(It’s also National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day – very kid-friendly, but maybe not great to mix with books :))
I’m happy to report that it is officially April here on Blueberry Hill… probably wherever you are too 🙂
It is a well-known fact that April is the best month of the year, due to April Fool, Phyllis (and also April Fools Day :)), Earth Day, Arbor Day, usually Easter (which I know is not technically about chocolate but still…), Blah Blah Blah Day (which we certainly couldn’t do without!), the fact that it is National Welding Month (and you all know what a big part of my life welding is… not :)) and the celebrity birthdays of certain pretty-much-famous people who shall remain nameless 🙂
Plus, it has such a pretty sound. April. So pleasing to the ear.
Really. What’s not to love about April? 🙂
But let’s hearken back to the bygone days of February and March for one second.
Due to the March Madness Writing Contest preempting WYRI last week, I didn’t get to announce the winner of the February Pitch Pick, so. . .
prup prup-pr prup-prup pr prup!
(that was a trumpet call in case you didn’t quite catch it)
. . . the February Pitch Pick Winner was Kristine with her pitch for The STEM Girls Take Off! Congratulations, Kristine! Your pitch has been sent to editor Erin Molta for her thoughts, and I’m sure you will hear from her shortly 🙂
Congratulations also to our other brave pitchers, all of whom had wonderful story ideas and well-written pitches! Good luck to all of you with your stories!
Now. How about Something Chocolate? These are festive and spring-like and practically totally healthy since they are mostly strawberry and only part chocolate 🙂
Help yourselves 🙂
Today’s pitch comes to us from Frances, who says, “I began writing children’s stories many, many years ago, but I got sidetracked by needing to make a living! Now that my son has started college, I feel I have the time to devote myself to my passion for children’s literature once again. I have an MFA in Creative Writing, and I have been writing and editing professionally for about 30 years. I currently work as a freelance editor and am a member of SCBWI, Children’s Books Insider, and Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 Forum.”
Here is her pitch:
Working Title: Dead Trees Don’t Need Water Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8) The Pitch: Peter wants to be friends with Asbury the tree, but when he finds out that Asbury will be cut down, he comes up with a plan to save Asbury. In the process Peter discovers a very special gift that he and Asbury can share forever.
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 Frances 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 Itor on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above. There are openings in July so you’ve got a little time to polish up your pitches and send yours for your chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Frances is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to all the awesomeness that is April! I expect robins on my lawn and hyacinth blossoms beside the mudroom porch any second now! (Not because it’s likely, just because I’m ready :))
It’s because I’m about to launch a new hare-brained scheme and you guys are all going to get to be part of it!
(And no, just because it’s April 1st and we just had a contest, this is NOT an April Fool. I just couldn’t add this to yesterday’s Winner Celebration Post or tomorrow’s WYRI!)
I’ve been thinking for a while that children’s authors get all the fun. Contests and prizes and being able to claim top finishes in Pretty Much World Famous Writing Contests. . .
It isn’t entirely fair.
In the world of picture books, authors are only half the story.
We couldn’t do what we do without our illustrators!
I think it’s high time to let the illustrators have some fun and a contest and prizes and be able to claim top finishes in a Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest!
the fact that this particular illustrator resembles a female is in no way meant to deter any male illustrators! 🙂
The Contest: Draw/Paint a children’s picture book cover illustration (no text required – art only) for one of the following stories (which you will recognize as the top finishers in the March Madness Fractured Fairy Tale Writing Contest – a little extra surprise for those authors :)):
– The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff by Wendy Greenley
– Goldilockup by Mike Allegra
– Goldibawks And The Three Pairs by Dawn Young
– The Sweetie Witch by Pen Avey
– The Princess And The Stinky Cheese by Lauri Meyers
– Mongoose’s Holi Party by Darshana Khiani
– The “Princess” And The Pete by Jennifer Caritas
– The Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster by Elliah Terry
Illustrations should be 8×10, horizontal or vertical, any medium, posted in jpg at least 72 px
All stories can be read on the March Madness Finalist PostHERE so you will know what to illustrate 🙂
Post: Your entry should be posted on your blog between Thursday April 24 at 5 AM EDT and Monday April 28 at 9 PM EDT, and your post-specific link should be added to the link list on my Thursday April 24 post which will remain up through Tuesday April 29 so that people can come visit and enjoy your gorgeous artwork! (No PPBF on Friday April 25, no new post on Monday April 28, but there will be a brief interruption for WYRI on Wednesday April 30 because I forgot to leave it open for the contest :)). If you don’t have a blog but would like to enter, please copy and paste your entry into the comments of my April 24 post. (If anyone has trouble commenting, which unfortunately happens, you may email me and I’ll post your entry for you! Also, since this is the first time we’ve done an illustration contest, I’m not sure if you actually CAN paste your entry into the comments. If this turns out to be the case, email them to me and I’ll add them directly to my April 24 post.)
Judging: entries will be judged by multi-talented, award-winning author/illustrators Iza Trapani, author and illustrator of over 20 gorgeous picture books, and Lisa Thiesing, author and illustrator of at least 16 beautiful and fun picture books and early readers! Judging criteria to include:
– is the picture readable to a young audience,
– how well does it show the character(s) and
– is the character(s) appealing (character development),
– does it make you want to read the story,
– originality
– skill.
They will narrow down the entrants to 6 finalists (or possibly a couple more or less depending on the number of entries :)) which will be posted here on Thursday May 1 for you to vote on for a winner. The vote will be closed at 5PM EST on Sunday May 4 and the winner will be announced on Monday May 5. (No PPBF on Friday May 2.)
The Prizes!: There will definitely be a 1st prize. Whether we give prizes for 1st only, 1st-3rd, or 1st-6th will depend on how many entries we get. First Prize is absolutely amazing! A portfolio critique by celebrated author/illustrator Michael Garland, who has over 20 picture books to his credit!!!
Illustrators, we can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for us!
Everyone else (authors, parents, teachers, librarians, farm equipment retailers, etc. :)) think how much fun it’s going to be so see what the illustrators come up with!
That was the closest, most hotly contested race for a winner we’ve ever had!
I hope that means that my assistant judges and I made good choices for the finalists! 🙂
TheMarch MadnessWritingContest!
I admit it – I get all the fun. Sitting in the judge’s chair, watching the votes come in, seeing first one person and then another in the lead, biting my nails when there are ties, waiting on pins and needles to see who will emerge victorious….
Normally I’d string you along and tease you for a while, but I’m too wiped out by this whole roller-coaster process.
Truly, it is not for the faint of heart.
Up one minute, down the next. Nerves stretched like bow strings.
A person less physically fit than myself (haha snort! – can’t say THAT with a straight face after this winter :)) might suffer palpitations!
And speaking of palpitations, I had them aplenty when her royal highness, Miss Scouty Brown, came sauntering back in the house this morning having found something dreadful to roll in! “What is that SMELL???!!!” all the children shrieked!
Fortunately, we are in the midst of a small flood which, aside from making the basement a delightful place for canoeing, means that there is a lot of water outside. Scouty was able to enjoy her first swim of the year… twice… with the fortuitous result that she returned from our walk refreshed and smelling mostly like wet dog instead of Something Yucky.
But wait.
What were we talking about?
Oh yes!
The contest!
So, who won?
Oh! I’m supposed to tell you!
🙂
Okay.
Seriously.
I’m really going to tell.
We had 75 fantastic entries, which we winnowed down by hook or by crook, to the best of our ability, to 10 fabulous finalists.
Y’all voted for your favorites.
