GENRE: **Diverse, SEL, Lyrical
WORDS: 637
Query:
Dear Judges, Agents, and Editors,
Thank you for this opportunity.
THE HOUSE THAT MAMA BUILT is a 637-word realistic fiction picture book inspired by my experience building my family’s home through the Habitat for Humanity program. It combines the community involvement in The One Day House with the main character’s problem in What is Given from the Heart.
Experiencing housing insecurity, Loryn doesn’t believe in Mama’s favorite word – humanity. When she watches Mama help build other people’s houses, she wonders when it will be her turn to be in one place with Mama. In the end, Loryn learns the power of community and finds a way she can give back, too.
I wrote THE HOUSE THAT MAMA BUILT to highlight the voice of recipients of any type of charitable relief. As a classroom teacher, I made it my mission to serve children growing up in similar environments as I did by teaching in Title I schools. After developing Long COVID, I had to leave the classroom and now work in an online school environment. I self-published my first book A Time for Everything in 2022. I am a member of SCBWI and have taken courses through Storyteller Academy and the Highlights Foundation. I also won a WRITE KIDLIT NOW! Scholarship in 2023 for The Lyrical Language Lab.
Thank you for considering THE HOUSE THAT MAMA BUILT. I am eager to share this heartfelt story with young readers and inspire them to embrace their ability to make a difference, no matter how big or small. I have other manuscripts available upon request.
Excerpt:
The wind pinches my cheeks as Mama lets someone skip us in line.
When she sees my face, she whispers, “Humanity means people helping people.”
She always says that, but humanity doesn’t work for us.
We’ve been in this place,
and that,
and here,
and there,
but I only want to be in one place – with Mama.
“Why do you do stuff for other people if we need help, too?”
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
Now that the contest is over, this has been removed at the author’s request.
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