From DHD – The hunt for the next Harry Potter continues, with London based Working Title (Nanny McPhee, Bridget Jones’ Diary) snapping up the rights to The History Keepers, a children’s novel by Damian Dibben (and the first of a series) that will be published by Random House UK this fall. (US publishing rights are still being auctioned.)
Pitched as “Harry Potter meets Doctor Who,” story follows a boy whose parents have been kidnapped not only to another part of the world but another time completely. Fourteen-year-old Jake Djones must travel backwards and forwards in time from present-day London to 19th century France and 16th century Venice to find his mum and dad.
Book Jacket:
Imagine if you lost your parents – not just in place, but in time. Jake Djones’ mum and dad have gone missing and they could be anywhere in the world – at any time in history. Because the Djones family have an astonishing secret, which for years they’ve managed to keep – even from each other. They belong to the History Keepers: a secret society which travels through the centuries to prevent evil enemies from meddling with History itself. In the quest to find his parents, Jake is whisked from 21st Century London to 19th century France, the headquarters of the mysterious History Keepers, where he discovers the truth about his family’s disappearance – and the dastardly Prince Zeldt’s plan to destroy the world as we know it…
I hope that this is published in the US. It looks really good! (But maybe they will do away with the Justin Bieber hair on the cover!)