It is time for our Middle Grade pitch contest with Holiday House editor Sylvie Frank! Click here to read the announcement post and find out more about what Sylvie is looking for.
Remember, only the first 30 pitches will be accepted for the contest. I will try very hard to close comments as soon as that happens, but I can't guarantee that will happen because I have no idea how fast this will go.
Only one entry per person is permitted. If you mess up your entry, delete your comment and post it again. This contest is for Middle Grade ages only! Your manuscript must be complete, polished, and ready for an editor to read!
To enter:
Post the following info in the comments of this post:
Title
Your name
Your email
Word count
Genre
35-word pitch. (don't go over or you risk the chance of being disqualified!)
Sylvie will choose one winner to submit his/her full manuscript for consideration. The winner will be announced at YAtopia within a week.
If you have any questions, please email Sarah or send her a tweet. DO NOT post questions in the comments of this post.
Note: If you have an agent, you can still participate, but please communicate with him/her before pitching.
Friday, August 3, 2012
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30 comments:
Name: A.J. Cattapan
Email: teach67la (at) yahoo (dot) com
Word count: 44,000
Genre: Middle Grade Mystery
Pitch: In this “39 Clues meets The DaVinci Code,” seventh grader Kam must solve seven riddles tied to religious artwork in order to become heir to a fortune and save his Catholic school from closing.
Name: Jess Lawson
Email: lawson.jessica.s@gmail.com
Word Count: 50,000
Genre: MG Retelling (of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
To fulfill a secret promise to her deceased brother and win a morally-shaky bet involving the reclusive Widow Douglas, 11-year-old Becky and her best friend must outsmart murderous outlaws and ditch town tattle-tale Tom Sawyer.
Name: Jenn Brisendine
Email: jennbrisendine@comcast.net
Word Count: 43,000
Genre: Upper MG adventure with fantasy elements
Through abandoned coal mine tunnels in the smoldering ruins of the hometown he destroyed, twelve-year-old Zeb Reardon enters the eerie setting of his father's novel to save his cousin and mend his own guilty heart.
(Thanks!)
Marcia Wells
wells_marcia@hotmail.com
WC 35,000
MG Boy Mystery Detective Adventure
Eleven-year-old Edmund becomes Eddie Red, spy kid. Job: NYPD sketch artist. Mission: Crack the art heist of the century, fight off alley cats with taser, go undercover as Girl Scout. Survive the sixth grade.
Name: Jessica Wisniewski
Email: wisniewskijb@gmail.com
Word: Count: 63,000 words
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Joey Tate is surviving the seventh grade by drawing a comic book world where she’s always got the perfect comeback to deal with Madison and her Glamour Minions. Now, it may be invading her reality.
Name: April Wall
Email: aprilewelch@gmail.com
Word count: 55,000
Genre: MG adventure/fantasy
Becoming a monster protector at twelve is crazy enough, but when Jonathan Vygil’s creature-teacher goes missing, he must find him—and fast—or his guide won’t be the only one in danger – his family’s next.
By Ryan Greenspan
Fantasy
Hoping to escape his homelife, ten-year-old Arthur is duped into being eaten by his dastardly washing machine, only to find himself fighting his way out of its treacherous bowels as it tries to digest him.
E-Mail: ry.green@hotmail.com
Words: 37,000
Title: The Piano Box on Middle School Island
author: Susan T. Paxton, stpaxton@aol.com
genre: mystery
word count: 32,480
Three seventh-graders on “Middle School Island” discover that the secrets of a shadowy face in the window, a terrifying black bird, and a magic key all lead to The Piano Box in the woods.
Your name: Nadine Labelle
Your email: labelle(dot)nadine@gmail.com
Word count: 36,000
Genre: First Nations Fantasy Middlegrade
A Spirit Tree who grants wishes allows 9-year-old Bayley to transform into a horse to bring home her grandmother's horses. Along with her new friend Kwe, she learns about friendship, courage and love.
Elaine Vickers
elainebvickers (at) gmail (dot) com
42,000 words
Contemporary Middle Grade
Eleven-year-old Isaac Sanchez is searching for his place in the universe. Here’s what he finds: one mysterious book, two not-so-evil stepsisters, three secret mathematical codes, his MIA mom, and awesome/sorta freaky ties to Isaac Newton.
Name: Lori Tays Eastep
Email: leastep@hcu.edu
Word count: 54,000
Genre: MG Fantasy
Grim Grinnert must discover why he’s stuck as a Timbukker – an illegal – in Chronicity, Town of Time, before the watch strapped to his arm hits zero, or they’ll send him someplace horrible… like 1932. Forever.
Your name - Amy Evans
Your email - AmyEvansClicks@gmail.com
Word count - 30,000
Genre - MG paranormal
35-word pitch: BBFFs - Belly Button Friends Forever til their thirteenth summer when everything’s changed. An obsession and a wish on a song puts Liza her mom’s past where she learns true friendships can stand skips in time.