And the winner of the 2014 March Madness Writing Contest, who gets to send the picture book manuscript of her choice to none other than the renowned children’s literary agent, Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary is. . .
Congratulations on a wonderful story, Wendy! I think it’s clear that a LOT of people really enjoyed it! 🙂
Now, I wasn’t kidding when I said this contest was hotly contested. I kept asking for votes this weekend, hoping the ties would get broken, but not all of them did.
So, for 2nd place we had a tie between
Mike Allegra
with the fantabulous Goldilockup!
and
Dawn Young
with the hilarious Goldibawks!
Congratulations Mike and Dawn, on two terrific and very different twists on Goldilocks! Lori and Cori have generously agreed to each give a critique instead of just one or the other, so you will each get a picture book critique by a fantastic author!
In 3rd place, guess what? Another tie! This time between
Pen Avey
with her delicious Sweetie Witch
and
Lauri Meyers
with her daring Princess And The Stinky Cheese!
Congratulations, Pen and Lauri! I will prevail upon Corey to tire her signing hand by signing copies of her books for both of you! 🙂 And you may email me about your gift cards.
4th place goes to
Darshana Khiani
with her delightful Mongoose’s Holi Party!
Congratulations, Darshana, on a truly original tale! You may choose the two picture books you’d like from the prize list. (I’ll tack it on the bottom of the post for easy reference :)) And email me about your gift card.
In 5th place,
Jennifer Caritas (hope I’ve got that right…!)
with another forthright heroine in The “Princess” And The Pete!
Congratulations on a terrific story, Jennifer! You may also choose the two picture books you’d like from the prize list below and email me about your gift card.
And in 6th place,
Elliah Terry
with her fun southwestern Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster!
Congratulations, Elliah! I bet that gila monster is still running from the coyote 🙂 You will receive a personalized sighed copy of SNORING BEAUTY by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!
All the winners should email me to work out prize details!
But now, we are not quite done.
Because, like I said, this was a hotly contested contest. My assistant judges and I had quite a few other favorites that we felt couldn’t quite make the finalist list for one reason or another, but we all thought they were worthy of recognition. So the following people (in no particular order) receive our heartfelt Honorable Mention!
Gaye Hemsley – Chocolate Muffins Joanne Roberts – Goldi And The Three Squirrels Vivian Kirkfield – Singerella Katie Gast – Little Dead Riding Hood Katie Cullinan – The Three Little Easter Bunnies Jen Doherty – The Mischievous Fire Truck Laura Shovan – The 12 Clumsy Princesses Margaret Greenias – The Big, Bad-Mannered Wolf Angela Turner – The Belle And The Sticker Burrs Cheryl Secomb – Little Red Rider Robert Schechter – Humpty Erik Weibel – The Once Upon A Times Rachel – Handsome And Gretchin
Congratulations to all of you on stories that were original, fun, and very entertaining! You may all choose one of the following as a prize: (titles are links so you can check them out)
Congratulations to everyone who entered a story in this contest. You all did an amazing job! My assistant judges and I loved every story for one reason or another. And I think it’s fair to say that you entertained a LARGE number of readers!
Thank you so much to everyone who visited blogs, read, commented, and voted – these contests couldn’t happen without you!
And thank you to the generous people who donated prizes – Karen Grencik, Lori Degman, and Cori Doerffeld – you’re what everyone tries so hard for and you bring out the best in the writing community!
It’s been another fun contest, and I thank you all!
I was going to announce the upcoming first ever * Illustrator Contest * today, but this post is too long already, and I really don’t want to distract from the winners’ moment in the spotlight, so I will either write a special Tuesday post for tomorrow or tack it onto the Would You Read It post on Wednesday.
So congratulations again to all the winners for all their wonderful stories, and to everyone who wrote a story for this contest. You are all winners just for showing up, writing something new, and practicing your craft!
Have a marvelous Monday, everyone! 🙂
List of Prizes:
– 1st Prize is a read and critique by Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary!!! (Unless for some reason you don’t want a read and critique by an agent, in which case you may swap for any of the other prizes)
– 2nd Prize is a picture book manuscript critique (for rhyming mss only) by Lori Degman, author of 1 ZANY ZOO and the forthcoming COCK-A-DOODLE-OOPS! OR a picture book manuscript critique (for non-rhyming mss only) by Cori Doerrfeld, author/illustrator of LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO and PENNY LOVES PINK as well as illustrator of many others.
– 3rd Prize is personalized signed copies of THE THREE NINJA PIGS and GOLDI ROCKS & THE THREE BEARS by Corey Rosen Schwartz PLUS a $25 Amazon Gift Card
– 4th and 5th Prizes are your choice of any two of the following picture books PLUS a $20 Amazon Gift Card:
– THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG by Eugene Trivizas
– CINDY ELLEN: A WILD WESTERN CINDERELLA by Susan Lowell
– LITTLE RED WRITING by Joan Holub
– THE THREE LITTLE PIGS AND THE SOMEWHAT BAD WOLF by Mark Teague
– THE PRINCESS AND THE PEAS by Caryl Hart
– THE WOLF’S STORY: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by Toby Forward
– GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS by Mo Willems
– 6th Prize (which just skated in under the wire – thank you Sudipta!) is a personalized signed copy of hot-off-the-presses SNORING BEAUTY by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
I know you’ve all been on tenterhooks, waiting with bated breath, counting the minutes until you find out which of the amazing fractured fairy tales entered in the March Madness Writing Contest made the finals!
Well, I’d love to tell you, but we couldn’t decide.
TheMarch MadnessWritingContest!
Just kidding 🙂 We decided… in the end… but it was nearly the end of us, and I’m not sure who will be living happily ever after!
We agonized.
Seriously.
We’ve done nothing but eat, sleep and breathe fairy tales for the last 3 days solid. (Well, not counting a school visit on Tuesday which took me out of the judging room for a large portion of the day.) And we stayed up WAY past our bedtimes last night (which is likely to result in a challenging school visit today!), evaluating and re-evaluating, weighing kid-friendliness, story quality, creativity, and originality, good beginnings, good endings, and clever twists, stories for youngest readers, middle grade readers, and teen readers.
We had entries that moved down out of the finalists short list and back up. We had entries that were incredibly creative and well-written but weren’t quite stories. We had entries that were great ideas but their plots didn’t quite hang together. We had entries we loved until the last two sentences. We had a couple that even the judge who usually goes for such things thought were a little too dark. We had entries we loved that we thought were a little too adult or that had elements of humor we thought were too adult for the rest of the story. And we had a LOT of entries that were great but we felt just lacked that certain something to put them quite over the top onto the list… and that of course is subjective to some degree, so another group of judges might have chosen differently.
Any of you who had a chance to read through the entries will know how fantastic they were. Across the board you guys should all be so proud of yourselves! Not only did you show up, you delivered! And like I said, the choice was incredibly hard.
So, without further ado…
… let me give you a few statistics that I’m sure you’ll find thrilling 🙂
In case you were wondering (admit it, you were), the fairy tale entries broke down as follows:
Goldilocks: 10
Red Riding Hood: 8
Cinderella: 5
Jack & Bean Stalk: 5
Mash-Up: 5
Princess & Pea: 4
Billy Goats Gruff: 4
Hansel & Gretel: 4
Nursery Rhyme-related: 4
3 Little Pigs: 3
Little Red Hen: 3
Boy Who Cried Wolf: 3
Sleeping Beauty: 2 (one of which was submitted by my husband and was therefore just for fun)
Gingerbread Man: 2 (one of which was mine, so technically not an entry :))
12 Dancing Princesses: 2
Emperor’s New Clothes: 1
Snow White: 1
Rapunzel: 1
Shoemaker & Elves: 1
Frog Prince: 1 Tortoise & Hare: 1
Also, the human eye blinks an everage of 4,200,000 times a year… since we’re talking statistics 🙂
And now, without further ado…
Wait. One more thing.
