GENRE: Humor, Rhyming, Fractured Fairy Tale
WORDS: 604
Query:
Ahoy Agents and Editors!
I’m delighted to share GOLDIHOOKS AND THE THREE BUCCANEERS for your consideration.
Goldihooks is a notorious scoundrel who bites off a little more than she can chew on her latest pirate ship heist. When her plundering goes south and she’s captured by the Three Buccaneers, she discovers something unexpected about the best way to live the pirate life!
GOLDIHOOKS AND THE THREE BUCCANEERS is a humorous 604 word rhyming picture book that plunges the classic Goldilocks tale into the swashbuckling world of The Pirates of the Caribbean, in the same mash-up vein as John Condon’s The Pirates are Coming! The playful pirate lingo woven into rollicking rhyme makes for a delightful read-aloud experience. The first version of this manuscript took first place in NYC Midnight’s first round in their annual Rhyming Story Challenge in 2023/24.
I have been self publishing under pen names for 5 years and have sold over 600,000 paperbacks. Most of those sales are from my top-selling picture book series, which is now under contract with a publisher and will appear in physical stores across the US this September. I have a BA in Advertising and Marketing and 19 years of experience in graphic design and marketing. I live in Kansas City with my husband and four children. I’m an active member of SCBWI, 12×12, PB Party, and NYC Midnight’s Rhyming Story Challenge. I have won rhyme-based competitions and have other completed picture book manuscripts (in both rhyme and prose) available upon request.
Thank you for your consideration and I hope you find some buried treasure as you dig through the PB Party submissions this year!
Excerpt:
“Raise the anchor! Hoist the sails,
ye mangey pair of crooks!
Today’s the day we snatch and catch
that wretched Goldihooks!”
Billy Jones and One-Eyed Pete
both yelled a quick “Aye-Aye!”
Neither wanted Cap to know
the lass could make them cry.
Goldie’s string of stealthy raids
were feared on sea and shore.
“I heard she plundered twenty ships!”
“Well I heard twenty-four!”
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
This story was inspired by NYC Midnight’s Rhyming Story competition where I was given the assignment to write a fairy tale that involved something underground and a character that was puzzled. A version of this MS won first place in the first round (and remains unpublished). I loved adding a fresh take on a classic story and ending it with an unexpected, friendly twist. As a mom of four children, I love and appreciate PB read-alouds with exciting action and enchanting or song-like prose, making this fractured fairy tale an absolute blast to write!
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