TRUCKS On Tour – Fun With TRUCKS!

July 19, 2017July 20, 20177 Comments

Hey, Everyone!

Sun’s up! It’s morning!

Let’s get those diesel engines running!

TRUCKS On Tour is off to a mighty start!

truckbanner

If you have little ones in your life, whether kids, grandkids, students, next-door-neighbors, baby-sittees, nieces, nephews… well, you get the idea, you will definitely not want to miss the first two posts that went up.

Julie at Little Red Story Shed posted a road and truck painting craft she did with her preschoolers that looks totally fun!

And Lynn at Polilla Writes posted a popsicle stick truck you can make at home or at school and involve as much paint, glitter, etc as you want to decorate with!

How fun is that?

Today is here (obviously!) and tomorrow the TRUCKS tour will continue with Lynn at Polilla Writes who has an interview with illustrator Erica Sirotich, and Friday with Angie Karcher at Rhyme Revolution with a Q&A with me plus a giveaway, so you won’t want to miss those either!

(Especially if you’re hoping to qualify for the end-of-tour Special Prize that will be raffled off among people who have commented on every post in the TRUCKS tour! 🙂 )

Today, it is my pleasure to give you a little sneak peek at some TRUCK activities that will be available here on my site any minute now.

A coloring page for the bulldozer enthusiast at your house… (it’s okay if it’s you! 🙂 )

…and a Matching Game (memory cards)!!!

Seriously! Between Julie’s craft and Lynn’s craft and the coloring page and the memory game you can have HOURS of fun! And your little one can too 🙂

Look for these pages available to download soon!

Meanwhile, just to keep things as confusing as possible (it’s important to challenge your brain with puzzle-like complexities in order to stay sharp!), the WHEN YOUR BOOKS tour, though winding down, has not finished yet! And there’s a Special Prize up for grabs there too for someone who has commented on every post.

Here is a list of the posts that have gone up so far so you can conveniently cruise through them:

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

7/5/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With LION – reveal of LION ACTIVITY KIT and LION BOOK TRAILER

7/6/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with Susanna PLUS a Giveaway

7/7/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – LION/ELEPHANT Reviews and Crafts PLUS a Giveaway

7/8/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Will Write For Cookies With Susanna – Picture Book Writing Inspiration

7/9/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With ELEPHANT – reveal of ELEPHANT ACTIVITY KIT

7/10/17 – Julie Abery’s Little Red Story Shed – 3 Posts!
WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES Plus Preschool- Friendly Elephant Ears Recipe!
WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES Plus Preschool Art Activity!
WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH Plus Preschool-Friendly Lion Pancake Recipe!

7/11/17 – PUBLICATION DAY!!! – 2 Posts
Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – ELEPHANT Review Plus Elephant Tightrope GAME
ReFoReMo Post by Keila Dawson – Mentor Text Author Study Susanna Hill

7/13/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with illustrator Daniel Wiseman Plus Giveaway!

7/14/17 – KidLit411 – Interview with Susanna, PLUS LION, ELEPHANT and TRUCK Giveaways

7/18/17 – Writer’s Rumpus – Interview with Susanna

Let’s see if I can at least post the blog tour schedules so you can go search on your own if you’re so inclined!

While we’re on the subject of the WHEN YOUR BOOKS tour, if you’d care to check out the ELEPHANT book trailer, ta da! Here it is!!! Leave a comment to tell us how you liked it and give it a thumbs up if it earns your approval!

I hope you’ll enjoy the Coloring Page and Matching Game and the ELEPHANT Trailer!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone! And don’t forget to share LION & ELEPHANT relevant posts on social media with #whenyourbooks and TRUCKS relevant posts with #trucksontour for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon or Merritt Bookstore (there will be three of each offered!)

Thank you all for being such enthusiastic supporters of these blog tours and all the amazing bloggers who are participating!!! ❤

Trucks On Tour – Kickoff!

July 17, 2017July 17, 201723 Comments

Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into the blogosphere . . .

duhn duhn duhn . . .!

. . .I’ve got another blog tour starting!

I know! The first one isn’t even finished!

I’m sorry!

