Jennifer Laughran

The Prize: One critique of the first five-pages of your double-spaced manuscript for a middle grade or young adult novel. Please note: Jennifer will request to see the first 20 pages of your manuscript to see if the story engages her further. HOWEVER, your critique will be limited to the first five pages of your manuscript.

The Darer: Jennifer Laughran is an associate agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She represents authors of Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction. Her favorite writers are offbeat and funny and straddle the line between literary writing and a commercial hook. She’s always on the lookout for great new talent!

Jenn likes funny, sharp, voice-driven YA as well as lush romantic stories that the reader can get lost in (fantasy or realistic), and she loves awesome female heroines!

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Having once been a teacher, I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact reading has on teens. Books rule!

Jen Rofe

The Prize: One critique of a fiction picture book (1000 words max, double-spaced) or the first five pages of your fiction middle grade or young adult novel (double-spaced).

The Darer: Jennifer handles children’s fiction projects only, from picture books through young adult, and is particularly interested in literary, multicultural, offbeat, paranormal, and commercial-with-heart material. She enjoys magical-realism and reality-based fantasy; ghost stories (though not gore); stubborn characters who learn lessons the hard way; and unassuming heroes and underdogs.

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Books lift up the mind, and the soul. Every child deserves free access to a variety of books, to a world beyond their own.

The Prize: One critique of the first five double-spaced pages of your fiction middle grade or young adult novel.

Jill Corcoran

The Darer: Jill Corcoran is an Associate Agent at Herman Agency representing Chapter Book, Middle Grade and Young Adult authors. Jill is a huge fan of humor. If you can make her laugh or crack a smile, you are her kind of writer. Even in a serious literary book, there is room for humor. Jill prefers realistic and paranormal to high fantasy. A commercial hook with a literary bent. Some of her favorite books are Frindle, Stargirl, Speak, Stuck in Neutral, How I Live Now, Millicent Min, Good Enough, Seeing Emily, Things Left Unsaid, Flipped and Because of Winn Dixie.

For more about Jill Corcoran please see the Herman Agency website and Jill’s blog.

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $35 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win!  Value: Priceless. *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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The Prize: One critique of the first five double-spaced pages of your fiction middle grade and young adult novel.

Andrew Karre

The Darer: Andrew Karre is the editorial director of Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group. Carolrhoda has published fiction and nonficiton for all ages since for four decades. Andrew acquires all types of kidlit, but he’s particularly interested in YA and single-title middle grade now. Before moving to Carolrhoda, Andrew Karre was the editor at the YA imprint Flux, where he edited Maggie Stiefvater, Laurie Faria Stolarz, Carrie Jones, Simone Elkeles, Emily Wing Smith, Micol and David Ostow, and A.S. King among many others. He is an admitted sucker for first-person YA.

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $35 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win!  Value: Priceless. *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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The Prize: One critique of the first three chapters of reasonable length AND a query letter for your picture book, middle grade, or YA novel.

The Darer:

Stacy Whitman

Stacy Whitman specializes in fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and related genres. She spent more than three years as an editor for Mirrorstone, the children’s and young adult imprint of Wizards of the Coast in Seattle. She holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College. Before that, she edited elementary school textbooks at Houghton Mifflin, interned at the Horn Book Magazine and Guide, and spent a brief stint working as a bookseller. Stacy edited such favorite fantasy titles for children and young adults as the highly acclaimed YA series Hallowmere, the middle grade fantasy adventure series that debuted with Red Dragon Codex, and The New York Times best-selling picture book A Practical Guide to Monsters.

Stacy provides all phases of editorial services to publishers, including developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. She also provides a critique service for writers and teaches occasional community seminars on writing science fiction and fantasy for children and young adults.

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $30 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win!  Value: Priceless or $50 if you go to Stacy directly, but remember THE CAUSE! *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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The Prize: One critique of the first five double-spaced pages of your fiction young adult novel.

