Magic Tree House Essay Contest

I thought those of you with children might enjoy this contest.  It starts today, so get your kids writing!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact

Random House: 

Elizabeth Zajac 212.782.8530 ezajac@randomhouse.com;
Kids Crooked House:
Kerri Moran 404.664.2090 kerri@taylormoranpr.com

Random House Children’s Books and Kids Crooked House Team Up to Host Magic Tree House Essay Contest

Grand-Prize Winner Receives Custom Designed Kids Crooked House Playhouse

Inspired by Mary Pope Osborne’s bestselling Magic Tree House Book Series

NEW YORK, NY – April 26, 2010 - Random House Children’s Books and Kids Crooked House are kicking off an essay contest for kids to promote adventure, imagination, and creativity: themes that are all reflected in Mary Pope Osborne’s bestselling Magic Tree House series. The grand-prize winner will be awarded their own Magic Tree House: a custom designed playhouse by Kids Crooked House, creators of the most whimsical playhouses for children. Ten runner-up winners will receive a Magic Tree House book autographed by Mary Pope Osborne, beloved author of the wildly popular New York Times bestselling series that has now sold nearly 70 million copies.

The Magic Tree House series, first published in 1992, follows brother and sister duo Jack and Annie as they journey back in time via a magic tree house, traveling to exotic places and meeting famous historical figures. Children interested in entering the essay contest must submit a response to this question: Write about an adventure you would like to have in the Magic Tree House. Where would you go and what would you do? Mary Pope Osborne will review the submissions and choose the winner.

Essay entry forms are available for download at MagicTreeHouse.com and must be mailed to Random House offices at 1745 Broadway New York, NY 10019. Entries will be accepted from April 27 through October 31, 2010. The winners will be announced in mid December 2010.

“There is nothing more exciting than a child using their imagination and this essay contest is a great outlet. No one knows boundless imagination better than Mary Pope Osborne, a truly creative and artistic author. Kids Crooked House is honored to work with Ms. Osborne and a partner like Random House to help make this an exciting endeavor for many children,” said Glen Halliday, creative director and CEO for Kids Crooked House.

Kids Crooked House is inspired by, and infused with, Maine and its natural wonders. Glen and his cousin, Jeff Leighton, built their first crooked house because they loved being outside and wanted their kids to love it, too. Glen and Jeff’s goal is to encourage children to use their imaginations as wildly as possible, and with the diverse range of playhouses Kids Crooked House offers, it isn’t very hard to do.

“I’m so excited about this contest, knowing it will inspire an adventure and allow children to be as creative as they dare. I can’t wait to read their ideas, and learn about where they would like to go! This essay contest touches on my main goal in writing the Magic Tree House books: to encourage children to go on adventures using their own imaginations,” said Mary Pope Osborne.

About Random House Children’s Books and the MAGIC TREE HOUSE Series

Random House Children’s Books is the world’s largest English-language children's trade book publisher. Creating books for preschool children through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books and novels, Random House Children’s Books brings together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series.

It is the proud and longtime publisher of Mary Pope Osborne’s celebrated Magic Tree House series, which has now sold nearly 70 million copies and has been translated into 28 different languages in 31 countries since it was first published in 1992. The series is widely regarded among children, teachers, and parents alike for its power to instill a passion for reading. Teachers and kids can experience even more Magic Tree House fun on the interactive Web site www.magictreehouse.com, which features games and activities for children and teaching tools and materials for educators.

Random House Books for Young Readers is an imprint of the Random House Children’s Books division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG. Visit us on the Web at www.randomhouse.com/kids.

About Kids Crooked House

Based in Windham, Maine, Kids Crooked House was founded by fun-loving dads Glen Halliday and Jeff Leighton, who couldn’t find a unique, affordable, and imaginative playhouse for their young kids. They looked in all the big home centers and scoured dozens of Web sites. The products either looked like a tool shed for lawnmowers or like a small city with a price to match. For the graphic designer and carpenter-electrician, the answer was simple: Build one of their own. The entire neighborhood was soon hanging out in Glen’s backyard. So FUNky was his kid’s new crooked house, the rest is (becoming) history. For more information about Kids Crooked House, visit http://www.kidscrookedhouse.com/

Fifth Annual Flash Prose Contest

Many of you who are regular readers of my blog might remember one of my Because Of A Book guests, Lynn Goodwin.  Lynn is the author of You Want Me to do What?: Journaling for Caregivers.  She is a fan of my blog, thank you Lynn, and knows that many of my readers are also writers.  So, she emailed asking if I would let you know about a contest that she is currently hosting at Writer Advice.  I hope that some of you will participate!

