Have you ever dreamed of seeing your words in print, turned into a children’s book and read by families across America? The Cheerios® New Author Contest, which kicked off its search last month for the next great new children’s book author, provides aspiring writers the perfect opportunity to make this dream a reality. One Grand Prize Winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a possible publishing deal with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, in addition to having his or her book featured inside Cheerios cereal boxes nationwide.
As part of the brand’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the whole child and connecting families by fostering a shared love of reading, Cheerios invites aspiring authors to enter its New Author Contest now through July 15, 2011. Entrants must write and submit an original story, in either English or Spanish, suitable for children ages three to eight. Those who think they have the “write” stuff can visit www.spoonfulsofstoriescontest.com for more information and to enter.
The 2009 winner of the New Author Contest was Laurie Isop, for her adorable book, How Do you Hug a Porcupine? Simple yet expressive images of children hugging different animals are accompanied by rhyming text, each stanza ending with the titular question. As with all winners the book includes Spanish translations on each page. How Do You Hug a Porcupine is available now in specially marked boxes of Cheerios, and will be in book stores July 26.
Laurie was happy to answer some questions about her book idea:
How did you come up with the idea for How Do You Hug a Porcupine?
We were sitting around the dinner table one evening talking about how some people are harder to get close to than others (the “warm fuzzy” types vs. the “cold prickly” types). I thought that would be a good concept for the story, but changed it to animals instead of people to make it more age-appropriate. We had so much fun making a list of all the easy animals to hug, and all the challenging ones. We all agreed the porcupine would be the toughest.
How did you hear about the Cheerios contest? Did you already have the book planned when you heard about the contest, or did you write it just for the contest?
My sister, who owns The Book Oasis in Stoneham, MA heard about the contest and encouraged me to enter. I wrote the book just for the contest and loved it so much I thought I would self-publish it. I was well on my way when the call came in that I had won.
Do you have any advice for someone who is entering a book in the contest?
Read your story to anyone who will listen, especially children. Watch their reaction and gauge the succes of your story by their actions: are they engaged, interested, waiting for the next page, or are they looking around the room and picking at their toes. Also, study the judging criteria carefully. I printed out the 5 judging categories and taped it to my monitor and referred to it constantly, to be sure I was hitting all the categories.
Why do you write for children? What’s the hardest part about writing a children’s book? Do you have a specific age you like to target?
I write for children because I can finish a story in a relatively short period of time, and that is so satisfying to me. I love to see their eyes light up, or make them laugh, and use inflection when I read to them. The biggest challenge is finding a story line they will love, and keeping the word count in line. Picture books are tough because every word has to be tight and necessary – nothing extra allowed. I really enjoy the 3-to-5-year-old range, so I target that group a lot.
Have you ever really tried to hug a porcupine?
Not a live one, unless you count my cranky old neighbor, but I do have a stuffed porcupine hand-puppet that I hug all the time.
There’s still plenty of time to enter the Cheerios® New Author Contest. If you have a story for children just waiting to be told, click on over and get started.
Nancy likes to hug her husband, children and dog. She writes about books, her boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.
Congrats to Laurie! Great interview, Nancy.
I have to admit that whenever I see those books in the Cheerios boxes, I always buy one, even if that’s not the cereal I planned on buying. Love it!