They’re right on top of each other and overlapping and I know it’s a lot to keep up with!

*hides under the kitchen table*

(Believe me I know! My house hasn’t seen a vacuum in two weeks and my refrigerator is empty except for a wrinkled lemon no one’s been desperate enough to tangle with!)

But the trucks and I would be ever so grateful if you’d journey along the road with us a little ways. They’re VERY cute! And I don’t want them to feel less loved then LION and ELEPHANT! That would be sad 😦

So let’s break out their shiny new blog tour banner, shall we?

truckbanner

Have you ever seen such friendly little trucks?

Er… I mean BIG trucks! MIGHTY trucks! They’re strong! They’re tough! They’re heavy duty! (And they have really nice teeth, don’t they? 🙂 )

Julie is really kicking off the tour over at Little Red Story Shed today. She has a review of the book and a delightful activity she did with her preschoolers. I hope you’ll hop on over and visit her!

We’ve got a great line-up of fun-filled posts – interviews with me and Erica Sirotich (the talented illustrator), activity and coloring page reveals, book reviews and giveaways, games, recipes, crafts, and a book trailer reveal (a little farther into the tour because I haven’t made it yet! 🙂 ) as well as a couple of special prizes!

As with the WHEN YOUR… blog tour, I’m really hoping that the lovely people who are being kind enough to host, especially on this second, overlapping tour where readers will undoubtedly be feeling a little burned out on Susanna Hill blog tours!, will get some visitors for all their kindness and hard work. (Please also bear in mind that with the exception of a couple days in August – I think August 3, 10, and 15 – you’ll get a nice break from me until the around the second week of September… so there’s hope if you can just soldier through the next couple weeks 🙂 )

To make it even more fun, I will once again offer a Special Prize to be raffled off among people who visit and comment on every stop on the tour!

I’d also love the trucks to get their little moment in the social media limelight, so every time you share on Face Book, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #trucksontour you will get an entry in a raffle to be conducted at the close of the tour in which 3 $25 gift certificates to Merritt Bookstore and Toystore will be up for grabs! We can support a wonderful independent bookstore, and you can get your choice of any book on your wishlist and a great selection of high quality toys! (And if a book on your wish list should happen to be one of mine, I can sign it for you 🙂 )

Here’s the schedule so you can plan your summer so as not to miss anything important 🙂

Truck Blog Tour Schedule

(With a million, billion, trillion thanks to Katie Hill for fixing all the formatting issues after I totally screwed it up even though she was tired and sunburned from a long day at work! Love you, sweetie ❤ )

So HERRRHERRRHERRR!

RUMBLEGRUMBLETHRUM!

VRRROOOOM!

VRRROOOOOOOM!

Off we go with TRUCKS ON TOUR!

Don’t forget to share today’s post and Julie’s or any other relevant delightful items – photos, books in the wild sightings, truck-related crafts, activities, games or recipes – with the hashtag #trucksontour! (Credit for that clever hashtag to Julie Abery! Thank you again, Julie!)

Tune in tomorrow for an interview with yours truly at Writer’s Rumpus for the WHEN YOUR BOOKS TOUR, and a book review and craft activity at Lynn’s blog, Polilla Writes, for the TRUCK TOUR.

(Yeah… you can see how this is gonna go… give me about 12 seconds and I’ll be hopelessly confused between the two tours! I’m hoping you guys will be able to keep it all straight! 🙂 )

Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!!! 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday #259 – If Only I Could Be A Cat (PB)

July 12, 2017July 11, 201717 Comments

Happy Wednesday, Folks!

We’re taking a quick breather from the blog tour today for our regularly-scheduled programming 🙂

Given the whirlwind of all that’s going on in this neck of the woods, though, I’m going to be uncharacteristically to the point!

I don’t think anyone will argue that the best way to begin the morning is with Something Chocolate, so let’s! 🙂

No-Bake Chocolate Mousse Cake

Chocolate-Mousse-Cake-Plated-Cravings-5-640x854@2x

Recipe HERE at PlatedCravings

No-Bake Chocolate Mousse Cake is perfect for summer! No baking and the cake stays refrigerated for a nice, cool, chocolatey treat!

