Good Morning, Poppets!

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings with plenty of pie! 🙂

So.

Here’s the situation:

My internet, as you know, is feeble at best (forget dial-up – think internet delivered by carrier pigeon… 🙂 )  Stone Age internet speed is pretty much the only downside to living on Bueberry Hill.  But in the computer age it’s a real humdinger!  Ever since my email server updated itself (without my knowledge or consent!), I’ve been having extremely sporadic luck being able to access my email.  I can get email by going to the local library, which has awesome internet speed, but usually not at home.

For the past two days, however, my email has been showing signs of working better! (Miracle of miracles!)  And I allowed it to lull me into a false sense of security (because it was pouring rain and chilly and I didn’t want to go to the library!)  After all, it made sense that the kinks would eventually get worked out of this fancy new email update and it would function as it was meant to!  But… when the time came to put this post together…my sluggish internet and fancy updated email once again refused to speak to each other.  As a result, I was not able to access the emails with the updated versions of the pitches for today’s pitch pick!

So, I have two options.

Option 1: hope the internet is working at 5 AM and try to update this post before most of you have gotten to it.

Option 2: postpone the pitch pick another week.

One or the other will show up below… which will it be???  I guess we’ll just have to be surprised! 🙂

Looks like I have internet this morning!!!  We’ll see how long it lasts… 🙂

#1 Michele – When Sheep Fall Asleep – PB ages 3-6

All Sam wants to do is stay up late. His parents agree to a deal: If he gets into bed and counts sheep all the way up to ten, then he can stay up all night. But the sheep aren’t cooperating, and once the monkeys, elephants, chickens, and even hyenas start crowding in, it’s all Sam can do to keep his room from turning into a zoo!

#2 Greg – Pochon’s Monster – PB ages 4-10

Staring at a pile of single socks, Viola wonders if Pochon’s Monster is to blame. A sock stealing monster made of socks. Created by the inventor of the manual dryer to take revenge on owners of electric dryers, one sock at a time.

Viola stakes out the laundry room and catches the monster red-socked in the act of stealing a sock. With a loud pop and a bright flash the monster escapes. Viola tracks down the monster and with an act of kindness gets the monster to relinquish what it has stolen.

#3 Carolyn – Muggsy And His Go-Go Cart – PB ages 4-8

Muggsy Pawsborne is born without his hind legs. However, he and his family have never seen this as a disability. It has always been his Musggsability, which means he can do anything other dogs can do, just differently. When Muggsy starts at a new school, he encounters the typical group of mean kids. When the mean kids make fun of Muggsy’s wheelchair during recess, he is left feeling embarrassed and lonely. A friendly classmate encourages Muggsy to participate in the school’s Olympic Day in order to show everyone that just because Muggsy has a wheelchair doesn’t mean he is disabled. Will Muggsy persevere and become the top pooch in school?

#4 Lisa – X Marks The Spot – PB ages 4-8

X is tired of his alphabet job. He wants to be a pirate! After getting hired to sail aboard The Porpoise, X quickly finds that he doesn’t eXactly fit in. For eXample, all the other posh pirates have squawking parrots and silver swords, but X only has his pet oX, a clumsy old aXe, and an ill-fitting tuXedo. X is utterly eXcluded from the pirate party on the poop deck. But when a band of scallywags try to steal The Porpoise’s most valuable treasure (spoiler: it’s their parrots!), X discovers his purpose with one eXpert move that saves the day!

Please choose the pitch you think is best and most deserving of a read by editor Erin Molta and vote for it in the poll below by Sunday December 4 at 5 PM EST!

Sheesh!  That was exhausting!  How about Something Chocolate?  Now, before you point out that this is pink, I realize that of course!  It’s made with white chocolate, which I know is the poor sister of the chocolate family, but it’s so pretty and seasonally appropriate that I’m sharing it anyway 🙂  (Also, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as hot chocolate made out of white chocolate, and I thought you might not either, so I felt it incumbent upon me to further our chocolate experience!) (Also, just because white chocolate is the poor sister doesn’t mean it should be shunned – it’s still chocolate – technically!)

Slow Cooker Candy Cane White Hot Chocolate!

Recipe HERE at Real Housemoms

Even though it’s not dark chocolate doesn’t it look beautiful and delicious?  I haven’t actually tried it yet… but it’s cold and rainy again and this looks so cheerful and festive that today might be the day! 🙂

YUM!  It would probably go GREAT with a brownie 🙂

Now then, onto today’s pitch which comes to us from Nadine who says, “I am an elementary librarian in an urban school district and I love my job! I am on the selection committee for the Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award (PA’s state book award) and a wiener dog owner and lover!”

Find her on the web at:
Website
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Here is her pitch:

Working Title: Armadillo’s Pillow Fight

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

The Pitch:  Willow Armadillo is planning a pillow fight. She asks a friend to spread the word of this nocturnal party. As each friend gets the message, an important detail is left out. Poor Willow. Perhaps her pillow fight wasn’t meant to be.
ARMADILLO’S PILLOW FIGHT is a 446-word character driven picture book and is as much fun as a game of Telephone or Whisper Down the Alley. Children will roll with laughter at the animals’ silly missteps. ARMADILLOW’S PILLOW FIGHT is a great read-aloud encouraging audience participation.

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