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Bloomsbury Children's gets Adam B's 'rollercoaster adventure' children's books
Bloomsbury Children’s has scooped Adam Wins the Internet, a "properly belly-laugh funny" children’s book from YouTuber and TV presenter Adam Beales, also known as Adam B, illustrated by James Lancett.
Hannah Sandford, editorial director at Bloomsbury Children’s Books, acquired the book, which is aimed at children aged seven to 11, and one other title from James Wills at Watson, Little. She obtained UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding US, Canada and the Philippines. Bloomsbury announced the acquisition in a YouTube video, which received 58,000 views in less than 12 hours. Beales is represented by Oran O’Carroll, senior director of talent partnerships at Studio71.
The book is slated for publication in hardback in October and will feature Lancett’s "bold black and white" illustrations throughout. His work includes artwork for the recent Hodder series Vetman.
"Adam Wins the Internet will tell the story of 13-year-old Adam, who knows that his big dream of becoming a YouTuber is a never-going-to-happen impossibility," the synopsis reads. "That is until he stumbles across the mysterious ‘Popularis Incrementum’ website. As if by magic, Adam is thrown into a world of fame, fortune and fancy hotels. But Adam’s luck may be running out. When he accepts a mission to reach one million subscribers in one year, it becomes clear that he has bitten off more than he can chew, and his life becomes one epic fail after another. But fortunately for Adam, he still has a trick or two up his sleeve."
"Adam’s writing is superb and Adam Wins the Internet sucked me in from the first page thanks to being properly belly-laugh funny and boasting rollercoaster levels of adventure," said Sandford. "It is also one of the warmest and kindest stories I’ve read in a long time. It is such an exciting combination. This is the book that children will be talking about on the playground and recommending to all of their friends."
Beales is a popular online presenter and content creator, in addition to his work as a live TV host and "Blue Peter" presenter. His YouTube channel, which has accrued more than 500 million views and has more than 4.7 million followers, features pranks, challenges, vlogs, Q&As, life-hacks and gaming videos.
"This is crazy. Unbelievable. Madness. In every sense," he said. "Writing stories has been a big hobby of mine for a long time now, so to be able to say that I have a children’s novel coming out this year is mind-bendingly exciting to me. And to have been acquired by Bloomsbury is a dream come true. The team there believe in the message of the book just as much as I do.
"I cannot wait for people to get their hands on it and see what they think. I’ve loved writing it. I’ve loved seeing my mum cry after she finished reading it — it was happy tears, not sad tears, promise — and I now I love being able to say that Adam Wins the Internet is coming out in October this year."
