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Hachette Children’s Group has signed Spellcasters, an “empowering, action-packed” series for readers aged seven and up by Crystal Sung, a creative partnership between Storymix, debut author Tania Tay and illustrator Wendy Tan.
Anne Marie Ryan, editorial director for Series Brands at HCG, acquired world all-language rights from Jasmine Richards at Storymix. The first book in the series will be published in August with a further three titles to follow from 2024.
The synopsis reads: “Welcome to Spellcroft Street, where ancient magic meets girl power! New girl in town Jenny is thrilled to make three new friends who share her love of music. They form a band called The Spellcasters, but when an ancient evil spirit escapes from its underground lair, the girls discover that they have something even more special in common—they can all channel the magical powers of their ancestors."
It continues: “Maya can shapeshift, Tamzin can control nature, and Ananya can read minds. But to stop the evil Graydig from destroying a beloved community centre, Jenny must travel back in time to ancient China to master her own supernatural ability."
Ryan said: ““Spellcasters is an enchanting and entertaining new series with friendship at its core. I am so excited for readers to discover these stories and find their magic with these four amazing girls.”
Tay was one of the BBC’s Writers Room London Voices for 2021 and was longlisted for the Write Mentor Children’s Novel Award in 2019. She said: "I’ve always wished I could cast magic spells so I was thrilled to be invited to write for this series. Everyone at Storymix has been amazing to work with and I’ve enjoyed mining details from my own childhood and Malaysian Chinese family.”