YUM!!!!! 🙂

Now then, (and just look how well I’m focusing on the job at hand and not wandering off on tangents! 🙂 ) onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Colleen who says, “I’m a 7th grade Math teacher (with a law degree and once-CPA), proud mother of three daughters – a Veterinarian, a First Lieutenant in the Air Force (CSO/EWO) and a Broadcast Journalist, and lifetime poet still pining to publish. Now that our three daughters are all graduated from college, it is, at last, time to pursue my dream of having my books in the hands of children.”

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: If Only I Could Be A Cat

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 3-8)

The Pitch: “If only I could be a cat like our cat Daisy May!” So the narrator of the story thinks; it would be great to eat, sleep and play all day. Or would it? When she considers what she would be missing – like Mom and Dad’s hugs goodnight, she realizes it may not be so great after all. Follow along with the rhyme and the reasoning in If Only I Could Be a Cat.

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 Colleen 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 Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above. There are openings in July, so you could get your pitch up pretty soon for helpful feedback and a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Colleen is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to continuing the blog tour! Even though Publication Day was yesterday, rest assured that the fun and games continue! 🙂

For your convenience, here’s a handy list of the blog tour stops to date (with helpful links) 🙂

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

7/5/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With LION – reveal of LION ACTIVITY KIT and LION BOOK TRAILER

7/6/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with Susanna PLUS a Giveaway

7/7/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – LION/ELEPHANT Reviews and Crafts PLUS a Giveaway

7/8/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Will Write For Cookies With Susanna – Picture Book Writing Inspiration

7/9/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With ELEPHANT – reveal of ELEPHANT ACTIVITY KIT

I’d hate for you to miss any of the fabulous participating blogs so remember that if you comment on every post, you will earn yourself a chance toward the Special Prize Raffle at the end of the tour! (The goody bag and signed books described on the kickoff post.) And if you share this, or any related post, item, photo, etc. on Social Media with the #whenyourbooks, each share will add to your chances to win Special Prize #2 at the end of the tour! (3 $25 Amazon gift cards up for grabs!)

And be sure to tune in tomorrow for Lynn Davidson’s interview with Daniel Wiseman (illustrator of LION and ELEPHANT) Plus a Giveaway!, and on Friday we will be on the World-Famous Kidlit411 with an interview with yours truly in which you can learn something most people don’t know about me! 🙂

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

(And after all that blog tour talk, don’t forget to let Colleen know what you think of her pitch! 🙂 )

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Fun With ELEPHANT!

July 9, 2017July 8, 201720 Comments

BlogTourBanner

Hi Everyone!

I know.

It’s Sunday!

You’re supposed to get a day off from the computer and laze in bed with the comics.

Oh, wait. That was so last century. Nowadays you laze in bed but require some form of computer to access the comics 🙂

But today is July 9!

Only 2 DAYS until publication day!!!

The blog tour is going along swimmingly – tons of fun at every port! In case you might have missed any along the way, here’s a handy list to date 🙂

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

7/5/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Fun With LION

7/6/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – Interview with Susanna PLUS a Giveaway

7/7/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – LION/ELEPHANT Reviews and Crafts PLUS a Giveaway

7/8/17 – Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar – Will Write For Cookies With Susanna – Picture Book Writing Inspiration

Now, then! Although I can’t exactly offer comics, I do have something almost like a comic for you today!

Are you ready?

It’s Elephant Fun!

Here’s a sneak peek at the ELEPHANT Activity Kit!

Like the LION Activity Kit, it will be up on my website any day now under For Teachers and Parents in the Coloring Pages & Activities section!

Plus you will no doubt be thrilled to know that the ELEPHANT book trailer is possibly finished and will possibly be revealed in the not-too-distant future!!!

And, if all that weren’t enough, if you’d like yet another shot at winning a signed copy of the book, you can hop on over to GoodReads and enter the giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

When Your Elephant Has the Sniffles

by Susanna Leonard Hill

Giveaway ends July 14, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Enjoy your lazy morning in bed visiting the other tour stops (since you have your computer or stand-in for the comics anyway 🙂 ), coloring, and entering the giveaway!

