The Prize: First five-pages double-spaced manuscript critique of any fiction picture book (1000 words max.)

The Darer: Margaret O’Hair is the author of four rhyming picture books, so rhymers get on this one quick! She is the author of STAR BABY (Clarion), TWIN TO TWIN (McElderry/S&S), MY PUP (Cavendish), and MY KITTEN.

“Meg is a good writer friend of mine, and I love her fabulous ability to communicate so much with such little text. Meg knows how to use language and rhyme in a playful way to get those young children bouncing when reading the text! Baby Liu is one of her #1 customers. If you are writing a rhyming picture book, get Meg to help you whip your rhyme into shape. You won’t regret it.” – Cynthea Liu

My Pup

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The Prize: One critique of the first chapter of your double-spaced young adult manuscript (10 pages, 2500 words maximum) AND a critique of the matching query letter. Hello!

Michelle Zink

The Darer:  Michelle Zink lives in New York and has always been fascinated with ancient myths and legends. Never satisfied with simply reading them, she usually ends up asking, “What if?” Sometimes asking only leads to more questions, but every now and then, when everything falls into place just right, a story is born. Prophecy of the Sisters is one of those stories.

“Prophecy of the Sisters is one of this year’s biggest forthcoming titles in teen fantasy. You will totally regret missing the opportunity to have a critique from this talented woman! Don’t miss out!” - Cynthea Liu

Prophecy of the Sisters

Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents’ deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.

Lia and Alice don’t know whom they can trust.

They just know they can’t trust each other.

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The Prize: One critique of the first three chapters of your young adult novel (30 pages maximum, double-spaced). Line edits for first chapter and directional suggestions for the rest. WOWZERS!

Jen Nadol

The Darer: Jen Nadol grew up in Reading, PA, hometown of John Updike, Taylor Swift, and fellow YA novelist A.S. King. She wrote her first novel four years ago and found, much to her surprise, that it took a lot more than finishing to get published. She dug in and began studying the craft in earnest. Her debut novel, The Mark, will be published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in early 2010. She is currently finishing the draft of her option book for Bloomsbury. www.jennadolbooks.com.

About THE MARK

Sixteen-year old Cassie Renfield has seen the mark since forever: a glow around certain people as if a candle were held behind their back.

The Mark

The one time she pointed it out taught her not to do it again, so Cassie has kept quiet, considering its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until the day she watches a man die. Mining her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Cassie searches her past, her philosophy lessons, even her new boyfriend for answers, always careful to hide her secret. How does the mark work? Why her?

Most importantly, if you know today is someone’s last, should you tell?

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The Prize: One critique of  the first chapter of your young adult novel (10 pages max, double-spaced), your synopsis (2 pages, single-spaced max), AND your query letter (one page max).  *The author would like to note that due to her schedule, the soonest she can return your critique will be mid-August.*  That gives you plenty of time to shine it up!

Malinda Lo

The Darer: Malinda Lo is the former managing editor of AfterEllen.com, the largest entertainment news website for lesbians and bisexual women. In 2006, Malinda was awarded the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Journalism by the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association. She has also been associate editor at Curve Magazine and an editorial assistant at Ballantine Books. Her first novel, ASH, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, will be published in September 2009 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Visit her online at www.malindalo.com.

About ASH

Ash

In the wake of her father’s death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, re-reading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash’s capacity for love—and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

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The Prize: One critique of the first chapter of your young adult novel manuscript (ten double-spaced pages max) and the matching query letter. Huzzah!

Neesha Meminger

The Darer:  Neesha Meminger was born in India, grew up in Canada, and now lives in New York City with her husband and two children. No matter how they begin, her stories invariably end up about girls and women navigating cultures, traditions, borders, and other fissures between their outer and inner worlds. SHINE, COCONUT MOON is her first novel.

About SHINE, COCONUT MOON

Shine, Coconut Moon

Samar–a.k.a Sam–is an Indian-American teenager whose mom has kept her away from her old-fashioned family. It has never bothered Sam, who’s busy with school, friends, and a demanding boyfriend. But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam’s house–and turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam is eager, but when boys attack her uncle, chanting “Go back home, Osama!,” Sam realizes she could be in danger–and also discovers how dangerous ignorance is.

