Would You Read It Wednesday – The 50th Pitch! and Straight From The Editor #10

Grab your Something Chocolate and bring it and your computer out to the hammock so you can relax and enjoy today’s Would You Read It extravaganza (which simply means that, due to trying to stuff in extra posts and features around the edges, I’m lumping June’s Straight From The Editor in with today’s pitch :))

Yes, this is my yard – a little blurry because I tried to enlarge the hammock view.
Anyone who doesn’t have a hammock is invited to use mine – it’s just hanging around doing nothing 🙂

(Apologies to those of you with desktops – they’re a little harder to take out to the hammock – but I’m sure you’re resourceful :))

Anyhoo…  you will recall that the winner of the June pitch pick was Lori with her pitch for These Little Piggies.  Here is the original:

Working Title:  These Little Piggies
Age/Genre: Rhyming Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  In this Mother Goose mash-up, five little piggies are living happily in a shoe until a callous old woman forces her way in and turns their lives head over tails.  The piggies decide to set a trap for the old woman so, the first little piggy goes to market… the second little piggy stays home…  Will they succeed in giving the old coot the boot?

and here are Erin’s comments:

This is very cute! The one thing that worries me is the phrase “set a trap”. Seems too threatening. I think that, at least for the pitch, you should say, “the piggies decide to do something about her”?

You guys are getting good at this!  Erin hasn’t had a whole lot to say the last couple times 🙂

So, onto today’s pitch, which comes to us from the lovely Dana.  Dana is an illustrator/author from Michigan who revels in sketching, painting, and creating new worlds. She is currently working on the illustrations of a PB manuscript that she has also written called “CJ’s Tiger”.  Please visit her Website (which contains a link to her blog!)  (And really, I just have to insert here that her art is SO engaging!  I highly recommend a look!)  And you will be pleased to know that her pitch is for the very book she mentioned she is illustrating!

Working Title:  CJ’s Tiger
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch:  CJ thinks that it would be a great to have a tiger for a pet (even if his parents don’t agree). So CJ is thrilled when he awakens the next day to find that his cat “Tiger” has transformed into a real tiger! But he soon learns that having a pet tiger is a lot harder than he imagined when the day turns into one big cat-astrophe!

So what do you think?  Would You Read It?  YES, MAYBE or NO?

If your answer is YES, please feel free to tell us what you particularly liked and why the pitch piqued your interest.  If your answer is MAYBE or NO, please feel free to tell us what you think could be better in the spirit of helping Dana improve her pitch.  Helpful examples of possible alternate wordings are welcome.  (However, I must ask that comments be constructive and respectful.  I reserve the right not to publish comments that are mean because that is not what this is about.)
Please send YOUR pitches for the coming weeks!  For rules and where to submit, click on this link Would You Read It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above.  There are openings in August, which is not very far away at all at this point, so we could really use some new pitches!!
Dana is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch!  Just so y’all know, she is at work and, being a responsible type, can’t respond to comments until later when she’s on her own time, but SHE WILL BE HERE as soon as she can 🙂

Have a great day!  If you see someone looking lost in North Carolina, that will be me 🙂

86 thoughts on “Would You Read It Wednesday – The 50th Pitch! and Straight From The Editor #10”

  3. Dana Atnip says:
    Reply

    Thank you again Susanna for posting my pitch and for the very kind words about my artwork and website! This was a lot of fun and VERY helpful! And I love the hammock too; there are definitely pros to laptops over desktops! 🙂

  4. Reena Jacobs says:
    Reply

    I'd read this, and I think my 5 year-old son would love it. He has a stuffed kitty which has been loved to the point of being flimsy and clumpy. haha When Kitty is in the wash or left behind (like yesterday at Grandpa's house), he pulls out Kitty's Best Friend (that's his official name), who happens to be a stuffed tiger.

    I love Tina Cho's suggestion about tightening the blurb a bit by eliminating some verbiage.

    Wishing you much luck getting this one published. If it were on the shelves, I'd buy it for my son today.

  6. Emily Marshall says:
    Reply

    I would read it, but I have to say I'm not too fond of the title. It doesn't seem to sound as funny as the book sounds. I think you might have an answer though, since everyone likes the “Cat-astrophe” word. It might make a cuter title.

  10. Susanna Leonard Hill says:
    Reply

    Hi Leigh! Thanks for your comment for Dana! And no, your ms doesn't have to be finished – this is only for pitches, so only the pitch has to be done 🙂 I've got openings in September….. 🙂

  19. Susanna Leonard Hill says:
    Reply

    That WAS me, Robyn! You should have stopped and told me where I was 🙂 Thank you for your excellent comment for Dana, and enjoy the hammock – wish I was in it right now instead of by the side of the road looking blank 🙂

  21. Susanna Leonard Hill says:
    Reply

    Thanks for your comments for Dana, Tracy. And yes, isn't her artwork fabulous?!

    Tracy Campbell wrote, in response to Dana:

    I don't really have anything to add to the comments as everyone's got your back covered. Love your artwork! And I'd read your book.

    User's website
    Link to comment
    IP address: 24.138.105.219

  27. Susanna Leonard Hill says:
    Reply

    Thanks, Lori! We are lucky – I love our yard! If only that generator you can see by the house actually worked… maybe we should take it away since it doesn't 🙂

    Lori Degman wrote, in response to Tina Cho:

    I agree with Tina – it would be better without the parents! I also agree – beautiful yard!!

    Link to comment
    IP address: 76.245.198.181

  32. Susanna Leonard Hill says:
    Reply

    Thanks for you very helpful comment for Dana, Tina! And for the compliments on my yard 🙂 As for writing in the hammock, it depends on how exactly you define “writing” – I do a fair amount of thinking with my eyes closed – prewriting if you will – which many confuse with napping 🙂

  35. Dana Atnip says:
    Reply

    Sorry for the late reply; there are a couple of comments that I somehow missed! Thank you Lori for your comment; I agree about leaving the parents out! 🙂

  36. Dana Atnip says:
    Reply

    Sorry Emily for the late reply…thank you for your comment! The title is definitely not set in stone, I appreciate your view on this! 🙂

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