And be sure to continue with us tomorrow at Julie’s Little Red Story Shed where she will teach us to make Elephant Ears and Lion Pancakes… which will come in very useful NEXT Sunday when you’re making breakfast! (Okay. I guess there’s no point in pretending we’re going to wait for Sunday to eat pancakes. Tuesday then… well, okay, tomorrow for dinner 🙂 )

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule

Don’t forget to share this post (or participating bloggers’ posts, or the LION book trailer, or the giveaway, or the book covers, or reviews, or a photo of your child or class reading one of the books, or anything clever and related you think up) using #whenyourbooks! Every time you post with #whenyourbooks you get an entry in the end-of-tour raffle for 3 lucky people to win a $25 Amazon gift card! (Don’t forget the # – which I keep doing and have to go back and edit my posts! – because without it I may miss your post!)

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!!! 🙂

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Fun With LION!

July 5, 2017July 4, 201758 Comments

BlogTourBanner

Hi Everyone!

It’s July 5!

Only 6 days til Publication Day!!!

That’s less than a week!

(I’m just a teensy bit excited… can you tell?! 🙂 )

To keep myself from bouncing off the ceiling, I’ve got something fun to share with you today . . .

When your books go on a blog tour, you’re going to need a little entertainment! After all, there’s only so much “Are we there yet?” you want to endure!

To keep boredom from creeping in on the long trip, you can take side tours to the wonderful sites listed below and visit with the locals 🙂 You might even learn something fun while you’re there! If you comment on every post, you will definitely earn yourself a chance toward the Special Prize Raffle at the end of the tour! (The goody bag and signed books described on the kickoff post.) And if you share this, or any related post, item, photo, etc. on Social Media with the #whenyourbooks, each share will add to your chances to win Special Prize #2 at the end of the tour! (3 $25 Amazon gift cards up for grabs!)

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

After the visits, you’ll probably need a snack! I always recommend a midmorning break for some sustaining chocolate, so help yourself!

Deep-Dish Double-Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

Recipe HERE at RunningWithSpoons

After that delicious and extremely healthful pick-me-up, you’ll probably want to watch a video!

So check out the World Premiere of the WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH Book Trailer! (And if you like it, give it a thumbs up! 🙂 )

Once the video is over, you’ll probably want to watch it again.

And again. . .

. . . and again . . . 🙂

But eventually you’ll want to try something new. And boy do I have something fun! A whole pack of LION activities! Coloring! A maze! A matching game! More coloring!

Here’s a sneak peek!

The activity pages will be on my website soon… but I asked my brilliant web manager to wait to put them up until after today’s reveal.

All that fun coloring will make you wish you had a copy of the book! So hop on over to GoodReads and enter the giveaway for a signed copy!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

When Your Lion Needs a Bath

by Susanna Leonard Hill

Giveaway ends July 14, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Have fun visiting the other tour stops, watching the video, coloring, entering the giveaway, and eating chocolate cookies! And be sure to continue with us tomorrow for an author interview and giveaway at Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes, and on Friday and Saturday at Vivian Kirkfield’s Picture Books Help Kids Soar for reviews, giveaways, and a special Will Write For Cookies episode which you KNOW will include a delicious recipe! 🙂

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Blog Tour Schedule

Don’t forget to share this post (or participating bloggers’ posts, or the book trailer, or the giveaway, or the book covers, or reviews, or a photo of your child or class reading one of the books, or anything clever and related you think up) using #whenyourbooks! Every time you post with #whenyourbooks you get an entry in the end-of-tour raffle for 3 lucky people to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!!! 🙂

When Your Books Go On A Blog Tour – Kickoff!

July 1, 2017July 4, 201765 Comments

It’s July!!!

And you know what THAT means…!

It’s National Lasagna Awareness Month!

(It IS actually – I am not making that up! It also happens to be National Blueberries Month and National Doghouse Repairs Month… so many things appropriate to life on Blueberry Hill! But that is not actually why we are here… 🙂 )

At long last the much-anticipated, eagerly-awaited BOOK BIRTHDAY MONTH has arrived!

I am thrilled beyond measure to introduce you all to WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH and WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES, coming to a bookseller near you on July 11! (to be followed by a third book birthday a couple weeks after…but we’ll get to that later 🙂 )

For now . . .