There were so many great entries we DID after much tearing of hair and rending of garments come up with a finalist list, but in order to do so we had to be incredibly picky about minute details. Many of the stories we cut were fantastic… but for one tiny detail which dropped them out of contention. So on Monday, when we announce the winners, we will also announce a list of 12 Honorable Mentions (a nice even dozen :)) who almost made the list and truly deserve recognition, and they will probably qualify for a little prize of some kind which I will think up over the weekend 🙂
VOTING: Please read through these 10 amazing stories, choose the one you think most deserves to win, and vote for it in the poll below. Stories are listed by number and title only – author’s name deliberately omitted to help with objectivity in voting. If you’d like to share this post on FB, twitter etc. so that the deserving finalists get more reads and votes, you are encouraged to do so, but I ask that you please not attempt to influence the vote by requesting people to vote for specific numbers or titles. That is not in the spirit of the competition, and if I find out you’ve done it you will be disqualified.
And now, really without further ado…
…here are the 10 Finalists:
#1 The Three Wiggly Worms Bluff
“Melting snow is swamping the soil! Time to head to higher ground,” said Papa Worm.
Papa, Mama and Baby Worm squirmed to the surface and wiggled up the grassy slope to face—
the dreaded sidewalk.
“Ow! It’s rough,” said Baby.
“Go as fast as you can.” Mama gave him a pat. “And keep a lookout for birds.”
Baby wiggled as fast as he could.
But he was only halfway across when a robin swooped down.
“I’m going to gobble you up and take you to my babies!” the robin squawked.
“I’m a baby myself. Barely a bite, and not worth your flight. Mama is coming, she’s more than a morsel. Why don’t you wait for her?” said Baby.
The robin thanked Baby and sent him on his way.
When the coast looked clear, Mama wiggled as fast as she could.
But she was barely halfway across when the robin hopped out from a bush.
“I’m going to gobble you up and take you to my babies!” the robin squawked.
“I’d make an adequate dinner, but if you want to treat your babies to a feast you might want to wait for Papa worm. He’s coming next,” said Mama.
The robin thanked Mama and sent her on her way.
Papa did calisthenics, warming up his wiggle. Between the birds and the pavement heating up, He needed to be fast!
Papa wasn’t halfway across when the robin landed in his path.
“I’m going to gobble you up and take you to my babies!” the robin squawked. “You are plump perfection!”
“Is it true that the early bird gets the worm?” asked Papa.
“That’s true.” The robin opened wide.
“Stop! How do I know you’re the early bird? Maybe someone else is supposed to eat me,” said Papa.
A second bird saw its chance. “I was here first.”
“No, you weren’t!” the robin screeched.
“I’m the early bird!” they both insisted.
The two birds went beak to beak, pecking and pulling feathers.
While the birds quarreled, Papa wiggled,
across the concrete and—Ploop!—down a hole in the grass.
“No worm for the early bird today.” Papa hugged his family.
They wiggled down to enjoy their damp, but not flooded, springtime home. .
until summer heat baked the soil and they had to return across the sidewalk again.
#2 Sweetie Witch
A sweet old witch named Hilda
Lived deep in Toffee Wood,
Weaving magic, casting spells…
Some bad, but mostly good.
One day while dipping in a stream
To catch a moonlight pearl,
She heard a sob, and in a bush
There crouched a tearful girl.
“I beg you Miss, don’t eat me!”
Pleaded little Gretel,
“My bones are dry, my flesh is thin,
My blood tastes yuck, like metal.”
Hilda laughed and shook her head,
Though Gretel was suspicious.
“Why would I eat you dear
When my house tastes so delicious?”
The witch led Gretel through the trees
Into a fairy glade,
And Gretel’s eyes grew round as hoops
At wonders there displayed.
A cottage built from gingerbread
And cake, instead of oak.
Up from the chocolate chimney pot
Rose cotton-candy smoke.
Brightly colored lollipops
In pots beside the door.
Honeycomb for roof tiles,
And sherbet on the floor.
A table made from liquorice,
With soft marshmallow chairs.
A rug of woven apple-whips,
And jelly-beans for stairs.
“The best part’s round the back, my dear,”
Hilda trilled with glee,
“My sweetie tree makes anything – look –
I’m growing a muffin settee!”
When Gretel saw she gave a gasp
For on it her brother sat,
His mouth crammed full of muffin crumbs,
Stroking the witch’s cat.
“Hello there, my name’s Hansel,”
The foolish glutton said,
“Could you get me some milk to wash this down?”
Suddenly… the witch… saw RED!
“Oh, greedy boy!” yelled Hilda,
“You really are a hog!”
With that she waved her candy wand
And turned him to a frog.
Poor Gretel started weeping,
Which softened Hilda’s heart,
And she turned her to a frog too
So they’d never be apart.
Now Hansel and Gretel live happily
In Hilda’s little stream,
Diving down for moonlight pearls
And eating fly ice-cream.
#3 The Princess And The Stinky Cheese
“If you don’t find a princess to marry soon,” the Queen said, “I’ll be forced to give the crown to the dog.”
“Mother, your ridiculous “true princess” tests are the problem,” Prince Plumbottom whined.“Let’s see. Merida didn’t feel the grain of rice in her pillow.”
“Snored like a bear.”
“Fiona couldn’t taste donkey snot in her soup.”
“Gobbled it down like a dragon.”
“Even if a princess passedyour test,” Prince Plumbottom said, “Princesses are so boring. I want to marry a daring lass!”
“Very well, son. We will look for a true princess who is also daring. I know just the right test.”
“Here comes a girl now, and she has a branch in her hair!” he clapped his hands. “This young woman has had an adventure.”
The prince skipped over to the soaking wet maiden.
“Hello, I’m Prince Plumbottom.”
“Hello, I’m Princess Peabody,” she said. “I was tracking a rattlesnake, but I fell into the river and now I’m quite lost.”
“A rattlesnake? How daring!” the prince squealed. “Won’t you join us for lunch?”
Princess Peabody wiped her muddy face with a napkin. She was about to blow her nose, but stopped when she heard the Queen whisper “Stinky Cheese Test” to the prince. She had heard of queens like this.
“Cheese, dear?” the Queen asked.
“Oh, it’s a lovely green,” Princess Peabody said. “But it’s not nearly stinky enough.”
The prince beamed.
The Queen thumped on the table. “Cook! Bring the stinkier cheese!”
The cook held a handkerchief over her nose and presented the stinkier cheese.
“Yummy. It smells like an ogre’s shoe,” the princess said. “But my Kingdom has much stinkier cheese.”
The Queen’s face turned red. “Guards! Find the stinkiest cheese in the land!”
The knights returned with a metal trunk which smelled like a dragon’s armpit.
“Open it!” the Queen commanded.
The knights closed their armor masks and reached with a sword to open the chest. The stench was so horrific, so terrible, so… stinky that everyone fainted.
Everyone except Princess Peabody.
She fed the stinky cheese to the royal dog who didn’t mind the smell at all. Then she blew her nose, finally clearing it of river mud.
The Queen came to and saw the empty cheese plate. “A true princess!”
Prince Plumbottom declared, “A daring princess!”
Burp! The dog agreed.
And they all lived stinkily ever after.
#4 The Jackrabbit Who Cried Gila Monster
Torito’s brothers were sound asleep,
but Torito . . . was as perky as a cactus.
