Pitch:
With a love of math, a new best friend, and an Army nurse sister who returns damaged from Vietnam, seventh-grader Jane uses poetry to document and deal with the injustices she encounters as a girl in 1969-70 America.
Excerpt:
Janie Mueller
September 2, 1969
Mini-skirt
I wear my new skirt
for the first time
orange plaid
so short
I can feel the torn vinyl bus seat
beneath me
my new shirt
a zipper
at the neck
with a big metal ring
that I fidget with
my arms
held over my chest
almost as embarrassed
to be wearing a bra this year
as I was
to not be wearing one last year
ashamed
to be so tall
my legs and arms
sticking so so so far out
of these clothes
I sit up
tuck one leg under me
look around the bus
at the other girls
seventh and eighth graders
in beads
and fringe
plaids and stripes
short short skirts
almost all of us
tugging, smoothing, adjusting
But
when Mr. Lasky
turns on the radio
we ignore the boys
in their same old boring
shirts and pants
we sit up straighter
smooth our skirts
square our shoulders
tuck our hair
behind our ears
listen to Stevie Wonder
and
imagine ourselves
models
posing by the Eiffel Tower
each of us
someone’s
Cherie Amour
Janie Mueller
September 8, 1969
7th Grade Spelling
Our bonus spelling word is from current events:
ASSASSINATION
Easy.
Spell “ass,” twice. “I.” “Nation.”
I could tell Jimmy Nelson this
he’d laugh out loud and tell the whole class
as if he had thought of it himself
but I keep it to myself
like all the other things I’ve thought are interesting
all the answers to teachers’ questions
since they started ignoring my raised hand
to call on the boys instead
I’m intrigued. I would love to read more! Please send the query and full manuscript as word doc attachments to hilaryquery@ktliterary.com with PitchWars in the subject field.
Congratulations on completing Pitch Wars! I really enjoyed this and I’d love to see more. Please send your query in the body of an email, plus your full manuscript and a synopsis (attached). I look forward to reading!
Lauren Spieller
TriadaUS Literary Agency
lauren@triadaus.com
Really love this.
If you think we’d be a good fit, please send the full to heather.stormliteraryagency@gmail.com with Pitch Wars Query, your name, and the title in the subject line.
Thank you and good luck!
Heather Cashman
Storm Literary Agency
I’d love to read this full manuscript. Please send it attached as a word document to: rena@thedeborahharrisagency.com
Thanks!
– Rena Rossner
The Deborah Harris Agency
Hi Susan! I’d love to read more. I love novels in verse. 🙂 Can you send the full manuscript to me at adria@martinlit.com? Thanks!
I really enjoyed this. I have a soft spot for novels in verse and historical! That said, I’d love to read on! Please send the query, synopsis and first 100 pages to chquery [at] mcintoshandotis [dot] com with Pitch Wars request in the subject line. –Christa Heschke, McIntosh and Otis
I would love to read more of this! Please send a query + 50 pages to shannon@marsallyonliteraryagency.com. Thanks, Shannon
I’m intrigued! Please send the query, synopsis and first three chapters to nicole@goldenwheatliterary.com with Pitch Wars in the subject line. Thanks!
Hi Susan, I’ll never think of the word assassination the same way again! Please send the full manuscript with complete synopsis and author bio (all in one Word document) to sandy@lperkinsagency.com. Looking forward to reading!