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Fifth Annual Flash Prose Contest

SPONSORED BY WRITER ADVICE, http://www.writeradvice.com/

WriterAdvice, http://www.writeradvice.com/, is searching for flash fiction, memoir, and creative non-fiction that grabs, surprises, and mesmerizes readers in fewer than 750 words. If you have a story or memoir with a strong theme, sharp images, a solid structure, and an unexpected discovery, please submit it to the WriterAdvice Flash Prose Contest.

DEADLINE: April 15, 2010

JUDGES: Former prizewinners, Gabrielle Hovendon, Lisa Shafter, Katie Flynn, and Linda Weiford are this year’s judges. Read their pieces and biographies by clicking on the Archived Contest Entries button at www.writeradvice.com.

PRIZES:

First Place earns $150; Second Place earns $75; Third Place earns $50; Fourth Place earns $25; Honorable Mentions will also be published.

All entries should be typed, double-spaced and submitted in hard copy, not e-mail. Entries must be postmarked by April 15, 2010. Send them to B. Lynn Goodwin, WriterAdvice, P.O. Box 2665, Danville, CA 94526.

You may enter UP TO THREE stories. Enclose a $10 check for EACH entry made payable to B. Lynn Goodwin. This will help defray the costs of the contest. If no prizes are awarded, checks will be refunded.

Include a separate cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, current e-mail address, and each story title. Please include only your title top of each page of your story. Finalists will be asked to submit a brief biography as well as an e-mail copy of the story. Names of all winners will be announced in the summer issue of WriterAdvice, www.writeradvice.com.

SPECIAL PERK: All entries accompanied by an SASE will be returned with brief comments. E-mail questions, but not submissions to editor B. Lynn Goodwin at Lgood67334@comcast.net.

Because of A Book with Bethany North

I am pleased to bring you a writer and fellow blogger this week.  Help me welcome Bethany North to the blog today.

Bethany North is a coffee fanatic that has spent the entirety of her career cultivating and studying all of the best uses and brewing styles for optimal coffee and espresso flavor. Her specialty site for all coffee needs, supplies, and the commercial coffee maker can be found at The Coffee Bump.

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Because of a Book: The Giver

Today I am a professional freelance writer, and it all happened because of a book... When I was a child, I was an avid reader, and one of my absolute favorites was The Giver. This book was written in 1993, so it was perfect in my generation for us to be required to read in school. As a young girl, I definitely read my share of fluffy literature, which is pretty much the junk food of the reading world. Nonetheless, I still love to read, so whether it was The Babysitters' Club or something more substantial, that was my entertainment.

The Giver was something that was special to me because it had a huge message behind it. Even when I was in middle school, I could understand that it was talking about something bigger, namely the anti-utopian society. At first, you delve into the book feeling a comfort in the sense of the community where no one is different, and there are also no emotions. In the end, the main character Jonas has to rebel and step outside of all of the restrictions put on him by his society so that he doesn't give away the best parts of himself.

Those are things that I didn't understand so cohesively when I was a preteen reading this book, but I actually took the time to go back and read it again last year. It still reads like an adult book, and even more so, you can see a serious message running throughout the book from a more mature perspective. As a freelance writer today, The Giver has encouraged me to put my heart into what I write. Though I don't write fictional books, I still have the opportunity to write in my own voice, offer what I care about, and even provide a theme to some of my work. The point is that you have to do what you believe in, so to take a cue from The Giver, it's important to step out in what you are passionate about!

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About The Giver:  Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Buy it at Amazon
Buy it at Powells
Buy it at Indiebound

The Giver is one of my favorites as well, Bethany.   Thanks for stopping by today and sharing your thoughts.

