Macmillan Children’s wins five-way auction for Dougie Poynter’s non-fiction

Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) has won a five-way auction for non-fiction titles from McFly bassist Dougie Poynter.

The deal was brokered by MCB's editorial director of 6+ Gaby Morgan with Curtis Brown literary agent Stephanie Thwaites. Macmillan has acquired world rights in a two book deal. 

The first book in the deal, Plastic Sucks! You Can Make A Difference, will be published on 5th September 2019. 

MCB said the title is an “accessible call-to-action, packed with easy-to-follow steps and infographics to help young people ditch single-use plastic by making small changes in their everyday lives.” It will also cover the history of plastic as well as feature interviews with Poynter’s “environmental heroes”. 

The non-fiction title is Poynter’s first solo-authored project. Along with bandmate Tom Fletcher, Poynter is behind the bestselling picture book series The Dinosaur That Pooped (Penguin Random House). Illustrated by Garry Parsons, the series has sold more than one million copies, according to MCB. 

The author, who was the 2011 winner of TV show ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!’, said: “Conservation has been a huge part of my life since I first learnt about deforestation at school. The problem that I instantly found with being educated about something like that is that there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world with my band and some of the sights we have seen were heart-breaking. The planet is an absolute mess and needs a big old clean up. I’ve been working with the WWF for about six years now, initially with Mountain Gorillas and I have since been focussing my attention on the oceans, plastic and recycling.

“After a lot of research and campaigning to get harmful products banned, I learnt that the most impactful thing we could do was educate the next generation. I really believe we can get the earth back on track. What I plan to do with the book is to debunk a lot of rumours that may be out there and offer positive solutions. I am very excited to be working with Macmillan and to be joining forces, to get everyone involved in our effort to make a difference to the planet.”

Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, publisher of MCB, said: “We believe Plastic Sucks! You Can Make A Difference is a must-have book with an incredibly timely message. We are absolutely thrilled to have Dougie on board to make this positive call-to-action project happen. It carries issues very close to his heart and ours.”

Gaby Morgan, editorial director, added: “We are so pleased to welcome Dougie to the Macmillan Children’s Books list. He is a lifelong supporter of environmental causes and we are delighted to join him on his mission to encourage people to take action to help save the planet – one small warrior at a time!”