Naps are no fun, he thought. He twiddled his ears until he got a wonderful idea.
“Help!” he cried. “There’s a Gila monster under our bed!”
Torito’s brothers jumped so high, they bumped the ceiling. Mama burst into the room, broom in hand. Torito giggled.
“Torito,” Mama said, grabbing the stuffed Gila monster he’d hidden, “YOU are supposed
to be asleep.” She handed him the toy and left.
Torito and his brothers snuggled into their bed. Soon his brothers were sound asleep, but
Torito . . . was as restless as a tumbleweed.
Naps are boring, he thought. I know . . .
“Help!” he cried. “There’s a Gila monster under our bed!”
Torito’s brothers cowered in the corner. Mama burst into the room. Torito laughed so hard, his sides ached.
“Torito J. Jackrabbit,” Mama said, grabbing the stuffed Gila monster, “YOU—”
“I tricked you!” Torito teased.
Mama crossed her arms. “It isn’t nice to trick. Now go to sleep.” This time she kept the toy.
Torito and his brothers snuggled into their bed. Torito was as tired as a tortoise.
He closed his eyes.
Scritch-scratch!
Torito tore off his covers and peeked under the bed.
He gasped.
Two beady eyes stared back at him. Five sharp claws flexed on each hand. A long, purple tongue flickered out.
“Giiiiii-laaaaa monnnn-sterrrrr!” Torito yelled as he leaped into the closet.
His brothers didn’t move. They covered their ears and rolled over.
“Mama!” Torito screamed.
But Mama called back, “Go to sleep, Torito.”
The Gila monster stretched its jaws. Torito’s heart raced. Suddently, he got a wonderful idea—he knew Mama wouldn’t like it—but he didn’t know what else to do.
“Watch out!” Torito cried, “There’s a coyote in this closet!”
The Gila monster scoffed. “I’m not falling for that.”
Torito pulled the string on his stuffed coyote. Yarooooooooo!the toy howled.
The Gila monster hissed and scurried out the window. When he was far enough away, Torito called out, “I tricked you!”
“Torito . . .” Mama’s voice drifted from the kitchen.
“I know—it isn’t nice to trick.” (Unless it saves your life,) he thought.
Clutching his stuffed coyote, Torito snuggled between his brothers.
Soon, he felt as calm as the desert sand and drifted off into a peaceful jackrabbit slumber.
#5 Little Red Riding Hood And The Tiny Rude Bunny
Once upon a springtime, Little Red Riding Hood encountered a bunny nibbling grass near the forest path. He said, “Good morning, little girl. Where are you going?”
Now, Red knew she should not talk to strangers. She had talked to a wolf once, and had almost been eaten! But this was just a tiny bunny, so she said, “To grandmother’s house.”
“What’s in your basket?”
“Fancy eggs,” Red answered, showing him. The eggs sparkled like beautiful pink, blue, green, and gold gems. “We’re going to share them with the village children.”
“I want them!” The bunny grabbed at the basket. He was not a very polite bunny.
“No!” said Red. And off she went.
The bunny was angry. He wanted those eggs! He would trick her into giving them to him.
Over the river and through the woods, the bunny raced to Grandma’s house. And, because bunnies are very fast when they want to be, he got there well before Red.
Bunny knocked on the door. No one was home. So he ran inside, put on Grandma’s clothes, and jumped into her bed, just as Red got to the cottage.
She was suspicious immediately.
“Grandma, you look so small today.”
“People shrink as they age,” the bunny said. “It’s not nice to point it out.”
“What big ears you have.”
“Ears never stop growing. A polite girl wouldn’t mention it.”
“What big whiskers you have.”
“How rude!”
“What big teeth you have.”
That was the last straw for bunny. “The better to eat your eggs,” he said and jumped from the bed.
Red wasn’t scared. After all, this wasn’t a big, bad wolf, this was a tiny rude bunny. She picked him up by the scruff of his neck. “No,” she said. “In fact, as punishment, you can deliver these eggs to the children for us.”
“Good idea,” said Grandma, coming in and pulling out a wand. (Ever since the incident with the wolf, Grandma had been studying witchcraft as self-defence.) She cast a spell to make the bunny deliver the eggs.
But the bunny was tricky. Instead of giving the eggs to the children, he hid them around their houses. The next day he went back and stole the ones they’d missed. But the kids had so much fun that Grandma let the bunny keep his eggs, so long as he promised to hide more again next year.
#6 Goldibawks And The Three Pairs
Once upon a time there lived a mama duck, a daddy duck and junior duck.
One day after mama fixed seaweed stew they went out for a waddle while it cooled.
Meanwhile nearby, Goldibawks, a young chicken as yellow as the sun, who had just wandered out from the countryside, spotted an ad.
WANTED:
BASKETBALL PLAYER
FOR NCAA MARCH MADNESS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
TODAY AT CHICKERBOCKER ARENA
c/o National Chicken Athletic Association
Wattles wiggling, Golidbawks was eggstatic. Back on the farm, the roosters refused to let her play. This was her chance to show those roosters in the coop that this chick can play hoop!
In a shirt, skirt and heels, Goldibawks needed gym clothes but she was too far from home. Just then she saw the ducks’ house. She knocked. No one answered. She tried the door and it opened so she let herself in.
Goldibawks looked around for gym shorts.
She found papa’s pair but they were too boring.
She found mama’s pair but they were too bright.
She found junior’s pair and they were just right, so she put them on.
Next Goldibawks looked for socks.
She found papa’s pair but they were too dingy.
She found mama’s pair but they were too white.
She found junior’s pair and they were just right, so she put them on.
Finally, Goldibawks looked for some cool kicks.
She found papa’s pair but they were too heavy.
She found mama’s pair but they were too light.
She found junior’s pair and they were just right, so she put them on.
Then the ducks burst in. Goldibawks hid.
“Somebody tried on my shorts, socks and sneakers,” quacked papa duck.
“Somebody tried on my shorts, socks and sneakers,” quacked mama duck.
“Somebody tried on my shorts, socks and sneakers, and still has them on,” quacked junior duck.
With that, they spied Golidbawks, dressed in junior’s gear.
“I can eggsplain,” she clucked and told the ducks the whole story.
Eggcited for Goldibawks, the ducks escorted her to the arena.
Goldibawks joined the team alongside Charles Bawkley, Larry Byrd, Mag-chick Johnson and Michael Jord-hen.
She had a stellar game, with a dozen dunks , half a dozen assists and went twelve for twelve from the fowl line.
Her signature Goldibawks blocks and the team’s peck and roll offense led them to the NCAA championship game, which they won when Goldi tipped in the winning shot.
#7 Mongoose’s Holi Party
#8 Sleeping Beauty: Burn The Wheel, Spare The Barrel
After waiting a really, really, really long time a king and queen had a baby.
“To celebrate we’ll invite everyone in the kingdom, especially the fairies!” But not the Dark Fairy. It could be that they forgot, or maybe she was a downer and no one wanted her there.
If you are the only person not invited to a party, it’s not difficult to notice. The Dark Fairy could hear music at the castle and see bonfires, and crowds. Can you blame her for being mad?
“Curses red, yellow and green, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and DIE at age 15!”
“I change it to a nap that ends in a kiss,” said another fairy.
“Burn every spinning wheel in the kingdom!” cried the king and queen.
The spinning wheels were burned.
“But how will we make clothes?” asked the king’s subjects.
You see, spinning wheels are used to create yarn and thread. Yarn and thread are woven into fabric, and fabric is made into clothes. No spinning wheels, no clothes.