The Darer: As an agent, Kelly specializes in all types of children’s literature (picture books, middle grade, young adult, and graphic novels). In picture books and middle grade fiction, Kelly looks for a good sense of humor, stories that stretch a young reader’s imagination, and an authentic voice. In young adult, she appreciates literary voices and character-driven stories with heart. In non-fiction for children, she enjoys projects that inspire and stimulate the minds of our younger generations. At this time, Kelly is not accepting unsolicited submissions in adult fiction or adult non-fiction.

Some of the titles Kelly has represented include include: Steve Watkins’ DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN (Candlewick) and GOAT GIRL (Candlewick); Merrily Kutner’s ALPHABET MAGIC (Roaring Brook); Jin Pyn Lee’s THE ELEPHANT AND THE TREE (Running Press); Candace Ryan’s ANIMAL HOUSE (Walker); Heather Leigh’s HEY LITTLE BABY (S&S/Beach Lane Books); Neil Johnson & Joel Chin’s THE FALLING RAINDROP (Tricycle Press); and James Burks’ graphic novel GABBY AND GATOR (Yen Press)

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $35 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win!  Value: Priceless. *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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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 full manuscript critique of your fiction middle grade (244 pages, double-spaced max) or young adult novel (double-spaced, up to 100,000 words – DANG!).

The Darer:  Prior to becoming a full-time fiction writer, Phoebe Kitanidis was a Contributing Writer at Discovery Girls magazine for six years. (She’s also the author of the DG book Fab Girls’ Guide to Friendship Hardship.) A former creative writing and Language Arts teacher, she holds a Masters degree in Communication and has often spoken on Communication issues at literary conferences, conventions, and professional meetings. She and her husband live in Seattle, where she’s been exploring Pacific Northwest hobbies such as coffee drinking, zone 8 gardening (after growing up in California), and open water swimming (brrrrrrr!). Her teen paranormal Whisper comes out in April 2010.

About WHISPER

About WHISPER (Harper Collins, April 2010):

I’d love a cup of coffee. I wish she knew how pretty she was. I wish I could drop this kid in the dryer sometimes. I just want her to be happy. I hope she didn’t find out what Ben said about her. I wish I knew how many calories were in a bite of muffin…

Joy is used to hearing Whispers. She’s used to walking down the street and instantly knowing people’s deepest, darkest desires. She uses this talent for good, to make people happy and give them what they want. But for her older sister, Jessica, the family gift is a curse, and she uses it to make people’s lives—especially Joy’s—miserable. Still, when Joy Hears Jessica whisper: I want to kill my Hearing dead, and kill me too if that’s what it takes, she knows she has to save her sister, even if it means deserting her friends, stealing a car and running away with a boy she barely knows—a boy who may have a dark secret of his own.

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $35 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win!  Value: Priceless. *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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Lara Zielin

The Prize: A critique of the first three chapters of your young adult novel (30 double-spaced pages max), which includes one full chapter of line-edits and directional suggestions for the rest.

The Darer: Lara Zielin’s roots are in Wisconsin, and she’s proud to call herself both a cheese head and a Packer fan. All her books take place in the Midwest, including her debut novel, DONUT DAYS. During the day, when she’s not imagining she’s the superhero Cheese Woman (with a yellow, sparkly cape in a wedge shape) Lara works as the editor for an alumni magazine at the University of Michigan. Find out more about Lara at www.larawrites.com

About DONUT DAYS (Putnam)

Donut Days

DONUT DAYS’ main character, Emma, has a lot going on. Her best friend’s not speaking to her, a boy she’s known all her life is suddenly smokin’ hot, she’s at a camp-out for the opening of a donut shop, and oh yes — her evangelical pastor parents may lose their church. And that’s just this weekend. Suddenly, sixteen-year-old Emma has to make some serious choices: creationism or evolution, faith or freedom, Harley bikers or Frodo wannabes, and of course, cruller or glazed.

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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?

The Dare: Place a minimum bid of $35 by leaving a comment, then outbid the highest bidder until you win! *All winners must take the solemn critiquee oath.*

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