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The Prize: One full manuscript critique of your ficition young adult novel (244 pages maximum, double-spaced.) Say, what?!

Anna Jarzab

The Darer: Anna Jarzab grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and San Francisco, and now lives in New York City where she works in book marketing, aspires towards infinity by acquiring many more books than can fit inside her tiny apartment, and spends a lot of time on public transportation. She has been a fiction editor for a literary magazine, an editorial assistant, and read and critiqued manuscripts for a literary agency, plus she reads a ton, and her debut YA novel, ALL UNQUIET THINGS, will be released by Delacorte Books for Young Readers in January 2010. ALL UNQUIET THINGS is a mystery centering around the death of a wealthy teenage girl, whose estranged friends team up to solve her murder. Ages 14 and up.

About All UNQUIET THINGS (Delacorte)

All Unquiet Things

ALL UNQUIET THINGS centers around the murder of teen heiress Carly Ribelli, who was found shot to death a mile from her house in a wealthy Northern California suburb. Carly’s uncle, a dissolute alcoholic, was convicted of the crime, but a year later his daughter still doesn’t believe her father is guilty. Determined to prove his innocence, Audrey Ribelli contacts Carly’s ex-boyfriend, Neily Monroe, the boy who found Carly’s body. She is convinced that he knows more than he thinks about the events that led up to Carly’s death. Despite Neily’s initial reluctance, he and Audrey begin their investigation at the posh private school they attend, identifying prime suspects from among their spoiled classmates and digging up secrets about Carly’s past to get to the truth behind her murder.

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The Prize: Soap, soap, soap! prize pack includes …

• One hardcover edition of either the bilingual or all-English edition of the book when it is released this Fall signed by the creator, illustrator and author Elizabeth O. Dulemba

Soap, soap, soap! (the book)

One limited edition, signed giclee print of the cover art (#2 out of 50 – a $175 value)

Soap, soap, soap! Giclee Print

• An activity kit including a coloring book from e’s collection of Coloring Page Tuesday images, Soap coloring pages, a bilingual word find puzzle, recipes (including Mud Pie cookies), and more! WOW!!!!
  

  Coloring Page Tuesdays

About Soap, soap, soap!  (bilingual Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón!) from Raven Tree Press

Soap, soap, soap!

Hugo’s mamá sends him to the store to buy soap. Of course, Hugo takes the long way there which gets him into loads of trouble and plenty of mud. With all his adventures, he keeps forgetting what he’s supposed to buy at the store. But through each mishap he’s somehow reminded he needs soap, soap, soap ~ jabón, jabón, jabón!  Hugo ends up a muddy mess, but he finally prevails. He buys the soap and returns home only to discover that his mamá plans to use the soap on him!

Soap takes the classic Appalachian Jack Tale and gives it a modern twist. The story now takes place in a small rural town with a sweet little troublemaker named Hugo. The artwork is drawn with graphite and rendered digitally using bright, happy colors reminiscent of this playful tale.

The story is presented in English text with embedded Spanish in rojo. The sprinkling of Spanish easily introduces key words using both story context and illustrations to aid in the fun and learning. A vocabulary page is also included to jump start learning in either language.

Elizabeth O. Dulemba

The Darer: Award-winning illustrator, Elizabeth O. Dulemba, was beamed to this planet with a pencil in her hand. Once she stopped chewing on it, she began to draw and write. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia, and after 15 years in the corporate world decided to chase her dream to illustrate children’s books. She now has several available including Paco and the Giant Chile Plant, a 2008 Moonbeam Bronze Medal winner (also published by Raven Tree Press). She enjoys sharing her passion for children’s books at schools and events, is the Illustrators’ Coordinator for the Southern region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, on the Board for the Georgia Center for the Book, and teaches at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the Southern Appalachian mountains. Soap, soap, soap ~ Jabón, jabón, jabón is Elizabeth’s first book as both illustrator and author.
Elizabeth lives in Atlanta with her husband Stan, two big dogs, and a tiny cat who rules them all. Visit her website to learn more and download free coloring pages, www.dulemba.com.

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The Prize: One critique of the first chapter of your young adult  fiction manuscript (10 pages max, double-spaced) AND a critique of the matching query letter! WOW!