Writing For My Readers - Katie Davis

Today I'm giving my blog over to another children's book author.  Before I do though, here is a little bit about her.  She was born in New York City, grew up and went to the American College of Paris (yes, that Paris!), and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Boston University. Then she got married and had two incredibly cute and talented children.
Katie loves to go camping, which she never does, loves to play tennis, which she rarely does, and loves to eat Hot Tamales Candy, which she does too often. As Katie says, she's been writing and illustrating picture books-- really bad ones--for decades. Then in 1996, while attending the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's national conference she got a clue.

Thank you, Katie for stopping by with your thoughts today. And with that, I give you, Katie Davis!

Thank you, Shelly, for inviting me to be a guest blogger. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Children's Book Week!

Since your blog is called Write for a Reader, I thought I'd blog about ... writing for my readers. Ingenious, huh? But then I considered the new teacher's guide for my novel, and how it will help support teachers and their efforts to get readers writing. So I'm going to touch on both.

While I'm writing a new book, I don’t think about what will happen once it's published. Things like, will libraries stock it? Will teachers use it in the classroom? Will it sell well? (I always HOPE it will, but it’s unproductive to dwell on that stuff during the creative process.)

Pre-publication work is all about the story. How can I tell it best? What compels my characters? How can I bring even the ancillary characters to life? How can I ratchet up the tension? How can I make the reader want more? Actually, I love the later drafts when I'm concentrating on fleshing things out - that's where I have the most fun.

And it doesn't seem to matter whether it is a picture book or novel. Right now I'm developing the illustrations on an incredibly simple picture book that I didn't write. In order to broaden the scope of the main character, I put him in a montage in the middle of the book. Just adding that spread has brought the story to another level.

I'm also working on a young adult novel about girl who is a kick-a** survivor. She's so strong that I feared she wasn't sympathetic enough, despite the abuse she's lived through. In the rewrite I am having her question herself more, which gives the reader the opportunity to feel more for her.

After publication is a whole other story. When I first started out over a decade ago, I didn't even realize that the majority of authors were responsible for their own promotion. Or that authors and illustrators go to schools to do presentations to teach kids and get them excited about books. With the crummy economy and the increase in numbers of books published per year, we have to do even more to support our own books. Having just written The Curse of Addy McMahon, I was wondering about Teacher's Guides and what went into them. I knew about them, of course, but hadn't put much thought into having one done for my novel.

Then author and education consultant Colleen Carroll came along and luckily, convinced me that she was just the person to write one for my novel. It's been amazing - I haven't even gotten them back from the printer yet, and have already had a slew of requests for them (I’m happy to snail mail the 11 x 17” version to any teacher who would like one, but there is an 8.5 x 11” PDF on my blog if you don’t want to wait).

I learned so much from her, and thought you might appreciate hearing straight from her too so I interviewed Colleen.
Enjoy!

Q: When did you first start writing teacher's guides?

A: I've been writing teacher's guide since 1991, mostly to accompany video content for cable television outlets such as MTV (I wrote the nine-page guide for the Choose or Lose MTV forum with presidential candidate Governor Bill Clinton [remember boxers or briefs?], Nickelodeon [the first Big Help educator materials], Bravo, and CNBC. I began writing teacher's guides to accompany children's books in 1994 when I wrote the guide for See the City (Random House), by Matteo PericoliI. I've created guides for fiction, non-fiction, primary, middle grades, and YA literature, including Shredderman (Van Draanen), Tender Morsels (Lanagan, 2009 Printz Award winner), and The Edge Chronicles series (Stewart and Riddell).

Q: Why are they necessary? How do they help?

A: I believe that TGs are necessary because the help support teachers in their very busy lives. All good teachers want to bring great literature to their students, and they want those students to get the most learning they can from these books. Creating stimulating discussion questions and extension activities takes a great deal of thought and planning, and many teaches just do not have the time to devote to this type of task. Enter the teacher's guide. Teachers can use a guide to structure lessons before, during, and after reading. They can use the entire contents of the guide or pick and choose items in the guide to supplement their own original lesson plans.

