Wednesday, April 5, 2017

PBParty #2: SHE LOOKED UP, Biography

Title: SHE LOOKED UP
Genre: PB Biography 
Word Count: 690 (+400 back matter) 

Query: 


Dear Agent,

In 1830, men dominated astronomy, but 12-year-old Maria Mitchell wasn’t content to stay behind. She wanted to explore her universe—all of it. Sick of looking down at her sewing, she dreamed, studied, questioned, and looked up. After years of traveling the sky with her telescope, she discovered a new comet and made history. 

SHE LOOKED UP is the 690-word biography of Maria Mitchell, the first American woman to be a professional astronomer. It focuses primarily on Maria's childhood. Maria's story has not been published as a picture book biography, though comps include Maria’s Comet by Deborah Hopkinson (1999), a fictionalized account. This story about a curious girl persevering in science will appeal to readers of Ada Twist, Scientist(Andrea Beaty); Summer Birds (Margarita Engle); and The Most Magnificent Thing (Ashley Spires).  

As a freelancer, I write academic passages for elementary students. My work has been bought by Highlights for Children. 

Thank you for considering my manuscript.


First 50 Words: 

A comet is a chunk of ice and dust
zooming through space.
From far away, a comet is a streak of light. 
From the roof of Maria’s house, a comet was a tiny smudge. 
So how did Maria discover a new comet, named just for her? 
She looked up
    and up
        and didn’t stop.


7 comments:

  1. Hi! I'd be interested to read more about Maria. Please sent the full manuscript to alyssajennette@stonesong.com. Thanks for participating in PBparty!

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  2. Hi! I'd be interested in reading SHE LOOKED UP. Please send the full manuscript through http://QueryMe.online/tmarchini/PBParty

    I look forward to reading!

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  3. This sounds great! Please send the full manuscript pasted in the body of the email,along with your pitch and bio to clelia@martinliterarymanagement.com. Thanks!

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  4. I'd love to see the manuscript! Please send the full as an attachment to LBiagi@jvnla.com, along with the pitch and bio in your email and PBParty in the subject line. Looking forward to reading! -Laura Biagi

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  5. This sounds fantastic. Please send your pitch and the full manuscript in an email to lauren@triadaus.com, with [PBParty + TITLE] in the subject line. I can't wait to read! - Lauren Spieller www.triadaus.com

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  6. I'd love to take a look! Please send the manuscript following the guidelines on jdlit.com and include PBParty in the subject line. Excited to read!--Roseanne Wells, The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency

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  7. I love this opening, and I'd love to see the rest! Please send the query + full MS to query@psliterary.com and put #PBParty in the subject!

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