“What will we wear?” asked the people. “We can’t afford to buy clothes from other kingdoms!”
Soon everyone was wearing the strangest things.
“Does my wine barrel make me look fat?” asked a maid.
“I wouldn’t recommend suits of armor without underwear,” said a chaffed knight.
Storekeepers wore pots and pans. Subjects grew out their hair.
“We best wear pots and pans too, so everyone will stop being mad at us,” said the king and queen.
When the princess was 14 years and 364 days old the king’s subjects had had enough.
“Our barrels give us splinters!”
“Pans are too heavy!”
“Let’s smuggle in a spinning wheel,” someone said, no one remembers who.
“Where do we hide it?”
“The one place the king and queen won’t look… the castle’s attic.”
The smugglers had forgotten about the princess.
The king and queen had too. On the princess’ birthday they went on a date.
Exploring, the princess discovered a strange contraption in the attic. “What an interesting machine, I think I’ll touch this sharp point.”
The princess pricked her finger on the spindle and fell into a deep sleep.
“We are in so much trouble,” said the smugglers.
“I’m not going to kiss her, I’m married.” one said.
“She’s already asleep so we can have spinning wheels now.” agreed the others.
And they did.
#9 The “Princess” And The Pete
Late in the evening, in cold April showers A maiden on horseback approached Prince Pete’s towers “I hate to be forward,” she said, “but I’m beat!” “Would you have a place I could hide from this sleet?”
Her warm, friendly smile… Her natural glow… Now here was a person Pete wanted to know! He asked her inside His mom piled the bed up To give her the test that had Pete truly fed up
“This pea stuff!” Pete spluttered. “You’re always so pushy!” “Who cares if the girl has a sensitive tushy?!”
But he knew that his mom glorified the elite So to marry this girl he might just have to cheat So just when his houseguest was washing her face He took out the pea… And put a squash in its place
But next morning, weirdly, the girl simply said “I’m really enjoying this mile-high bed!” The queen looked annoyed. “Not a princess, I see.” The worried prince begged her for leniency.
And later when evening was starting to fall He switched out the squash for his dad’s bowling ball
But next day, more thank you’s! Our poor prince was shaken And knew that this night drastic steps must be taken
So just as the girl said good night to the queen He lifted a mattress and squeezed in between And all through the night, hardly taking a breather He wiggled and wriggled and kicked underneath her.
The prince felt her toss Heard her groan “What the heck?” In the morning he noticed her rubbing her neck Still, when asked by the queen if she’d had a good rest The girl simply beamed and said “It was the best!”
Prince Pete was confounded. Confused! Mystified! He decided to fess up and ask if she’d lied. She looked disbelieving. “Of course! I’m a guest! When asked if I slept well I always say yes!”
Prince Pete couldn’t help it; he asked for her hand She shook her head sadly, said “Please understand…”
“Someday I might marry (right now I’m all set) But I’m not going to marry a guy I just met And even a girl who’d get hitched in a hurry Might find your MOTHER a real source of worry.
But I could use a friend, and some laughs, and a talk So how about this… Let’s start with a walk?”
#10 Goldilockup
“Someone has been sleeping in my bed!” exclaimed Papa Bear.
“Someone has been sleeping in my bed!” exclaimed Mama Bear.
“Someone has been sleeping in my bed!” exclaimed Baby Bear. “And there she is!”
At that, Goldilocks awoke with a shriek, jumped out the window, and ran away as fast as she could.
But it wasn’t fast enough. Before she could disappear into the forest, a large hand clamped down on her shoulder and slapped on the cuffs.
The man was in uniform. He scowled at Goldilocks and spoke into his crackling walkie talkie. “I got her,” he growled. “I’ll be downtown in ten.”
Then he turned to Golidlocks. “You’re coming with me, blondie.”
“What? Why?”
“Breaking and entering, grand theft porridge, vandalism, squatting… You’re a regular crime wave, kid.”
And into the squad car she went.
“You punks are all alike,” the officer said once they arrived at the station. “You always think you’re the hero.”
He pointed to a boy getting his mug shot. “See that kid? He thinks he’s a hero, too. But he’s been charged with murder, burglary, and chopping down a giant beanstalk without a forestry permit. He ain’t no hero, girlie, and neither are you.”
Goldilocks was shoved into a holding cell. She was terrified by the lowlifes who surrounded her. There was a woodsman who practiced stomach surgery without a license. Pigs who attempted to boil their dinners alive. Prince charmings found carrying unregistered swords and daggers. Billy goats accused of assault and battery.
It was a motley crew.
“What’s going to happen now?” Goldilocks asked the officer.
“Well, first we gotta catch up with Cinderella and Snow White,” he replied.
“What are they wanted for?” she asked.
“Oh,” the man replied, “we’ll come up with something.”
At that moment, another officer shouted in triumph. “We got ‘em!”
A joyous “Whoop!” went up throughout the precinct as Snow White and Cinderella were booked, photographed, fingerprinted, and tossed in the cell with the others.
“A good day’s work, gentlemen!” said the police captain emerging from his office. He wasn’t exactly a police captain, though.
He was a Big Bad Wolf.
The officers then pulled off their masks.
Giants!
Ogres!
Stepmothers!
Goldilocks and the other prisoners shuddered at the sight.
It was official: Fairy Tale Forest was under new management.
Please vote for the one you think deserves to win by Sunday March 30 at 5 PM EDT. Winners will be announced on Monday March 31!!
Thank you all so much for reading and voting! I can’t wait to see who the winners are!!!
The Contest: Write a children’s story, in poetry or prose, maximum 400 words, that is a fractured fairy tale. Feel free to add a theme of spring, or mix in one of the spring holidays if you like – St. Patrick’s Day, April Fools Day, Easter or Passover, Arbor Day, Earth Day… Have fun with it! The madder* the better! 🙂 *as in wild and wacky, not angry 🙂
You do not have to include spring – that is optional.
The story can be a picture book or a short story – whatever you like.
If it’s a picture book, you may NOT include art notes, because we get into a weird area of whether that’s fair in terms of word count and added description etc. So if you write a picture book that’s wonderful, but make sure art notes aren’t necessary to understand it. “Fairy Tale” apparently turned out to be a very debatable term, so my fellow judges and I will do our best to handle whatever you’ve come up with. Title not included in word count.
Post: Your entry should be posted on your blog between right now this very second and Monday March 24 at 11:59 PM EST, and your post-specific link should be added to the link list below which will remain up through Wednesday March 26 so we can all take our time reading and enjoying everyone’s stories! (No PPBF on Friday March 21, no new post on Monday March 24, no WYRI on March 26). If you don’t have a blog but would like to enter, please copy and paste your entry into the comments below. (If anyone has trouble commenting, which unfortunately happens, please email me and I’ll post your entry for you!)
The Judge: My lovely assistant and I will narrow down the entrants to 6 finalists (or possibly a couple more depending on the number of entries :)) which will be posted here on Thursday March 27 for you to vote on for a winner. The vote will be closed at 5PM EST on Sunday March 30 and the winner will be announced on Monday March 31. (No PPBF on Friday March 28.)
The Prizes!:
– 1st Prize is a read and critique by Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary!!! (Unless for some reason you don’t want a read and critique by an agent, in which case you may swap for any of the other prizes)
– 2nd Prize is a picture book manuscript critique (for rhyming mss only) by Lori Degman, author of 1 ZANY ZOO and the forthcoming COCK-A-DOODLE-OOPS! OR a picture book manuscript critique (for non-rhyming mss only) by Cori Doerrfeld, author/illustrator of LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO and PENNY LOVES PINK as well as illustrator of many others.