Q: Of course, I've gotta ask...What was it about The Curse of Addy McMahon that made you want to take the job of writing the TG for it?

A: I love your work, as do my own children. You know how to make your readers laugh, and in my experience, that's why my kids keep coming back to your picture books over and over again. When I heard that you had written your first novel, I was curious to see how that humor and sensitivity would translate into a middle grade piece. It did not disappoint. Yes, it is funny and visually dynamic, but it is also deeply moving. You nailed the feelings that a young person has after losing a parent: the hurt, the anger, and sense of betrayal. As a person who lost her own father at age 17, after finishing the book for the first time, I knew I would write the guide. So in addition to loving your work, I made a personal connection with Addy that I felt compelled to extend to teachers and their students.

(Katie here again: I swear I didn't tell her to say that!)

Q: How will using this particular guide deepen a student's understanding of what he or she is reading?

A: This book is highly accessible, but there are so many sophisticated themes embedded in the story: themes that a middle grade reader might not automatically pick up on or think too deeply about. The guide highlights those themes by offering teachers stimulating discussion questions that challenge students to dig deeper, to ask questions of the main character (Addy), and to draw their own conclusions. The suggested activities for after-reading give students the opportunity to extend their reading by making text-to-self and text-to-world connections, important elements that deepen reading comprehension.

Review: Creative Journal Writing

Title: Creative Journal Writing

Author:  Stephanie Dowrick

Review Copy Provided by:  Penguin

About the Book:  "The impulse to write is natural for many people. Yet the demands of more public forms of writing can be crushing. In the private spaces of your journal, a genuine sense of possibility is renewed with every blank page. The inner critic can be sacked. The possibilities of style, mood and expression are limitless."

This elegant, highly readable book is ideal for beginners to journal writing as well as those who want to renew or extend what this gentle art can offer. It includes stimulating ideas and exercises, easily-learned skills in observation, and an inspiring method to write freely and with great release and enjoyment.

My Review:  I will have to admit that I am a much better reader than I am a writer.  Reading has always been my love.  I have tried to keep a journal, but have never been very good at following through with it.  This book may be my turning point.

Stephanie Dowrick has put together a book that will help even the most reluctant journaler, like me.  She divides the book into 5 parts: Getting Started, Free to be Creative, Writing the Facts, Your Life in Your Journal, and Putting it all Together.  Throughout the book are excerpts from other journals, so that you can really see what it is she is talking about.  It's one thing to read about it, but another to see a real-life example.  Also scattered throughout the book are timely writing quotes.

At the very beginning of the book is a half page note from Stephanie titled, How to use this book.  I think it's pertinent to share with you.

"One of the essential ingredients of creative journal writing is freedom:  freedom from judgments, freedom to write as you wish and only about what interests you.  How you will use this book is, necessarily, entirely up to you.  But my humble suggestion is that you first read it through like a conventional book, stopping only if an exercise here or there grabs you by the ankle and pulls you to the ground.  Stop here.  If that doesn't happen, experience the ideas and the many wonderful stories as a whole, and only then go back to work your way through it far more personally, engaging with all the exercises that you want, at the pace you want, and in the way you want.

Pleasure is the other essential ingredient of journal writing .  So use this book in the way that will give you the most pleasure: reading, writing, pausing, setting aside, returning, all at a pace and in a rhythm entirely of your own making.

The way she suggests is exactly the way I approached this book.  I simply read for pleasure, taking in all the stories, key principles, suggestions, instructions, etc.  My goal now, is to go back, a little at a time, and take it all in as I put the suggestions, hints, and ideas into practice in my own journal.  Included with the review copy of this book was my very own Creative Writing Journal, but any journal you choose could be used.

My favorite part of this book were the 125 possible topics to write about.  Stephanie suggests instinctively choosing a number between 1 and 125 and just writing about it, whether you like it or not.  I will definitely be going to the list more than once as I embark on my journaling expedition.

Creative Journal Writing is a great way to get started with journaling, or a way to dig deeper into your journaling experience.  Whether or not you're a writer, I encourage you to give it a try.  You never know, you might like it!