Woo hoo! Strike up the band! Shower down the confetti! Release the balloons!

It’s time for . . .

BlogTourBanner

Thanks to a group of kind, generous, kidlit-enthusiast bloggers who are absolutely lovely in every way, we have a fun-filled couple of weeks in store for you all, full of interviews with the author (me 🙂 ) and illustrator (the amazing Daniel Wiseman!), book trailer reveals, activity and coloring page reveals, recipes, crafts, and games, articles on different aspects of writing, as well as giveaways and prizes! It’ll be almost like all of you are celebrating your birthdays too! 🙂

Let’s have a look at the line up, shall we?

Blog Tour Schedule

* one small note: Sue of KidLit Reviews may not be able to post.*

I hope you will all join us as we welcome these two brand new books into the world! All the participating bloggers have worked hard to make this fun, and I’d hate for you to miss anything. And I’d love as many people as possible to come visit!

So I am offering two special prizes to be awarded after the close of this blog tour.

One prize will be given to a randomly-selected person who visits and comments on every single post in the blog tour! All 19 listed here! (18 if Sue is unable to post.)

That special prize will be personalized signed copies of WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH and WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES, a “goody bag” containing items relating to both books – stickers, bookmarks, orange-scented kid-friendly lion soap, an elephant memory game, lion bubbles…plus a couple surprises! (and I’m not saying there will be chocolate, but if you’ve spent any time around this blog at all you should know that’s a distinct possibility…) :), PLUS your choice of any one of my other books personalized and signed.

The other prize will be given for sharing on social media. The hashtag we are using to promote the books is #whenyourbooks. Every time you share a post on Face Book, Twitter or Instagram using #whenyourbooks you will get an entry into a raffle where 3 winners will each get a $25 Amazon gift card.

Did you read a blog post you thought was so great all your friends should read it too? Share it with #whenyourbooks

Do you have a photo of a child reading WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH or WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES? Share it with #whenyourbooks

Did you try an activity, craft or recipe that was included in one of the posts with your child or class? Or one you thought up related to these books? Share the results and/or a photo with #whenyourbooks

Live video footage of you bathing a lion? 🙂 Definitely share THAT with #whenyourbooks 🙂

Although the tour ends on August 3, I’ll give you a couple days to comment on that last post, and announce the winners on Monday August 7.

So, are you ready to join the high jinx and shenanigans?

Comment below to start your eligibility for prize #1, and share today’s post with #whenyourbooks to start earning points toward prize #2! Then tune in to Frog On A Blog tomorrow, when Lauri Fortino will have a guest article from yours truly on writing a series!

Let’s get this blog tour underway! 🙂

illustration copyright (C) Daniel Wiseman 2017

P.S. Since the Blog Tour Schedule is a photoshop-made graphic that can’t have live links (plus when I made it none of the posts were actually posted yet so no one had urls) I will list the links to the ones that have gone up below for your convenience.

7/1/17 – Susanna Leonard Hill – Blog Tour Kickoff – well, you’re already here 🙂

7/2/17 – Lauri Fortinos’s Frog On A Blog – Guest Post on Writing A Series PLUS a Giveaway!

7/3/17 – Jena Benton’s Of Tea And Mermaids Blog – Simply 7 Interviews with Susanna & Daniel PLUS a Giveaway!

7/4/17 – Lynn Davidson’s Polilla Writes Blog – LION book review and GAME

Would You Read It Wednesday #258 – The Snugglebeast And The Spotty Sock (PB) PLUS Straight From The Editor

June 28, 2017June 27, 201711 Comments

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday!

