A Penguin fetish

I have discovered something deliciously exciting this week. Penguin Group (Australia) has reopened their Books for Children & Young Adults department to unsolicited manuscripts. (You can check it out here for yourself if you don’t believe me.) I’ve been looking at publishers’ websites for over 12 months now and I have never seen this from Penguin before. I’ve got a bit of a Penguin fetish going on, to be honest. It’s enough to get my heart all a-flutter. Imagine! Just imagine, if Penguin accepted one of my manuscripts. They recently rejected one of my junior novels, however they did provide me with the loveliest rejection letter I have received to date. Even if it is just a form letter, it still made the disappointment a little easier to handle. So in honour of all things Penguin, tonight I have polished up cover letters for two of my manuscripts: Slow Down, Stanley and The Gate. I really like both of these picture book manuscripts but for very different reasons.

Slow Down, Stanley is for every little child who has every struggled to sit still. As a mother to three wriggly, jiggly, wiggly boys – and having taught dozens more – I have a really soft spot for kids who are always being told to slow down. Sit still. Stop fidgeting. Like Stanley, many of these kids just want to RUN! In my trademark optimistic style, Stanley gets a chance to put his energies to good use in his very first sports carnival. Not only does he end up with a beautiful, precious ribbon at the finish line, he also gets a new name. He’s not Slow-Down-Stanely anymore. He’s Run-Stanley-Run. This one is aimed at the Prep age group where kids get to experience the wonder of sports’ days for the first time.

The Gate, on the other hand, is a layered picture book that invites the reader to actively engage in the construction of meaning. With minimal text, it explores the journey of a small boy who has a gate in the middle of his backyard, attached to nothing but his dreams. The picture book takes readers on a 70-year journey with the young boy as he grows into an adult, and eventually, an old man. Along the way there are three double-page spreads of illustrations of the dream sequence at each stage of the boy’s life. It is my intention that this will be an opportunity to document some of the major events in Australian history from sporting heroes, conflicts to the nature of society and fashion in the 1940s, 1970s and today.  It will also be an opportunity for young people to realise that their parents and grandparents have dreams that may not be that dissimilar to their own. And although we age, our deepest desires and the essence of who we are remains the same. The cycle of life and death, of hopes and dreams continues when the old man dies and his grandson discovers the secret to the gate. And so a journey begins again. This book is aimed at the upper primary age group. It’s certainly the sort of book I used to look for to use in my classroom and one that could branch off into many areas of the curriculum. I think it would also be great as a stimulus for creative writing. Just what teachers are after, right?

I have enclosed my lovely little SSAEs and have developed new and sparkly cover letters. I actually took a new approach to my cover letters after getting some great advice from Sally Odgers. I feel that they are direct, to the point and yet are a good example of my writing style and congruent with the accompanying manuscript in each case. I guess only time will tell if I’ve sold myself well enough. I’d love to add a little Penguin or two to my collection.

Oh, and I’ve just found out that Penguin have been named Publisher of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards. Just another reason for my fetish, right?