The Darer: Margie Gelbwasser is a freelance writer and novelist who has written for various magazines, including SELF, LHJ, Women’s Health, New Jersey Monthly, Girl’s Life, Instructor and Writer’s Digest. Her essays about growing up Russian and Jewish have appeared in Waking Up American: Coming of Age Biculturally and Smith Magazine. Her first YA novel, Smirnoff’s Daughter, will be published by Flux in Fall 2010.

About SMIRNOFF’S DAUGHTER

Alyssa Bondar’s world is falling apart. She has just entered her sophomore year at Glenfair High, the only place to hang out is behind the CVS, Keith her cross-country crush keeps sending her mixed signals, and her best friend Lana has started the school year with large breasts and a sexy attitude–-attracting the attention of the most popular kids in the school, a group Alyssa clearly doesn’t fit into.

Alyssa’s Jewish, like most of Glenfair, but since she’s also Russian, Alyssa feels even more separated from other teens. How many other Jewish families have a New Year’s tree with ornaments? On top of all this, Alyssa’s once stable home environment has become chaotic.

Alyssa is used to alcohol accompanying every meal and event in the Russian culture. But when Alyssa’s mother loses her job, the usual drink or two changes into a full-time happy hour. While Alyssa’s father uses news reports of war unrest in the Middle East as his escape from reality, Alyssa is left to pick up the pieces of her shattered family alone. As her mother’s alcoholism gets worse, Alyssa must decide how much she can and should handle before she crumbles as well.

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The Prize: One critique of  the first three chapters of your fiction young adult novel (30 pages max.), which includes line edits for the  first chapter and directional suggestions for the rest. WOAH!

The Darer: According to geographers, the American West begins at the 100th longitudinal meridian. Thanks to the fact that this meridian is the main street of her hometown in Nebraska, Kirstin Cronn-Mills grew up six blocks east of the West. She is a self-proclaimed word nerd who started writing poems in sixth grade. Now she focuses on young adult novels.

Kirstin lives in southern Minnesota where she writes a lot, reads as much as she can, teaches at a two-year college, plays on an adult dodgeball team, and goofs around with her son, Shae, and her husband, Dan. The Sky Always Hears Me is her first novel.

About The Sky Always Hears Me (Llewellyn)

The Sky Always Hears Me

“I borrow the car again from Grandma and drive out to my hill. I scream I AM A BIG FAT ZERO, plus I AM SWEARING OFF KISSING FOREVER, and I HATE BEING A SECRET SEX FIEND, about sixteen times each. Then I sit very still and watch a hawk swirl over the fields. I have to get a new life before I go crazy.”

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was two, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and she can’t stop staring at her coworker Rob’s cute butt. Then there’s the kiss she shared with her neighbor Tessa . . . But when Morgan discovers a devastating secret about the one person she completely trusted, her entire world crashes and she must redefine her life and herself.

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The Prize: One critique of the first ten pages of your double-spaced children’s NONFICTION book (up to 2500 words), an autographed copy of Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga, AND valuable marketing advice about how to pitch your nonfiction book to publishers. WHOA!

Lisa Albert

The Darer: After many years of mud pies, skinned knees, sibling rivalry, crushes, boyfriends and heartbreaks, List got serious and penned her first novel when she was sixteen. She joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in 1996 and sold her first article in 1998. She’s been a contributing author to the Children’s Writers and Illustrator’s Market (CWIM) and has written three nonfiction books for Enslow Publishing. Lois Lowry: The Giver of Stories & Memories (2007) , So You Want to Be a Film or TV Actor? (2008), and Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga (2009).

“Lisa’s books are heavily lauded and she’s not only a fabulous writer, but she’s got the personality to go with.  I’ve known Lisa for years now, and I have no doubt that she will take great care when evaluating your manuscript to make sure you’re headed in the “write” direction. She also has loads of tips on how to write biographies of living people. It’s an ART!” – Cynthea Liu

About Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga:

“If there was ever any doubt that an entire book could be written about Stephenie Meyer’s rise to success, let it be forever put to rest. Lisa Rondinelli Albert’s biography of Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series and The Host, is a fluid and comprehensive presentation of that very story.

Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga is part of Enslow Publishers‘ Authors Teens Love series (within which Albert has also penned a biography of Lois Lowry, and others have written about anyone from Roald Dahl to Isaac Asimov).

The book is thorough, well-paced, and unendingly interesting…” – Examiner.com

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