Name: Andrea Mack
Email: mack.andreaL@gmail.com
Word count: 40,000
Genre: MG contemporary
Twelve-year-old Molly thinks she'll have the perfect family if she can persuade her six-year-old cousin to talk, but she soon finds that fixing his problems won't fix her own.
Name: Ki-Wing Merlin
Email: kiwing(at)yahoo(dot)com
Word Count: 32,000 words
Genre: multicultural middle grade mystery (think Millicent Min meets Sammy Keyes)
Allen Mak is enrolled in school legally this year, so even though a thief pursues her, her grandmother suspects her, and a bully targets her, Allen is determined to quit hiding.
Rachel Schieffelbein
rachelmarybean@yahoo.com
22,000 words
MG fantasy
To save her brother from becoming dinner, Gretel must make a deal with a witch, and risk turning into a wicked witch herself.
Name: Cheryl Dale
Email: cheryldale@sundown.org
Word count: 40,000
Genre: MG contemporary
Cage McFadden discovers his best friend is homeless but like everything else he doesn't tell because he doesn't want to say the wrong thing like he did before his brother died.
Name: Kathi Morrison-Taylor
Email: kmorrisontaylor@gmail.com
Word count: 55,000
Genre: Upper MG, Contemporary
Yo-Yo is Ramon's good-luck dog, until Ramon's uncle gives him away, just days before Ramon's cello audition. When new-girl soccer-star Anna Peterson adopts Yo-Yo and renames him Pele, the injustice stings Ramon into action.
Name: Ella Schwartz
Email: ella(at)ellaschwartz(dot)net
Word count: 50,000
Genre: MG Fantasy
Nara, 14 year old banished princess, must work with her nemesis, a mere commoner, to decipher the cryptic clues sent by the Gods and end the plagues battering the kingdom.
Email: melanie dot conklin at Mac dot com
Word count: 31,000
Genre: MG adventure
Pitch: When an odd circus gift turns out to be a wishing book, ten year old Perry's boring spring break turns into a pirating, flying adventure and wish-using dilemma.
Sorry, my phone will not let me edit my comment above! Thank you :)
Melanie conklin
Laurie Litwin
hagergirl@yahoo.com
33,000
Contemporary MG
After discovering a diary dating back to the 1860s, history buff Lilly Petunia Washington goes on an adventure of a lifetime in search of a forgotten time capsule, to the chagrin of everyone around her.
Name: Elizabeth Prats
Email: eprats1 (at) gmail (dot) com
Word Count: 35,000
Genre: Upper MG Light Fantasy
Fourteen-year-old Lucas is forbidden contact with the witches. But when he finally meets his first crush, a witch, he’ll be forced to betray her or lose the mother he’s been searching for.
Vicki Tremper
vtremp at yahoo dot com
37,000 words
Magical MG mystery
When eleven-year-old Daniel sneezes during math class and temporarily turns invisible, he must forget his fear of the spotlight—and jealousy of his older brother—to solve the burglaries he knows his brother didn’t commit.
Jennifer Malone
Jenmalone1 at comcast dot net
54,000 words
Upper middle grade commercial
When 13 year-old Marnie inherits a fortune from her great aunt, she'll learn being a teenage heiress is one mixed bag of crazy, especially when mean girls and first kisses factor in.
Linda Jackson
linda@jacksonbooks.com
35,000 words
MG Contemporary
Twelve-year-old Stacey Graham is not happy when she finds out the only person willing to take her and her two younger siblings in is their uncle, who lives in the back of his funeral home.
Dana Edwards
Edwards15@comcast.net
33,000 words
MG, contemporary
Harold has ruined twelve-year-old Jake’s life for the last time, but his baseball knowledge helps Jake’s team beat the undefeated Comets and Jake learns that friends come in all sorts of packages.
Alex Daily: Sometimes Superhero
Name
Ashley Keene
Email
keeneay@gmail.com
Word count
82,000
Genre
Adventure / Fantasy
Pitch
Timid ten-year-old Alex Daily wakes up with a different superpower every day. With best friend Melanie, he sets out to discover where the powers come from and how best to use them.
Kenda Turner
bturn(at)fuse(dot)net
48,000 words
Middle Grade Historical Fiction
A young pioneer girl battles fear when her family moves deeper into the wilderness yet shelter in an ancient hollow sycamore soon shows how courage grows with a helping hand, and friendship comes with caring.
DaleSRogers.gmail.com
30,000 words
MG Adventure
Thrust into a plot fifty years in the making, Dee Robinson strives to rescue two historic relics, fighting forces which dominate the entire island of Saint John.
Sarah Nelson
sarahgwendoline.nelson@gmail.com
65,000 words
Middle Grade fantasy
Twelve-year-old Damien Eldridge is a reject, born into a magical family without powers of his own. But he has a plan to change everything. The catch? It's just a little illegal.
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