I am having so much fun this week! Crazy and busy, but totally fun! My new books are about to launch, and the swag and activity pages and blog tour and book trailers, etc. are all starting to come together and I can’t wait to share everything with you! I am so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such talented illustrators! And so lucky to have the support of so many wonderful, generous kidlit bloggers as well as lovely people who have agreed to read the books and consider reviewing them! I hope you’re going to enjoy it all as much as I do. I think there’s a not-so-subtle reason I’m drawn to writing for the picture book age… I may well still be there myself! 🙂

It’s all going to kick off here on July 1, good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise! I’m a little afraid of how close that date is when I think of everything I still have to do! But for now, let’s focus on Would You Read It! 🙂

First, we have Straight From The Editor for May! You will recall winner Cortney’s pitch for Olive Hills (PB ages 3-6):

Elle’s mind drifts through an olive grove as she tries to keep memories of her grandma alive. She surprisingly finds herself with a familiar, yet forgetful brontosaurus. The two set out to retrace their footprints in hope to relive fading memories. When they reach the giant tree where Elle’s grandma used to sit and reflect, they discover love ones will always be with you no matter where they are.

Here are Erin’s thoughts:

This sounds like it could be a lovely picture book but I’m getting stuck on the brontosaurus. How is he familiar… and forgetful? Dinosaurs and death are pretty disparate concepts for kids age 3-6 and you need to somehow clarify that link in this pitch.

As always, I find Erin’s comments very illuminating! I hope they’re helpful to you too – and to Cortney as she continues to perfect this manuscript and pitch!

Now then, burning the candle at both ends as I am, I feel in need of Something Chocolate right this minute! What should we have today?

You know I’m nothing if not health-conscious… 🙂 so how about a little Death By Chocolate Zucchini Bread?! (Note the ZUCCHINI in the title…like I said, health food 🙂 )

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD

Recipe HERE at theviewfromgreatisland

Death-by-Chocolate-Zucchini-Bread-Recipe

Recipe HERE at theviewfromgreatisland

Also, I hope you noticed that it is clearly called “bread”, not “cake”, so again with the health benefits and it is perfectly okay to eat it for breakfast! 🙂

YUM!!!!!

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Katy who says, “I’m a Design Director who does branding and packaging design the north of the UK and am very much an early stages writer. Because of my creative job I love to have an outlet for my other ideas and like to sketch, illustrate and create story’s and picture books amusing children’s characters that are usually based on animals.”

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: The Snugglebeast And The Spotty Sock

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 3-7)

The Pitch:

Have you ever stopped to ponder,
where all your lost socks go.
Where on Earth could they possibly wander?

You know the ones I mean,
your best socks, the very favourite kind
Where do they end up?
We seek them out, but we never can find?

Discover the world of a tiny, secretive, sneaky little creature, who adventures out at night in the night in a plot to steal your socks.

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 Katy 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 Would You Read it in the dropdown under For Writers in the bar above. There are openings in July, so you could get your pitch up pretty soon for for helpful feedback and have a chance to have it read and commented on by editor Erin Molta!

Katy is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to getting everything done so we can all start off on this crazy, wonderful book launch blog tour!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

Would You Read It Wednesday #257 – Little Medusa’s Hair Do-Lemma (PB) PLUS The May Pitch Winner!!!

June 21, 2017June 27, 201720 Comments

Hi Everyone!

So glad you could make it 🙂

Actually, I’m glad I could make it! I’ve been so busy this week I almost forgot it was Wednesday!

I am busy planning the launch of WHEN YOUR LION NEEDS A BATH, WHEN YOUR ELEPHANT HAS THE SNIFFLES and THE ROAD THAT TRUCKS BUILT. A fun-filled blog tour is in the making and I hope you’ll all join the high jinx and shenanigans!

But for now, it’s a regular Wednesday so let’s jump right in, shall we?

First of all, the winner of the May Pitch Pick was Cortney with her PB pitch for Olive Hills! Congratulations, Cortney! Your pitch is on its way to editor Erin Molta for her thoughts!!!

Congratulations also to our other pitchers who worked hard to write and revise their pitches and bravely put them up for all of us to learn from. I hope it was a helpful experience. And I have to say, this particular group had about the closest voting results I’ve ever seen on WYRI, so you must all have done an unusually good job!!!

Since summer is officially here, and cherries are in season and go so well with chocolate, how about some Triple Chocolate Cherry Cake for our Something Chocolate this morning?