– 3rd Prize is personalized signed copies of THE THREE NINJA PIGS and GOLDI ROCKS & THE THREE BEARS by Corey Rosen Schwartz PLUS a $25 Amazon Gift Card
– 4th and 5th Prizes are your choice of any two of the following picture books PLUS a $20 Amazon Gift Card:
– THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG by Eugene Trivizas
– CINDY ELLEN: A WILD WESTERN CINDERELLA by Susan Lowell
– LITTLE RED WRITING by Joan Holub
– THE THREE LITTLE PIGS AND THE SOMEWHAT BAD WOLF by Mark Teague
– THE PRINCESS AND THE PEAS by Caryl Hart
– THE WOLF’S STORY: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by Toby Forward
– GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS by Mo Willems
– 6th Prize (which just skated in under the wire – thank you Sudipta!) is a personalized signed copy of hot-off-the-presses SNORING BEAUTY by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
And don’t forget, all you illustrators, that this will be followed by a related Illustrator Contest in April!!! (to be announced and elaborated on as soon as the writing part of the contest is over! :))
And now, so that everyone will feel happy and confident about posting their stories, I will share my sample, a Wild West twist on The Gingerbread Boy at exactly 400 words (phew!):
The Cornpone Cowboy
Once upon a time (because that is the way all good fairy tales begin), Farmer Bubba and his lovely bride ThunderLily had the most beautiful ranch in the Wild West.
The grass was emerald green.
The rivers were pure as morning dew.
The cattle were sleek and fat and gave such rich, creamy milk that all the ice cream makers in the world fought over who would get it.
But even with all this beauty and excellent ice cream, Bubba and ThunderLily were sad. For though they were surrounded every spring by velvet-eyed calves and stilt-legged foals, fluffy chicks, pink piglets, and wooly lambs, they never had a child of their own.
Luckily, ThunderLily was not one to sit around moping. “If I can’t have a child, I’ll make one,” she told her darling Bubba.
She got cornmeal and buttermilk, eggs, salt, and bacon drippings, and quick as you like she whipped up a sturdy little Cornpone Cowboy.
“We’ll call him Charlemagne,” she said dreamily as she plucked the skillet from the barbeque pit.
“You’ll have to catch me first!” snorted the Cornpone Cowboy, and off he rode as fast as his cowpony could carry him.
He passed the pigpen and the piglets grunted, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Don’t call me that!” said the Cornpone Cowboy, and he galloped on his way.
He passed the sheepfold and the lambs baahed, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Don’t call me that!” said the Cornpone Cowboy, and he galloped on his way.
He passed the cow barn and the calves mooed, “Oh, Charlemagne! Come be our friend!”
“Why does everyone insist on calling me that?” said the Cornpone Cowboy, and he galloped on his way.
And so it was at the hen house…
. . . the horse pasture…
. . . and the goat shed.
Along about sundown a voice called, “Hey, Cowboy! Won’t you come set a spell by the campfire?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” said the Cornpone Cowboy, tuckered out from galloping. He hopped down from his pony, spurs a-janglin’, and came face to face with…
. . . COYOTE!
Quick as a wink he twirled his lariat. . .
. . . hog-tied Coyote . . .
. . . and lit out for home!
When Bubba and ThunderLily heard his story, ThunderLily said, “That’s our boy! Lightning fast!”
Which is how he came to be called LightningCharlie instead of Charlemagne (because really, who could live with that?) and they all lived happily ever after!
The End
Wasn’t that nice of me? Now you can all feel brave and smug, secure in the knowledge that your story is better than that!!! 🙂
Anyone besides me feeling an urge to sing? “Like a Cornpone Cowboy riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo Cornpone Cowboy…“
No? Darn! I was hoping the exceptional quality of my singing would distract you from that story even though “cornpone” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as “rhinestone” 🙂
I can’t wait to read what you have all come up with! Let the fun begin! 🙂
And remember to check back here for entries added in the comments. I’ll list them as they come in 🙂 (Titles link to stories in comments – give them an extra moment to load)
Only ONE MORE DAY! until the Match Madness Writing Contest opens!
I cannot wait to read the fabulous entries I hope will soon be pouring in to distract us from the fact that it is still 10 degrees even though tomorrow is the official first day of spring!
(The only small fly in the ointment is that I STILL don’t have an idea for my sample story… EEK! I am seriously running out of time!!!)
One quick note on the contest: apparently the definition of “fairy tale” is a knotty one, not, as I thought, clearly the Snow White, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Sleeping Beauty, Ugly Duckling, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin etc. type of story. So many people have argued their cases for nursery rhymes, fables, etc. and I don’t want to have to disqualify anyone over a difference in the definition of fairy tale, because different definitions do appear online, so whatever you guys have written is fine. Apparently the rules were not clear enough, so my fellow judges and I will figure it out 🙂 But, I do hold the line on art notes. Even if your story is intended to be a picture book, no art notes because we get into a weird area with word count. And in answer to someone’s question, your title doesn’t count in the word count.
I think Something Chocolate might fuel the creative muse. Let’s have some of Teresa’s French Chocolate Silk Pie, shall we?
Teresa’s French Chocolate Silk Pie – gorgeous, isn’t it?
And here’s a tasty view of a delicious slice – YUM!
Ah! I feel more creative already! 🙂
But now let’s get down to brass tacks!
First, the February Pitch Pick. Here are the contestants:
#1 Kristine The STEM Girls Take Off – Picture Book (ages 5-8) Sophia wants to win the school science fair, but when her project won’t cooperate, she uses perseverance and teamwork to bring home the goal, proving that every girl can be a STEM girl.
#2 Pam B Fee Fi Fo Flub – Picture Book (ages 4-8) The giant Mini wants to continue her school’s tradition of putting on the annual production of Klurg and the Beanstalk. But during practice, Mini’s co-star makes jokes and goes off-script, and Mini fears he will ruin the show. It is only when Mini makes her own blunder on opening night that she realizes the value of creativity and flexibility, and works with her co-star to make the show a success.
#3 Julie G Diary Of A Linky Kid – Picture Book (ages 4-7) Herman wishes he was like everyone else, but when all the other kids are gazing at their belly buttons during gym class, Herman is hiding his coil shaped tummy under his t-shirt. When just another day at school turns into a daring rescue mission, Herman becomes an unlikely hero when his flexibility saves the day.
#4 Steve Silly Tilly – Picture Book (ages 4-8) Tilly’s dreams of having a baby come true when a hatching egg presents her with a fluffy bundle of … crocodile! Everything is bliss until Charlie starts to grow. AND grow. When her friends start disappearing, Tilly worries that she’s next on the menu. But when Charlie invites her down to his cave, she’s in for a big surprise … party!
Please vote in the poll below by Friday March 21 at 11:59PM ET for the one you feel most deserves a read by editor Erin Molta.
Many thanks!!!
Today’s pitch comes to us from Beth H. who says she is a, “Chocaholic, reformed Catholic, (I don’t feel guilty anymore about eating chocolate), red wine lover – (no I was not an altar girl) seeking to publish children’s books that introduce children to self love, thinking out of the box and just plain silliness.”
Here is her pitch:
Working Title: Martin’s Perfect Web Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 5-7) The Pitch: In a quest to build the perfect web, an obsessive compulsive spider confronts his biggest fears through an unlikely friendship with an inquisitive dragon. In a wild ride on the dragon’s tail, Martin learns how to relax and enjoy the simple process of creating – leaving a beautiful web behind him to his utter disbelief.
