Reviews

First off, I have to say I love Cameron’s character. She’s obviously living in a tough situation, being in a place she is not fully welcome, but has such spunk and personality! Kids (and adults) will connect with her as I did from the very beginning. Your writing is strong. The story itself is interesting – mystery, danger, and self-discovery. Personally, these are my favorite types of stories. Cameron is such a great character!

-Halli Gomez, author of List of Ten

I thought the prose in this was strong and Shea an interesting character. I particularly enjoyed her interactions with her mother. I also thought parts of this were hilarious – the line “like watching a zombie who loved house chores” was brilliant. The mention of the circus was very intriguing! 

-Andrea Somberg, Literary Agent

Oh, I was so thrilled diving into these pages! You've done SO much with so few words, and I'm still not sure how! Immediately, I had the feeling I was in strong storytelling hands because it's clear you have excellent writerly control. The action was immediate, which is perfect for this age. We quickly got a sense of Cameron and her mother's life, the way the villagers treat them, the landscape with respect to political and socioeconomic attributes. I loved the way you keep the scene moving, while also sprinkling in information that allows the reader to keep making sense of things. The dialogue was really sharp and tension-filled. We get dashes of Cameron's strength and voice via the 3rd-person narrator, which isn't easy to do. There seems to be an immense amount of possibility with respect to external events.

The promise behind this story is something I'm going to be thinking about for a while to come. It's so rich and unique and has that element of voice that agents always crave! Thank you so much for the opportunity to dip into your story world!

-Marissa Graff, Editor

You have imagined an entire, exciting world, and it was so fun to be able to live in it for a while!

-Gillian McDunn, author of Caterpillar Summer and These Unlucky Stars

Well, Susan. These opening pages are lovely. Beyond lovely. Your imagery, characters, structure and content are all so well developed already, I feel like any comments I make may be superfluous. There is so much that is already working here and I would request pages based on this sample.

These are really tight pages and you've done an excellent job. I really love the stakes that we see for Shea in the pitch.

Great work! I wish you all the luck. 

~Shannon Parker, author of The Girl Who Fell