GENRE: Character Driven, SEL, Contemporary
WORDS: 400
Query:
Dear PBParty Judges,
Thank you for this opportunity to submit my picture book, YVETTE’S MANSION (~400 words) which is an SEL story inspired by a childhood friend and growing up in the inner-city.
Yvette lives in a mansion. She says. But when the narrator visits and sees it’s just an ordinary condo, she is skeptical. However, Yvette’s insistence on seeing the fantastical in the every-day unlocks the door to the narrator’s own imagination mansion. YVETTE’S MANSION is an urban friendship picture book combining the empathy and shifting perspective of Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell and the unconditional friendship of I Don’t Care by Julie Fogliano.
Several of my poems have been published in anthologies, most recently “Wonder” in Bless the Earth: A Children’s Book of Poems and Prayers Honoring the Earth (Convergent/Penguin) which will be released in April 2024. I am a member of SCBWI and The Writers Loft, and have been contracted for WFH parents’ blogs and children’s devotionals. I am a co-founder of the writing blog http://www.24carrotwriting.com which is celebrating its 10th year, and a graduate of The Institute of Children’s Literature and The Children’s Book Academy. Currently, I teach high school English Literature and Composition. Additional picture books and two completed middle grade manuscripts are available upon request.
Thank you for considering my work. I greatly appreciate it.
Excerpt:
Yvette lives in a mansion.
She has a milkshake shack, and a greenhouse out back, and in her room, she has a doggy parlor.
And a library.
And a nail salon!
She says.
Some kids say it’s just a made-up, make-believe, imagination mansion. But I can’t wait to see for myself.
When she points out her building, I ask, “There is an ice cream parlor in there?”
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
For most of my childhood, we lived in a condo in the inner-city of Pretoria, South-Africa. Because outside play was limited due to safety concerns and indoor real-estate was tight, we learned to reimagine our spaces. While friends from more affluent families played with Barbie Dreamhouses, we made our own mansions out of cardboard boxes and sewed our own designer doll-outfits. As a child, I often dreamed about living in a mansion, but today I am thankful for a childhood that ignited my imagination.
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