Starting April 16, 2008 and going through July 15, 2008, Cheerios invites previously unpublished adult authors to submit their children’s book manuscripts in the second Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest. The book should be suitable for children who are 4 to 8 years old. Cheerios will provide cash prizes to up to three winners, and the top winner will have their book evaluated by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for a potential book deal. A book deal is not guaranteed. For a complete list of rules and to submit an entry online, go to www.SpoonfulsofStoriesContest.com.

Last year, Cheerios received close to 1,000 entries in the Children’s Book Contest, and Shellie Braeuner, an SCBWI member from Nashville, Tenn., was named the grand prize winner. In addition to her $5,000 prize from Cheerios, Braeuner received a book deal from Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Her winning story, The Great Dog Wash, is being published and will be printed and available in Cheerios boxes in the spring of 2009. The book also will be available in hardcover on bookshelves in the summer of 2009. Two first prize winners, Alison Anderson of Cumberland, Wisc., and Kate Heilman, an SCBWI member from Chicago, each received $1,000 from Cheerios.

The exhibit features the work of children’s-book creators Mary Jane Begin, Christopher and Anika Denise, Jill Lamere, and Marlo Garnsworthy.

Congratulations, Lita!!!

One Thousand Tracings is Lita’s first picture book as author and illustrator. Her newest book, D is for Dinosaur, has just been released this month. For more information go to LitaJudge.com.

We consult children and parents throughout the creation, writing and illustration of the books to make sure our fiction series are the best they can be.

2HEADS is different from any other imprint that currently exists because we believe that children should play a key role in shaping the series fiction that they really want to read. So we involve the readers and their parents in lots of different ways throughout the development and writing of our stories to ensure that every 2HEADS series really hits the mark with children.

Exhibition Open: May 4, 2007 - May 27, 2007.
Opening Reception: Friday May 4th, 2007 from 5:00-7:00 PM, public invited.

Lita Judge and Beth Krommes are New England SCBWI members.

The Class of 2k8 is a group of first-time middle grade and young adult fiction authors with debut novels to be published in 2008. This class will mostly follow the model of the successful and original Class of 2k7, and is sanctioned by that group.

The Class of 2k8 will be involved in a cross-publisher marketing campaign geared to put their books on the radar screen of booksellers, librarians, teachers and readers.

Our own NESCBWI member, Jeannie Brett, has illustrated titles such as L is for Lobster, A Maine Alphabet Book, One if by Land, A Massachusetts Number Book, M is for Mayflower, and P is for Passport.

Marty Kelley is the author of picture books The Rules, Winter Woes, and Summer Stinks has a talent for understanding children and their problems and deals with them humorously. His workshops share a lot and keep you laughing from start to finish.

Michael Daley is a Vermont author whose newly published Shanghaied to the Moon will delight upper elementary and secondary students and young writers. Michael will illustrate step by step from idea to finish the process of getting your book published. Michael will be accompanied by author Jessie Haas.

I will be teaching a workshop called Releasing The Writer Within: Storytelling Through Journaling starting April 14th. Class is held in Warren, RI, about 20 minutes south of Providence, RI. This is a class geared for the beginner, advanced, and everyone in between. The foundation of the class will be unblocking writer's block and taping into the stories that are within the pages of our journals. Journalers and non-journalers alike are welcome!

If you are interested this three-week workshop, please contact Hannah off list: hrgoodman @ cox . net

Bookstore sales fell 2.9% in 2006, to $16.12 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The figures reflect the poor holiday sales reported by many booksellers, with December sales tumbling 8.8%, to $1.99 billion. For the entire retail segment, sales rose 6% in the year.

In other words, Americans are still buying things. We're just not buying so many books, at least through the bookstores that the Census Bureau tracks.

* Rachel Griffiths, previously Assistant Editor, is now an Editor at Scholastic Press.

* Emily Clement joins the imprint as an Editorial Assistant from Blue Apple Books.

The program features presentations about book publishing with editors and publishers, including Kara LaReau (editor for Scholastic Books), R. James Stahl (publisher of the Merlyn’s Pen Series), and Jennifer Taber (publicist at Houghton Mifflin). They will hear from guest authors including Natalie Babbitt, Patricia Reilly Giff, Janet Taylor Lisle, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Lamstein, and Melissa Stewart. Instructors for the strands will include Tonya Bolden, Kelly Easton, Beatrice Gormley, Joyce Hansen, Mark Peter Hughes, Donna Jackson, Peter Johnson, and Liza Ketchum. I'm pleased to see the number of familiar NE-SCBWI names in this list!