Aussie author Aaron Blabey (pictured) and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group have struck an eight-figure deal for a pair of new middle-grade book series.  

First off the printing press in fall 2026 will be Game of Pets, which is best described as The Truman Show meets The Secret Life of Pets. This premise explores the idea of life actually being a board game that’s played by giant animals (whose in-game avatars are domesticated pets). Blabey is also working on The Awfuls, a series starring a kid who discovers a “passive-aggressive” weapon that has the power to make enemies feel bad about themselves.

All told, seven titles from these two book series will be published by Macmillan Children’s in the UK and Australia, and by the publisher’s Odd Dot imprint in the US.

A bestselling author with roughly 55 million copies currently in the market, Blabey is also well-versed in executive producing successful screen adaptations of his own work. His graphic novel series The Bad Guys was turned into a hit DreamWorks Animation film that made US$250 million at the box office in 2022, with a sequel due out this year. And his picture book series Thelma the Unicorn became a same-name 2024 Netflix movie that generated 16.3 million views in the latter half of the year.

Looking to tap into this track record, Macmillan is already working with brand management company Foundation Media Partners (which produced The Bad Guys and Thelma the Unicorn) to develop and produce a movie franchise based on Game of Pets. 

This news comes just a month after Foundation and Macmillan struck a deal to establish a new book unit (Foundation Books) to publish and eventually adapt titles with high screen potential.

Foundation has been really ramping up on book-to-movie translations of late, with a film adaptation of tween-targeted book series Wolf Girl in the pipeline, as well as a first-look deal with Simon & Schuster to mine its kidlit catalogue.

Image credit: Rahkela Nardella