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 Beth 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 Itor on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above. There are openings in July so you’ve got a little time to polish up your pitches and send yours for your chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Beth is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to the contest! The March Madness Writing Contest!! Which starts tomorrow!!! I’m so excited!!!! Oh, wait. I’m having deja vu. Did I already say that??? Never mind. It’s still true. Start counting the hours!!!
(And won’t I feel silly if my sample – which promises to be quite dreadful since I don’t even have an idea yet, and therefore have yet to write a single word with less than 12 hours before I have to post it – is the only entry! So please, save me from myself and enter! :))
It’s not green. And it’s not Irish. But it’s still a great present 🙂
Remember on Friday I promised a guest post on a very interesting topic?
Ta-da!
Allow me to introduce the multi-talented and delightful Iza Trapani!
Author/Illustrator Iza Trapani
Hi Iza!
Thank you so much for joining us today!
I personally am very interested in the topic of Skype school visits. I think they’re a wonderful alternative to in-person visits for many schools, allowing authors and illustrators to visit classrooms without the expense associated with in-person visits. Having never done one myself, I was curious to know the details of how one goes about it, and I thought you guys might like to know too! So I asked Iza (who is a pro :)) to elucidate, and she very kindly did (VERY kindly because not only did I ask her for a guest post, it was on short notice!)
Take it away, Iza!
While an in-person school visit is always better, a Skype session is a nice alternative for schools struggling with tight budgets and/or for schools wanting to invite an out-of-state author. Most authors charge travel expenses in addition to their presentation fees, so it can get expensive. Skype visits are a convenient and affordable option. They are also great for authors and illustrators who are often up against deadlines. Cutting out the travel leaves more time for the works in progress.
I’ve been doing skype visits for a couple of years now, and I’m glad to share my experience.
Getting Skype Visits
Advertising for Skype visits is no different than for in-person visits. On my website I have a link with information on my school visits. It includes a description of my presentation, a short video of me presenting to a class, my fees, list of my titles, short bio,feedback on my presentations and more. When a school contacts me, I also have a school visit PDF that includes all the relevant info plus references. A few years ago we added a blurb that I am now available for Skype visits as well. When I started doing Skype, I sent out an e-mail announcement to all my school contacts, teacher friends, and fans. A few years ago I’d also sent out a flyer to numerous schools within a 50 mile radius. The flyer had a brief bio, description of my presentation and contact info. I am also listed in Arts in Ed directories in several counties. Mostly, the schools find me either via my website or by word of mouth. Because my writing and illustrations (especially) are so time consuming, I can not do too many school visits. But that is a personal choice. Some authors do lots of school visits and I am sure they promote much more aggressively than I do.
Setting up the Session
I set up right in my studio which has good, glare-free northern light and overhead track lights.My laptop will rest on a small table. I’ll have a stool to sit on and my materials (illustration samples, books I’ll be using etc.) will be within reach on top of my flat file cabinets on the left. To my right will be an easel with an 18×24 pad on which I’ll do drawing demonstrations. Behind me, a low bookshelf will showcase some of my books face out. It makes a nice backdrop.
Before doing my first school visit I did a test with my sister (in Poland!)to make sure the light was good, that the books behind me were well arranged and that the easel was at the right height. When I first started I was worried that the class wouldn’t see me well, but I soon learned that the image I see of me in the little window on the bottom right in Skype is what they are seeing. I can tilt the computer screen to adjust the view as needed.
Makeup? Attire?
One of the advantages of a Skype visit is that I don’t have to fuss over my appearance. First of all, it’s never a crystal clear image-at least not on my end. I rarely wear make-up but Iwill wash my hair and wear a nice, casual top for the session. It doesn’t matter what’s on my bottom half- clown pants or a tutu- they won’t see it 🙂
Interruptions?
I turn off the phone and leave a note on the front door. If it’s UPS or FedEx, they can drop off in our front foyer.My big Mastiff, Jambo, might stay in my husband’s shop- but I have had requests from some schools that the kids wanted to see my pets, so in those cases I will leave him with me. Part of the attraction of Skype is seeing the author at home.
Technical Problems
Sometimes there are technical problems – usually no sound. So far, the problemswere on the school’s end and were quickly fixed. A quick test Skype with the teacher ahead of time is always a good idea. I also do a test Skype with a friend or relative beforehand.
Sound can be a bit problematic. When the children join me in singing there is a slight delay. Also, I don’t always hear the children when they ask me questions; the teachers usually have to repeat them, and I can hear the teachers just fine. They say they can hear me very clearly, so I am glad about that.
My Presentation
My Skype presentations are the same as my in-person visits. I start off with a short intro, telling a little bit about me- how I was born in Poland and came to the U.S. when I was seven and went right into first grade not speaking any English, and then how my dream of making books for children came true. Then I sing/read one of my nursery rhyme books, and I’ll have the kids sing at least the first verse along with me. Then I will discuss the bookmaking process, talk a bit about getting ideas and turning them into stories, and then the many revisions that are needed. I will show samples of my storyboards, dummy sketches, color studies and final art. I will also show some of my rejected works- paintings I had started but wasn’t happy with. And I have some press sheets to show them so they can understand the printing process. After that I will do Q+A then go on to a drawing demonstration. I’ll choose a character from one of my books and have the kids think of some ideas of what the character could be doing and I will draw it for them. Then I’ll ask the kids to help me add details to the drawing and I will put them in. A typical scene might be a bear riding on a skateboard and juggling. For details they will ask me to put in the sun, birds, bunnies, flowers, ladybugs, etc. I love that! There are so many edgy books out there and it’s reassuring to me to know that kids are still charmed by the beauty and wonder of nature.
My books are ideal for preK to 1st grade, but I will also present to older kids. I will adjust my presentations- doing more singing and reading with the little ones and more bookmaking discussions with the older kids.
Fee
I charge $150 for a 45 minute to 1 hr session. My in-person visits are $250 per session plus travel expenses beyond 50 miles. I will do up to 4 presentations in one day. In both cases, the school will send me a check after the visit.
And that’s all there is to it! 🙂
Thank you, Susanna, for featuring me. I hope this info is helpful to your many wonderful readers!
Thank YOU, Iza! I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say it was very interesting and enlightening!
Iza is the author and illustrator of 20 lovely picture books for children, including Itsy Bitsy Spider (a favorite in our house), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Bear Went Over The Mountain, Little Miss Muffet and many more. She is also the illustrator of 4 books written by other authors.
Teachers, you can learn all about Iza’s school visits here:
Would someone please tell me how it got to be Friday?
Seriously! Where did this week go? I am still somewhere back around midday Monday…
But since the rest of the world seems to agree that it’s Friday, let’s have a Perfect Picture Book, shall we?
Title: Mathilda And The Orange Balloon Written By: Randall de Seve Illustrated By: Jen Corace Balzer & Bray, Feb. 2010, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 3-7
Themes/Topics: imagination, be yourself/individuality
Opening: “Mathilda’s world was small. Here’s what was in it: Green grass. Green barn. Gray skies. Gray stones. Gray sheep.”
Brief Synopsis: Mathilda lives in a small, familiar world, which is all very nice, until one day she spies an orange balloon. She is captivated, and she believes that she can be an orange balloon too!
Links To Resources: Preschool lesson plan for the color orange; learning activities for the color orange; preschool lesson plan for sheep; pair this book with other sheep books like Sheep In A Jeep by Nancy Shaw and discuss how the sheep in the books are alike and different; pair this book with other imagination books like Harold And The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson and discuss how Mathilda uses her imagination compared to how Harold uses his.