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHERRY CAKE

Recipe HERE at Averie Cooks

Delicious AND nutritious!!! (I mean, it has cherries in it! That’s fruit! 🙂 )

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Jenny who says, “I graduated from Making Picture Book Magic in 2015 with an advanced degree in Kidlit and honors in Chocolate Appreciation. I’m an active participant in the 12 x 12 community and a member of SCBWI. While I regularly write non-fiction for Cricket Media, I’m chasing the dream of becoming a published picture book author. Every line, every draft, is one step closer to success!”

Find her on Twitter @Yangmommy

Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Little Medusa’s Hair Do-Lemma

Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 3-6)

The Pitch: Little Medusa loves everything about snakes–just as long as they’re not slithering and sliding through her hair! She’s tangled up in knots trying to follow tradition. Using her imagination and heart, Little Medusa tries her best to please her family, her snake and herself.

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 Jenny 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.)

Jenny is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to continuing work on the upcoming blog tour because I want it to be really special for you all!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! 🙂

Monday Funday Short & Sweet – June

June 19, 2017June 19, 201715 Comments

It’s the third Monday of the month, and you know what that means!

Well, no, not donuts… although that is a good guess and given the “sweet” in today’s activity maybe we should have donuts…

So, ok, donuts:

dark chocolate creme donut

But what I was actually referring to, you incorrigible donut hounds 🙂 , is Monday Funday Short & Sweets!

SS Spring Badge Susanna Hill - Final Small

badge created by Loni Edwards

Nothing like a little warm-up writing fun to kick off the day and the week, don’t you think? Who knows what great story idea we might spark from this!

So.

Today’s Short & Sweet will work best if you don’t peek. I’m not quite sure how to accomplish that on a blog post, so let’s go on the honor system – no scrolling down yet!

First, pick a number from 1 – 10. Got it? Write it down.

Now pick a number from 1 – 10 again and write that down.

Now do it again.

And now one last time.

(BTW, it’s okay if you pick the same number more than once. If you want to make it really random you can roll a pair of dice and just discard any 11s or 12s you get. Or take an Ace through 10 out of a deck of cards and randomly choose cards to see what numbers you get.)

Hopefully you now have 4 numbers between 1 and 10 written down. (For example, I have 5, 9, 3, and 2.)

Now. Use your first number to select from this list:

Character:

a boy who comes from the Land of Nod
a guinea pig who always carries a lucky penny
a princess who is mischievous
a knight who hates to get wet
a dinosaur who is forgetful
a king who loves licorice
a witch who loves to whistle
a monster who is shy
a robot who is to curious
a cowboy who loves bugs

Use your second number to select from this list:

Setting:

outer space
a birthday party
the shore of Lake Chaubunagungamaug
a city sidewalk
the edge of a meadow
zoo
the soda fountain
lighthouse
circus
campsite

Use your third number to select from this list:

Time:

nap time
June twilight
just after losing first tooth
during a blizzard
snack time
after losing the big game
first light of morning
the day before Halloween
the first really hot day of summer
moments before the school play

Use your last number to select from this list:

Situation/Challenge:

someone’s feelings have been hurt
someone is having a bad day
someone had a fight with a friend
someone is stuck or trapped somewhere
someone is lonely
someone can’t climb to the treehouse
someone wishes s/he were bigger
someone is moving away
someone is being chased by an animal
someone broke his/her big toe

You should now have a randomly selected character, setting, time, and situation/challenge – everything you need to prompt a story!

In the comments below, list the 4 you got and write 50-100 words of whatever story they suggest to you! Don’t agonize! Don’t over-think! We’re all among friends. Just write! All we’re doing here is priming the pump. If all you can squeeze out is 50 rusty words, that’s fine! You wrote 50 words in the middle of your hectic, busy day! But maybe, just maybe, 25-50 more will trickle out a little less rusty, and maybe after you’ve written your 50-100 here you’ll find you’ve got a gush of clear water rushing forth and a whole new story will well up and land on your list of accomplishments for today!

Oh, and if you find it’s too hard to include all 4, it’s okay to just use 1, 2, or 3 of the prompts you picked – the exercise is just to get ideas and words flowing 🙂

Here’s my example in case you don’t quite get it:
The numbers I chose were 5, 9, 3, and 2, so I get

Character #5 – a dinosaur who is forgetful
Setting #9 – circus
Time #3 – just after losing first tooth
and Situation/Challenge #2 – someone is having a bad day

Given these prompts, I might write the following 50-100 words:

So far, Reinhold was not having a good day.

