and family, it is gripping and heartwarming at the same time. Tuutikki Tolonen takes us to a place full of mysteries and dreams and she creates an atmosphere where the reader immediately feels comfortable. We are very happy to welcome Agnes to our list!

– Wiebke Andersen, Editor, Carlsen Verlag, Germany

Ask for English sample for the title by clicking here.


We are equally excited because the first 2 titles of THE LITTLE SHOP OF NIGHTMARES series by Magdalena Hai were sold to Italian publisher Terre di Mezzo
The wonderful younger middle-grade series has already sold to 14 countries, but rights are still available in: France, United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, China, Bulgaria, Greece etc.

An original, lively series that we hope will continue for a long time. A terribly funny story, with breathtaking illustrations
– Eleonora Armaroli, Terre di Mezzo, Italy

Ask for English texts and pdfs for the series by clicking here.


AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
by Tuutikki Tolonen, illustrated by Kati Vuorento

First book of the series

11-years-old Agnes has to move to a small countryside town with her mother. Her parents are divorced, and Agnes doesn’t know anyone
from her new hometown. She is not having the best summer of her life.

But then something weird happens. Agnes finds an old tombstone that has her name and birthday engraved on it – only the birth year is different. Whose grave is it?

Agnes befriends a boy called ”Bun”, who is also lonely. Together they start to solve the mystery of the tombstone. They find out more and more about a family who lived in the town years and years ago. When they go visit the family’s abandoned mansion, Agnes realizes something. She has been there before – in her dreams.

What is happening? It feels like someone who lived a long time ago is trying to tell something to Agnes. Is it possible that these two Agneses from different times have some connection?

Coming up: Book #2 to be published in 2021. More information coming soon.

 


THE LITTLE SHOP OF NIGHTMARES
by Magdalena Hai, illustrated by Teemu Juhani

Nina is a is a clever, 9-year-old girl who goes to work in the Little Shop of Nightmares. During the course of the trilogy, she has to solve a mystery with tickling powder, find the lost teeth of a vampire and discover the reason why suddenly it just doesn’t stop snowing. The Little Shop of Nightmares is a mystery full of fascinating and fun characters that make young readers both wonder and laugh!

 #1  THE TERRIBLE TICKLING POWDER
When Nina, 9 years old, enters The Little Shop of Nightmares in hopes of getting a job, she is
greeted by an odd sight: shopkeeper Mr. Kook is rolling on the floor, unable to stop laughing.
With a little help from a ghost called Paddy, they start looking for the untickling powder to help
him, but things are certainly not made easier by Mr. Kook’s world-domination-planning pet octopus
Squishy McGoo, who is a bit too quick about getting into trouble with rollerblades on its tentacles.

 #2  MYSTERY OF THE MISSING TEETH
Nina goes to buy ice cream after her first work day at The Little Shop of Nightmares.
But at the ice cream shop she discovers a vampire – without teeth! Nina decides to help
vampire Lucas to find his teeth from Mr. Kook’s shop. But for some reason all the vampire
teeth seem to have disappeared. It seems like somebody has hidden them on purpose…

 #3  STICKY THE TERRIBLE SNOWMAN
Same awesome monsters. New blizzardy trouble. The Little Shop of Nightmares is
getting buried in snow! Nina and Paddy are trying to find the cause of the snowstorm,
but that’s easier said than done. A well-meaning but horribly clumsy snowman keeps
getting in their way and stopping their every effort to stop the snowing inside.

Rights sold:
AGNES
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)

CZECH REPUBLIC: Portál
DENMARK: ABC Forlag
ESTONIA: Eesti Raamat
GERMANY: Carlsen Verlag
RUSSIA: Rosman

 

Rights sold
LITTLE SHOP OF NIGHTMARES SERIES:

FINLAND:
WSOY (orig.)

CZECH REPUBLIC:
Euromedia
DENMARK:
Vild Maskine
ESTONIA:
Postimees Publishing
GERMANY:
Egmont Schneiderbuch
HUNGARY:
Cerkabella
ITALY:
Terre di Mezzo
LATVIA:
Latvijas Mediji
NETHERLANDS:
De Vier Windstreken
NORWAY:
Fontini
RUSSIA:
KompasGuide
ROMANIA:
Editura Univers
SWEDEN:
Hegas
TURKEY:
Epsilon

About author


Kati Vuorento

Kati Vuorento is an illustrator living and working in Espoo, Finland: ”In small details there is an infinite magic. I want my illustrations to stir emotion in the audience. Empathizing is important to me. In my illustrations, I always include approachable characteristics to even the most hardened anti-hero. This is how I mold the characters into personalities with depth and dimension.”

She is the illustrator of middle-grade Agnes Series by Tuutikki Tolonen that in 2021 was nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award!


About author


Magdalena Hai

Magdalena Hai is an award-winning author, lover of cross-genre fiction and all things strange. Her fiction often combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror.

Her Little Shop of Nightmares series has been sold to 30 territories around the world. Among Hai's many accolades are winning the Finlandia Prize for children's and YA literature and the Finnish Literary Export Prize, and being nominated  the Nordic Council Children & Young People's Literature Prize.

Besides being an author, Hai teaches writing and is an active member and editor in the publishing co-operative Osuuskumma.

About author


Teemu Juhani

Teemu Juhani is a Finnish illustrator, comic artist and picture book author whose illustrations have been published in picture books and children's fiction in over 20 countries. In addition to children's books Teemu has illustrated magazines and educational material. Originally from the fields and woods of North Karelia, Teemu now lives, works and eats way too many cakes in Helsinki.