Why I Like This Book: This book is just darling! Mathilda is so delightful, so cheerful, so optimistic and imaginative and determined. “What is a balloon?” she asks, and when the others answer that it is round and it flies, Mathilda (who is a gray sheep) shows them that she too is round and can fly. “What is orange?” she asks, and when the others answer that it is fierce like a tiger, warm like wool, and happy, she shows them that she is all those things too. The art and the text are simple and sweet, and the message that you can be anything you want if you believe in yourself is one that is near and dear to my heart (since it is the same message that Punxsutawney Phyllis has :)) And I just have to share my favorite line from the story when Mathilda first catches sight of the orange balloon: “Mathilda had never seen anything so magnificent.” 🙂
PPBF bloggers, please be sure to leave your post-specific links in the list below so we can all come visit you and enjoy your selections for this week! And please remember there will be no PPBF for the next two weeks because of the March Madness Writing Contest – so no PPBF March 21 or 28!!!
Have a great weekend, everyone! I guess we will all be working on writing our fairy tales… wink wink nudge nudge… right??? 🙂 (For March Madness Writing Contest guidelines go HERE.)
Oh and P.S. Be sure to stop by Monday for a guest post on a very interesting topic! (At least I think it’s interesting! :))
My husband and kids are all taking turns being on school vacation with some overlaps, but basically from March 1 – March 31 one, two or three of them are home at a time. This is lovely on every level except getting work done. So anyone who happens to be waiting on me for anything, that’s why 🙂 And I promise I haven’t forgotten you!
The snow is melting. (Yes! Really! Although it’s got a long way to go…)
Yesterday was idyllic! 59 degrees and sunny! I know we have yet to pass the midpoint of March, but it was the kind of day that fills you with the hope and belief that spring is actually thinking about coming. After this winter, it is just so welcome. I took #5 out horseback riding, and the other two horses jumped out of the pasture and came to join us, galloping and leaping and cavorting like colts, skidding on leftover ice and charging through substantial slushy snow, jumping out of their skins with happiness at being able to stretch their legs and run. Even though it took us 45 minutes to catch them and get everyone safely back in the barn, it was lovely to see them so happy. Everyone was feeling a little spring fever 🙂
So. Writing, riding, blogging, teaching, school visiting, spring vacationing, critiquing, barn cleaning, house cleaning (maybe in April :)), driving practice (yes, we’re doing THAT again!), guest posting, running outdoors again with the dogs, and March Madness Contesting = happy and busy 🙂
And now it’s time for Would You Read It, but first, for today’s Something Chocolate, I believe I’ve discovered an idea whose time has come (really, why have I never seen these before???)
Witness the beauty! The perfection! It’s chocolate cream pie AND brownie!
Yes. You may have another 🙂
Now then. Today’s pitch comes to us from Ann who says, “I have only been writing seriously for a year. An interesting fact about me is that I have an identical twin sister named Donna and my husband has an identical twin brother named Don. I am an elementary school teacher. I have always loved children’s books and meeting authors (I even met Lois Lowry in the early 1990’s where she signed a quilt my students and I made in honor of Number the Stars). I’m an avid reader, especially YA. I like to scrapbook, bake, cook. and take photos.”
Here is her pitch:
Working Title: Sk8ter Boy Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 5-8) The Pitch: Peter wants to be an ice skater but can’t because he’s homeless, and he doesn’t have the money for a pair of skates.But when there’s a poetry contest at school with a cash prize, he is able to make his smooth words glide and spin so that he wins the skates and his classmates’ respect.
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 Ann 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 Itor on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above. There are openings in June so you’ve got a little time to polish up your pitches and send yours for your chance to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Ann is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! I am looking forward to having family home in whatever combinations they arrive in and to more days like yesterday as spring begins to overtake winter and to the March Madness Writing Contest (even though I haven’t the slightest idea what I’m going to write for my sample or when I’m going to write it!)
(Yes, I realize I’m playing it fast and loose with the term “poem” :))
(And yes, I have a reason for this gross departure from sanity. I didn’t just go off the deep end :))
Anyone whose sensibilities may be injured by my attempt at poetry should leave immediately!
Those of you who are brave enough to stay, prepare yourselves.
You may need some cake to fortify you.
Alligator cake by Courtney
Are you ready?
Here we go:
Boy’s Best Friend
Daddy said, “A boy like you
Should really have a dog.
A parrot, an iguana, or a happy, hoppy frog.”
I answered, “Thank you, Daddy, but on this my heart is set.
I want an alligator for my one and only pet!”
Thank you. Thank you very much 🙂
Now. About that reason. The lovely and talented Catherine Johnson, author of Weirdo Zoo (buy your copy HERE), has a new book out!
It’s called The Everglades (hence the alligator themed “poem”) and she describes it as a collection of poetry for children who are old enough not to mind the odd arm hanging out of an alligator’s mouth 🙂 Seriously. How can you resist that? 🙂 She says, “Half the poems are serene, and half are snorty.” And she drew the illustrations herself!! Such talent!!
She is celebrating on her blog HERE and running a giveaway, so scuttle on over as fast as your little alligator legs allow and join in the fun!
Should you happen not to be lucky enough to win a copy, you may buy one HERE!
Now, before you all go marching off to your magnificent Mondays, I’d like to clarify a couple things about the March Madness Writing Contest.
You will recall the contest guidelines:
The Contest: Write a children’s story, in poetry or prose, maximum 400 words, that is a fractured fairy tale. Feel free to add a theme of spring, or mix in one of the spring holidays if you like – St. Patrick’s Day, April Fools Day, Easter or Passover, Arbor Day, Earth Day… Have fun with it ! The madder* the better! 🙂 *as in wild and wacky, not angry 🙂
I want to clarify three things (because a few people have asked.)
1. You do not have to include spring – that is optional.
2. The story can be a picture book or a short story – whatever you like.
3. If it’s a picture book, you may NOT include art notes, because we get into a weird area of whether that’s fair in terms of word count and added description etc. So if you write a picture book that’s wonderful, but make sure art notes aren’t necessary to understand it.
The other thing I want to add is a full description of the prizes!!! (So you’ll all be very motivated to think up stories! :))
– 1st Prize is a read and critique by Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary!!! (Unless for some reason you don’t want a read and critique by an agent, in which case you may swap for any of the other prizes)
– 2nd Prize is a picture book manuscript critique (for rhyming mss only) by Lori Degman, author of 1 ZANY ZOO and the forthcoming COCK-A-DOODLE-OOPS! OR a picture book manuscript critique (for non-rhyming mss only) by Cori Doerrfeld, author/illustrator of LITTLE BUNNY FOO FOO and PENNY LOVES PINK as well as illustrator of many others.
– 3rd Prize is personalized signed copies of THE THREE NINJA PIGS and GOLDI ROCKS & THE THREE BEARS by Corey Rosen Schwartz PLUS a $25 Amazon Gift Card
– 4th and 5th Prizes are your choice of any two of the following picture books PLUS a $20 Amazon Gift Card:
– THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG by Eugene Trivizas
– CINDY ELLEN: A WILD WESTERN CINDERELLA by Susan Lowell
– LITTLE RED WRITING by Joan Holub
– THE THREE LITTLE PIGS AND THE SOMEWHAT BAD WOLF by Mark Teague
– THE PRINCESS AND THE PEAS by Caryl Hart
– THE WOLF’S STORY: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by Toby Forward
– GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE DINOSAURS by Mo Willems
And don’t forget, all you illustrators out there, we’re going to have an illustrator contest immediately following the writing contest! (Details coming soon… :))
Now then! I hope that fills you with inspiration and fuels the muse!
Susanna Leonard Hill 
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