A couple orders of business real quick:
#1 - if you have not voted for who you think should win the Summer Send-Off Contest please do! My goodness it is a tight race! We need every vote we can get!
#2 - I realized when I went to write this post that it was meant to include the August Pitch Pick. Except we have a new policy these days. Pitchers have the opportunity to take the feedback you gave them and submit a new version of their pitch for the Pitch Pick. And I didn't email anyone to remind them... so I don't have the pitches. Therefore, you are excused from pitch-picking today and I'll have to squeeze it in somewhere else... probably next Wednesday because there are just too many high jinx and shenanigans going on around here between now and then. (And should you happen to be one of those pitchers, please email me whatever version of your pitch you'd like me to use!)
#3 - Did you know that in Alaska it is illegal to whisper in someone's ear while he's moose hunting? I kid you not.
Now then, grab your Something Chocolate (I have chocolate cupcakes on offer at my house this morning - not exactly breakfast food... technically... although they do have eggs in them... :)) and have a gander at today's pitch. It comes to us from the lovely Elizabeth whom you all know and love as the queen of Banana Peelin'.
Elizabeth Stevens Omlor loves slipping on banana peels. She has at least one slip a day, physically or verbally. She loves writing for children, although she has recently discovered she is a delusional rhymer. When she isn’t writing for children, you can find her having a kitchen dance party with her husband and two young children or drinking a large glass of milk. She loves milk. Yum. Especially when it’s in chocolate. She blogs about all of this on Banana Peelin’: The Ups and Downs of Becoming a Children’s Writer.
Here is her pitch:
Working TItle: Buff The Magic Dragon
Age/Genre: Picture Book (ages 4-8)
The Pitch: Buff isn’t your typical dragon. He’s afraid of EVERYTHING. But when auditioning for the role of royal babysitter, his magic trick-gone-wrong lands the baby Princess Ponypants in the tentacles of the fiercest bully of all the sea, Captain Meanie Bones Jones. Forced to fly above the clouds and to eat a meaty squid, Buff finds that sometimes we must face our fears to right our wrongs and protect the ones we love.
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 Elizabeth 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 It or on the Would You Read It tab in the bar above. There are openings in November, so you have time to polish :) for a chance for it to be read by editor Erin Molta!
Elizabeth is looking forward to your thoughts on her pitch! And I am looking forward to seeing who will win the Summer Send-Off Contest and which book I will pick for Perfect Picture Books on Friday. It could be anything! I still have two whole days to choose! :)