About author


Tuutikki Tolonen

Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, a Finnish literary magazine for children. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award.  Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny trilogy 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.

Her other bestselling series is the Agnes-series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" was in 2021 nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award. Tolonen tells that the inspiration for Agnes comes for her interest for weird and inexpicable tales, ghost stories and mysteries: "I wanted to write a book my daughter Aili, then nine, would like to read - not too long, not too scary, but very curious."

Tuutikki was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2026.

Photo credit: Otto Virtanen

29th territory for MONSTER NANNY series!

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

 

About author


Pasi Pitkänen

Pasi Pitkänen has become known for his richly detailed illustrative work on several children’s books such as the extremely popular Monster Nanny trilogy by Tuutikki Tolonen. He has also worked at Rovio Entertainment as an illustrator, character designer, and graphic designer. Pitkänen is the illustrator of the popular Kepler62 series and the author of two Children's titles Monster Tournament and The Island of Lost Animals.

Among Pitkänen’s hobbies are quantum physics, people-watching, B-movies, insects and baking.

About author


Tuutikki Tolonen

Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, a Finnish literary magazine for children. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award.  Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny trilogy 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.

Her other bestselling series is the Agnes-series, of which the first book "Agnes and the Garden of Dreams" was in 2021 nominated for the Arvid Lydecken Award, received an honorable mention for the Runeberg Junior Award, and won the Luku Varkaus Award. Tolonen tells that the inspiration for Agnes comes for her interest for weird and inexpicable tales, ghost stories and mysteries: "I wanted to write a book my daughter Aili, then nine, would like to read - not too long, not too scary, but very curious."

Tuutikki was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2026.

Photo credit: Otto Virtanen

MARESI is now sold to 24 territories! Excellent reviews for LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH!

MARESI is now sold to 24 territories!
Excellent reviews for LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH!

We are very happy to announce that MARESI by Maria Turtschaninoff has now been sold to 24 territories!
The Azerbaijani rights were bought today by Alatoran. Rights were also recently acquired in Bulgaria by Izida.
This bestselling YA title has sold to already 24 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.

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.

About THE RED ABBEY CHRONICLES: 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.


Meanwhile, Finland’s biggest daily Helsingin Sanomat has reviews for just-published children’s titles LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER, AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS and ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH.


LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER

”Good-mood book for children and adults!”
– Helsingin Sanomat

The 6th title of Little Mouse picture book series deals with summer.
Summer holiday is full of fun: going to the amusement park, playing by the beach and visiting the art museum. Buying strawberries and ice cream, and going to the cinema when the weather is too hot. Little Mouse knows that one must enjoy the summer, because it doesn’t last forever.

Ask for English materials here


ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH

”Text is flowy and interesting, but the illustrations make this surprising, almost lyrical!”
– Helsingin Sanomat

This book has 10 stories, and 10 maps. They may sound or look like they are out of a fairy-tale, but they are real, true maps of our planet. THE ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH is a children’s non-fiction book that also engages adults. Through magical maps it teaches about nature, oceans and the history of continents.

Ask for English materials here.


AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS 

”Fast-paced mystery plot and relatable strong characters.”
– Helsingin Sanomat

11-years-old Agnes has to move to a small countryside town with her mother. Her parents are divorced, and Agnes doesn’t know anyone
from her new hometown. She is not having the best summer of her life.

But then something weird happens. Agnes finds an old tombstone that has her name and birthday engraved on it – only the birth year is different. Whose grave is it?

Ask for English materials here.

RED ABBEY CHRONICLES
Rights sold: for the series:

FINLAND (orig.)

AZERBAIJAN
BELGIUM
BRAZIL
BULGARIA
CANADA
CHINA (Simplified)
DENMARK
ESTONIA
FINLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
HUNGARY
ITALY
LATVIA
NETHERLANDS
NORWAY
POLAND
ROMANIA
WORLD SPANISH
SWEDEN
TURKEY
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES
FILM RIGHTS

LITTLE MOUSE’S SUMMER
Rights sold for the series:

FINLAND (orig.)

AUSTRALIA
CATALAN
CHINA
DENMARK
ESTONIA,
FRANCE
NEPAL
NEW ZEALAND
PORTUGAL,
RUSSIA
SPAIN
UNITED KINGDOM

ENCHANTED PLANET EARTH
Rights sold:

FINLAND (orig.)

 

AGNES AND THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
Rights sold:

FINLAND (orig.)

CZECH REPUBLIC
DENMARK
ESTONIA
RUSSIA

About author


Laura Ertimo

Laura Ertimo is a geographer and author. She has previously worked in publishing of geography-related non-fiction and maps, and now she writes full time, specializing in children’s non-fiction. A recurring theme in her work is the holistic worldview, the interaction between phenomena, people and nature.

In 2020, she received the prestigious Tietopöllö Award for her work as a Non-Fiction writer. Her children's title WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO, illustrated by Mari Ahokoivu, was nominated for the 2021 Finlandia Award and has also won the Tieto-Lauri award!

About author


Mari Ahokoivu

Mari Ahokoivu is a Finnish illustrator and a comics artist. She’s been drawing professionally for over 10 years, mainly drawing graphic novels and comics for children, including Sanni & Joonas and Lola Olifante. Ahokoivu loves everything cute and scary. She lives and works in Copenhagen. 

Mari Ahokoivu won the Puupäähattu Comic Book Award 2023, and together with Laura Ertimo, they won the Tieto-Lauri Award 2022 and were nominated for the Finlandia Prize 2021 for WHERE DID THE ANIMALS GO?!