He was last to the breakfast table so all the Frosted Flakes were gone.

His favorite blue-sequined tight-rope walking outfit was in the wash, so he had to go to practice wearing the stupid red and green striped one that made him look like a triceratops-shaped elf.

Worst of all (and the reason he had been late to breakfast) he had lost his first tooth.

This should have been a good thing. He had been looking forward to this moment for months, ever since Jiminy had lost his first tooth…and then Alvin…and then Sparky.

He had begun to worry that maybe his baby teeth were going to stick in there forever. Maybe he’d never lose a tooth!

But now he had.

And he hadn’t just lost it. He had LOST it.

Tonight the Tooth Fairy would come to the rainbow-colored circus tent where Reinhold was supposed to be sleeping soundly.

She would look under his pillow for his first baby triceratop tooth.

And she would find . . .

NOTHING!

Because Reinhold could not remember where he had put it!

Okay. So I went a little over with 188 words 🙂 But I hope you’ll get carried away too!

See how easy?

Ready, Set, WRITE!!!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Have a marvelous Monday, everyone!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – The Summer Nick Taught His Cats To Read

June 16, 2017June 15, 201715 Comments

Look at this, dearies!

Summer has arrived! I know this because the mountain laurel is out.

So it’s time for a Perfect Picture Book hiatus.

I always feel a little sad to put PPBF on hold for the summer 😦 But summer is a busy time for all of us – hard to keep up with reading and writing blog posts – and I always have grand ambitions of getting lots of other stuff done…

Just because I haven’t managed before doesn’t mean it can’t happen this year! 🙂

We will still be here for Would You Read It Wednesdays, Oh Susanna on the first Monday of the month and Short & Sweets on the third Monday of the month, and there are going to be a couple of VERY exciting blog tours coming up (starring your friends and mine, LION, ELEPHANT, and TRUCKS) as my three new books step out into the world.

So don’t worry!

There will still be plenty of fun (and chocolate!) around here! 🙂

And as we head into summer, I have the perfect Perfect Picture Book to share with you!

Nick Cats

Title: The Summer Nick Taught His Cats To Read

Written By: Curtis Manley

Illustrated By: Kate Berube

A Paula Wiseman Book (Simon & Schuster), July 2016, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: reading, perseverance, creativity, imagination

Opening: “Nick had two cats, Verne and Stevenson.
They spent summers doing everything together.
But when Nick sat down with a book, the cats had their own ideas.”

Brief Synopsis: Nick loves to read. His cats do not. Every time Nick opens a book, Verne sprawls across the pages and Stevenson sits on a stack of books scowling and cleaning his paw. So naturally, Nick decides to share his love of reading with them by teaching them how. Verne is amenable and learns quickly. Stevenson shows all the behaviors of a reluctant reader…until Nick finds just the right way to pique his interest.

Links To Resources: read as many books as you can this summer! Keep a list to show your progress! Put a star or a sticker beside your favorite titles. Swap one of your favorite books with one of a friend’s favorites and see if you like the same kind of books or if your friend’s tastes introduce you to something new! Make your own book club. Give it a name! Choose a time and a place and a snack for meetings 🙂 Talk about the books your read with your friends. Enjoy reading!

Why I Like This Book: Curtis is a likable boy with a genuine and infectious love of reading as well as obvious love for his two cats. I love the silliness of the concept of teaching cats to read…and the fact that they learn 🙂 Verne is an easy-going amenable type who learns quickly and embraces reading as Nick does. Stevenson, however, is a challenge – one that any reluctant reader will identify with. But it turns out that Stevenson is an artist! Nick turns Stevenson’s art into a story about Stevenson…and suddenly reading seems a little more interesting… 🙂 The story is imaginative and fun. The art is cozy and warm. This is a delightful book that budding readers, writers, artists…and cat lovers :)…will love.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

See you on Monday for Short & Sweets (assuming, of course, that I can think up something fun for you…! 🙂 )

Oh! And Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!!! 🙂