MENTOR: Veronica Bartles MENTEE: Naomi Milliner TITLE: SUPER JAKE, NOT-SO-SUPER FREDDY, AND ME, THE KING OF CHAOS CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary WORD COUNT: 44,000 PITCH: Ethan relies on top hats and magic wands to get through endless ER visits with his special needs brother. But when Jake’s latest trip to Read more…
Mentor: Brent Taylor Mentee: Rachel Moser-Hardy Title: A LANGUAGE DARK AND LOVELY Category/Genre: MG Fantasy Word Count: 88,000 Pitch: Some books have a peculiar habit of causing trouble. When Lily finds a book only she can read, she must use it to stop her villainous father’s rise to power. Read more…
MENTOR: Joy McCullough-Carranza MENTEE: Laura Shovan TITLE: THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary Verse Novel WORD COUNT: 19,000 PITCH: Miss Hill’s class is determined to rescue Emerson Elementary from demolition, but popular Ashlie Hawk has a secret: Her father’s behind the plans to raze their school. Read more…
MENTOR: Jen Swann Downey MENTEE: Glenn McCarty TITLE: LANG SAWYER AND THE DEN OF NOSTROMO CATEGORY/GENRE: Upper MG Fantasy WORD COUNT: 72,000 PITCH: Lang Sawyer’s quest for glory as a teenage monster hunter becomes a struggle for survival after he makes a monstrous discovery – characters from storybooks are disappearing, causing havoc in Read more…
MENTOR: Gail Nall MENTEE: Abby Cooper TITLE: STICKS AND STONES CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary WORD COUNT: 47,000 PITCH: Thirteen-year-old Elyse has a disease where the names people call her stick to her body like temporary tattoos, and not the cool kind. If she’s chosen as the leader for the big class Read more…
MENTOR: Naomi Hughes MENTEE: Casey Lyall TITLE: HOWARD WALLACE, P.I. CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Mystery (Noir) WORD COUNT: 27,000 PITCH: Eleven year old P.I. Howard Wallace gets by with a semi-reliable bike, a lucky trench coat, and a corner office in the school yard. But when his smart-mouthed new partner ropes him into a hot case Read more…
MENTOR: Stephanie Funk MENTEE: Ryan Dalton TITLE: THE YEAR OF LIGHTNING CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Mystery WORD COUNT: 78,000 PITCH: When twins Malcolm and Valentine Gilbert encounter a house with no doors, they discover it hides a machine that does far more than create deadly lightning storms. And if they can’t Read more…
MENTOR: Jennifer Malone MENTEE: Erin Elisabeth Conley TITLE: LUCKY ME! CATEGORY/GENRE: MG Contemporary WORD COUNT: 32,000 PITCH: Twelve-year-old Francophile/YouTube chef Clementine Sterling has bigger dreams than her boring life, and she’s got some questions for the Universe about the delay. But life gets crazy fast when her mom marries a chump and a mysterious Read more…
MENTOR: Stacey Lee MENTEE: Bethany Smith TITLE: The Sea Wolves CATEGORY/GENRE: YA Literary Thriller WORD COUNT: 75,000 PITCH: 17-year-old Anna stirs up trouble in an isolated Pacific Northwest community when she discovers a number of unexplained deaths, including her father’s, are connected to a mysterious pod of orca whales, and local folklore hides a Read more…
MENTOR: Elizabeth Briggs MENTEE: Audrey Coulthurst TITLE: HEART OF SPARKS CATEGORY/GENRE: YA Fantasy WORD COUNT: 90,000 PITCH: When Princess Denna falls in love with the defiant, horse-training sister of the prince she’s supposed to marry, she’ll have to sacrifice her crown and use her forbidden magical gift if she wants to stop a war Read more…