Acquisition Announcement: NOT My Superpower, a brilliantly funny middle grade series by Nathanael Lessore

Posted in Acquisition Announcement, News on Wed, 24 April at 10.01 am

Little Tiger has acquired Nathanael Lessore’s brilliantly funny young middle grade series, NOT My Superpower, illustrated by Simran Singh.

Senior Commissioning Editor Mattie Whitehead has acquired Nathanael Lessore’s NOT My Superpower series. The deal for world all language rights in two books was struck with Clare Wallace at Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency. Whitehead will be editing alongside Karelle Tobias, Junior Editor.

Charlie Moyler, Art Director, acquired illustrations by Simran Singh from Davinia Andrew-Lynch at Curtis Brown, and Kat Cassidy, Junior Designer, will be designing the books.

Controlling the wind, smelling fear, farting colours… The people of Walsham can do it all! The WHOLE TOWN has been granted powers by a mysterious treasure, except for Sara. She can’t even levitate a squirrel!

But the school football trophy (and her best friend Georgie’s lucky charm) has been stolen, and powers or no powers, it’s up to her to find it and catch the criminal. And who knows – maybe Sara will discover her super skills in the process… (She certainly hopes she will!).

Mattie Whitehead and Karelle Tobias said:

Anyone who has read Nate’s books or has met him will know that his humour is next level. That humour combined with great characters, a twisty mystery and a dollop of silly superpowers makes this series an absolute treat. We’ve loved and laughed working on the series with Nate and we can’t wait for readers to meet Sara and her friends (and nemeses…) and discover their own superpowers.

Nathanael Lessore said:

Having grown up as the biggest superhero nerd, consuming anything DC or Marvel, it’s a dream come true to write my own superhero story with such a talented and thoughtful publisher behind me. My editors are just as playful and whacky with the ideas as I am, and Simran’s illustrations bring the characters and the world to life in a spectacularly fun way! Sara and her friends prove that being a hero is about more than just wearing a cape, and friendship is more effective than any superpower. 

Simran Singh said:

I’m so excited to work on this project and CAN’T WAIT ’til its release. I’ve loved designing the characters so far and I’m so looking forward to illustrating all their goofy scenes!

Little Tiger will be publishing Solving Crime is NOT my Superpower in March 2025, with book two, Time Travel is NOT my Superpower, to follow in Autumn 2025.

Nathanael Lessore was born in Camberwell, South East London, as one of eight children to French and Madagascan parents. Although he spent most of his life in Peckham, Nathanael has also lived in Paris, Strasbourg, and Singapore. Nathanael became a Marketing Executive after graduating from the University of East London, believing at the time that a Creative Writing degree destined him for a career in marketing. His debut Steady For This published in 2023 and is currently longlisted for the Branford Boase and Jhalak Prize, and shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing. Writing it gave him the opportunity to show his Southeast London childhood as the funny, warm, adventurous world that wasn’t always represented as such.

Author social media handles

Twitter/X: @NateLessore

Simran Singh is an illustrator and character designer based in East London. She has always been in awe of everything creative, especially when it comes to world-building and bringing characters to life!