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A Youth Column
By Beverly Rowe
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NEW
BOOKS TO ENJOY THIS SUMMER
TIPS FOR WRITERS
Did you ever feel like the world left you behind?
I just realized that there are more genres of fiction and associated
sub-culture.book genres than I realized....what in the world is
"Steampunk?" .....and is this something that I want my
kids to read? The name sounds a bit racy, but it turns out that
it is probably an alternate history from an age where steam was
a major source of power. It may be fantasy, science fiction, western
in a futuristic vision as Victorians might have envisioned them.
Think technology such as the fictional machines found in the works
of H.
G. Wells and Jules
Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip
Pullman, Scott
Westerfeld and China
Mieville. So, I guess it is just the term that I wasn't familiar
with, not the stories themselves. |
Here
are some Steampunk offerings for teens: |
The Girl in
the Clockwork Collar
(The Steampunk Chronicles)
by Kady Creepella
Jasper was captured by bounty hunters , and now, sixteen-year-old
Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed
from London to America to rescue him. The bounty hunter is a former
friend who now demands a trade....the dangerous device Jasper stole
from him…for the life of the girl Jasper loves.
One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around
Mei's neck tightens. And tightens. The teens with supernatural abilities
are on Jasper's elusive trail. And they're about to discover how
far they'll go for friendship.
Dark magic and a battle between good and evil surprises and enchants
in this story.
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The
Girl in the Steel Corset\The Strange Case of Finley Jayne
(The Steampunk Chronicles)
by Kady Cross
In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one...except
the "thing" inside her
When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights
back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that
makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch.
Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says
she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her
in from the gaslit streets, against the wishes of his band of misfits.
And Finley thinks she might finally be a part of something, finally
fit in--until a criminal mastermind known as the Machinist threatens
to tear the group apart....
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Here
are my picks for younger readers... |
Dinosaur
Pet
by
Neil Sedaka, Marc Sedaka
Some kids have puppies. Other children have cats. But in this entertaining
new picture book and CD by multi-Grammy winner Neil Sedaka, his
son Marc Sedaka, and New York Times best-selling illustrator Tim
Bowers, a little boy cherishes something even bigger and better,
his own pet dinosaur. This book will get your toddlers and early
readers dancing.
Gila
River camp isn't technically a prison, but with nowhere to go, nothing
to do, and no time frame for leaving, it might as well be. So when
someone has the idea of building a baseball diamond and starting
a team, Tetsu is overjoyed. But then his sister gets dangerously
sick, forcing him to choose between his family and his love of the
game. An exciting slice of history....it will change the way you
look at things...but it is also a baseball book. |
Bad Kitty for President
by Nick Bruel
The
votes are in--it's a Bad Kitty landslide!
It's time to elect a new president
of the Neighborhood Cat Coalition! Who will win the election? The
candidate chosen by the kitties on the right side of the street
or the candidate chosen by the kitties on the left side of the street?
When election time rolls around, one candidate (guess who?) will
discover that she never bothered to register to vote and the entire
election will be decided by a surprise, last minute absentee ballot
sent by Old Kitty.
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Middle
School: Get Me out of Here!
by James Patterson, Chris Tebbetts,
Laura Park
Pinch Hit
After sixth grade, the very worst year of his life,
Rafe Khatchadorian thinks he has it made in seventh grade. He's
been accepted to art school in the big city but he imagines it as
a fun zone with no math or history. That is not quite how it turns
out to be though, and for Rafe to score bit he has to turn his boring
life around and come up with a killer art inspiration.. His method?
Operation: Get a Life! Anything he's never done before, he's going
to do, from learning to play poker to going to a modern art museum.
But then, he uncovers secrets about the family Rafe's never known
and he has to decide if he's ready to have his world turned upside
down. Excitement we would expect from James Patterson.
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TIPS FOR WRITERS:
So you have written
a childlren's book, and all you need is a publisher! But how do
you write a query letter?
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1.
You need a brief synopsis of the story. Write it in the
same style as the manuscript, please.
2.
What is the intended age range and the word count. How about the
category? Easy reader, young adult, picture book?
3.
Show any marketing ideas you have.
4. A paragraph about the author's previous publications
and credentials, memberships in writing organizations, and anything
else related to writing children's books. What is your expertise
for writing this particular book?
5. Why are you submitting this book to this particular
publisher? Ask permission to send the entire manuscript.
Check the publisher's guidelines to see if the editor wants a query
letter only, or if you can also include sample chapters from the
work. Always mail with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and be
sure your phone number and email address are on the letter. ...and
get the editor's name right.
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