Manuscript Status: Finished
Mentor: Allison Ziegler
Mentee: Chrystal Carver
Title: MISHAPS OF A SIXTH GRADE SCIENTIST
Category/Genre: Middle Grade Light Science Fiction/Humor
Word Count: 40,000
Pitch:
Eliana’s sixth grade to-do list includes winning the science fair, defeating her nemesis, and resurrecting her pet turtle. Perfecting the formula for a home-grown zombie should cover all three. But when her best friend goes rogue and drinks her zombie juice, she’ll have to find a cure before he transforms their school of geniuses into a horde of the undead.
Excerpt:
The metal signs secured to the chain link fence read HIGH VOLTAGE. Tucker was right. The sub-station was the perfect place to test my turbo charged turtle robot for the science fair. All we needed to do was jump start its internal battery and duct tape his fin back on and he’d be ready to launch.
Easy-peasy. Science for the win.
I puckered my lips in an upward motion and blew a brown frizzy curl off my sweat-beaded forehead. The sun hadn’t shown itself in days, and of course it picked the one day that we needed to walk through a gravel yard to blast its rays. The heat rebounded off the gravel in waves, making me feel like a bacon wrapped sausage cooking over coals.
“Were you able to attach the rockets last night?” Tucker asked. He glanced over his shoulder like he expected an angry mob of power station workers to ambush us. It was Sunday and it wasn’t like anyone would care that we were at the power station. The signs surrounding the station said ‘high voltage’, not ‘keep out or you’ll die’. How much damage can two six-graders do to a power station anyways?
“I wrapped the boosters around the robot’s torso with packaging tape.”
I didn’t have much of a choice. My dad refused to let me have real tools, and super glue wasn’t as super as it could be.
13 Comments
Lauren Spieller · November 3, 2016 at 9:49 pm
This concept is so fun! Please send the full manuscript (as well as a synopsis if you have one) to lauren@triadaus.com with “Pitch Wars: [YOUR TITLE]” as the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email. I look forward to reading!
-Lauren Spieller, TriadaUS
renarossner · November 4, 2016 at 4:56 am
I’d love to take a look at the first 50 pages of this manuscript. Please send them to rena (at) thedeborahharrisagency (dot) com with your query pasted in the email and the first 50 pages attached as a word document.
Thanks!
– Rena Rossner
The Deborah Harris Agency
Liza Fleissig · November 4, 2016 at 8:25 am
OMG LOVE LOVE LOVE the concept! Can you say MG series??? Please send full ms to liza@lizaroyce.com – and put Pitch Wars Request in the subject line – thank you!
Jim McCarthy · November 4, 2016 at 9:26 am
I’d love to have a look! Please send the full along for my review. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible. jmccarthy@dystel.com. Thanks!
Laura Zats · November 4, 2016 at 11:44 am
I love girls in science! Please send the full MS and a query to laura@redsofaliterary.com!
Melissa Nasson · November 4, 2016 at 1:50 pm
This sounds great! Please send the full manuscript as a Word doc or PDF to melissa@rpcontent.com, and be sure to include “Pitch Wars” in the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email.
Thank you!
Melissa Nasson
Rubin Pfeffer Content
Brooks Sherman · November 4, 2016 at 2:54 pm
Okay, this is an awesome premise. And I’m a sucker for mad science! I’d love to see where this goes! Please email your full manuscript to me as a Word attachment to brooks@thebentagency.com, along with your query and a synopsis (if available) with “Pitch Wars: MISHAPS OF A SIXTH GRADE SCIENTIST” in the subject of your email. Thanks, and I look forward to seeing more!
Victoria Marini · November 4, 2016 at 2:57 pm
Hi Chrystal,
How can I *not* want a home-grown zombie juice book?! Can you please send the full manuscript to victoria.queries@irenegoodman.com with “query” and “pitchwars” somewhere in the subject line?
Thank you so much!
All my best,
Victoria
Christa Heschke (@ChristaHeschke) · November 4, 2016 at 6:21 pm
Ooo! This sounds so cool! Please send a query, synopsis and full manuscript to chquery@mcintoshandotis.com. Please mark “Pitch Wars request: in the subject line. –Christa Heschke
Amy Jameson · November 5, 2016 at 12:57 pm
“Science for the win” – you’ve won my heart. Please send the full manuscript as a Word doc with the title in the subject line to amy (at) aplusbworks (dot) com. Thanks!
Jennifer Laughran · November 8, 2016 at 5:33 pm
Hiya – I’d love to read more. Could you send the query and a full to JennL at AndreaBrownLit dot com with “Pitch Wars” in the subject line?
Thanks!
Jenn
Roseanne Wells · November 10, 2016 at 11:01 am
Hi Chrystal–This sounds great! Please send the manuscript and a synopsis as Word doc attachments to queryroseanne@gmail.com with Pitch Wars and Query + title in the subject line. Can’t wait to read!
Roseanne Wells
The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency
Whitley Abell (@whitleyabell) · November 10, 2016 at 2:41 pm
I’d love to read more! Please send the full manuscript to whitley@inklingsliterary.com with “Pitch Wars: [TITLE]” as the subject line. And if you wouldn’t mind, could you please include your query on the first page of the word doc?. I look forward to reading!
Comments are closed.