And the winners… of the 2016 Totem Head Contest are…

…..pause for effect….

All Ages, No Prescribed Beginning

Winner: ONLY STORMS by Miranda Sun

2nd Place: INTREPID by Anna Durand

3rd Place: SLOPPY’S WILE ADVENTURE by Seoyoung Kim

Ages 8 and Under

Winner: THE SURPRISE COOKIE POTION by Hannah Lee

2nd Place: RAINA THE RAIN DROP by Joanna Kim

3rd Place: AN AWESOME ADVENTURE by Olivia Handzel

Ages 9 – 10 Years Old

Winner: REFLECTIONS OF THE FUTURE by Azlyn Raja

2nd Place: THE SLEEPING STORY by Ben Handzel

3rd Place: THE CAVE OF EVER-REST by Connor Straub

Ages 11 – 12 Years Old

2016 Grand Champion: NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

2nd Place: A THISTLE BEDTIME by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

3rd Place: THE KATCHETHORDAN DIAMOND by Karen Wang

Ages 13 – 18 Years Old

Winner: WHEN THERE WERE FOUR OF US by Ella Osborn

2nd Place: FELINE FLUMMOX by Isabella Astuto

3rd Palce: FIGHTING THE FLAMES by Adaline Griffiths

A Note of Gratitude and Congratulations

A great big CONGRATULATIONS to our category winners and to all our finalists, who made our JUDGES’ job SUPER tough this year. I lost track of how many judges wanted to declare a tie, but there can be only one winner 🙂

We hope you’ll all enter a story in our 2017 contest. All the details are here:  2017 Contest Details

Once again, congratulations to our 2016 entrants!

Look for the winning stories online in the next couple weeks. And our winners can expect their packages in the mail about a week after they confirm their mailing address (look in your email for a note from Adventure Write).

Ladies and gentlemen…

Our 2016 Totem Head Contest finalists!

All Ages, No Prescribed Beginning

TUNNEL SECRETS by Suhyeon Emelie Kim

ONLY STORMS by Miranda Sun

INTREPID by Anna Durand

THERE IS A FAN AROUND EVERY CORNER by Josiah Durand

SLOPPY’S WILE ADVENTURE by Seoyoung Kim

Ages 8 and Under

MOUNT EVEREST by Amelia DiValerio

ROCKY THE SUPER DOG by Olivia DePrince

AN AWESOME ADVENTURE by Olivia Handzel

RAINA THE RAIN DROP by Joanna Kim

THE SURPRISE COOKIE POTION by Hannah Lee

Ages 9 – 10 Years Old

THE SLEEPING STORY by Ben Handzel

THE ADVENTURES OF ME, A HOPELESS KID by Lila Shelton

REFLECTIONS OF THE FUTURE by Azlyn Raja

THE CAVE OF EVER-REST by Connor Straub

AN ADVENTURE FOR LUCIA COIN by Eliana Du

Ages 11 – 12 Years Old

THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK by Rama Khabbaz

THE MIRACLE OF TIME by Savannah Weaver

NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

A THISTLE BEDTIME by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

THE KATCHETHORDAN DIAMOND by Karen Wang

Ages 13 – 18 Years Old

MONKEYING AROUND by Monica Inda

THE BIRD AND THE ANCHOR by Ella Osborn

WHEN THERE WERE FOUR OF US by Ella Osborn

FELINE FLUMMOX by Isabella Astuto

FIGHTING THE FLAMES by Adaline Griffiths

What next?

These finalists now go to our FINAL ROUND JUDGES, who will choose one winner in each category! Click here to meet our judges.

Stay tuned!

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Well it wasn’t easy, but with the help of our awesome preliminary judges, we selected our semi-finalists in each category. They are the top 5 (or more) from our mailed-in entries and the top 5 (or more) from our emailed entries. Next, our judges will select the top FIVE semi-finalists in each category. Those will be our contest finalists, and those finalists will go to our guest judges who will choose one winner in each category.

Let’s give a HUGE congratulations to our 2016 Semi-Finalists!

All Ages, No Prescribed Beginning

AWAY by Durva Kamdar

THERE IS A FAN AROUND EVERY CORNER by Josiah Durand

INTREPID by Anna Durand

SLEEP SWIMMING OR MIDNIGHT MEMORIES by Anna Durand

ONLY STORMS by Miranda Sun

TUNNEL SECRETS by Suhyeon Emelie Kim

THE DREAM by Yuli Choi

SLOPPY’S WILE ADVENTURE by Seoyoung Kim

THE HIDDEN WORLD by Kayd Bell

Ages 8 and Under

THE AMAZING ADVENTURE LANDS by Sai Dheeraj K

UNICORN HOLLOW by Claire Timperley

MY ADVENTURE WITH THE PINK UNICORN by Jaliyah Johnson

SPARKLING SNOW by Kathleen Durand

TELEPORTATION by Hayden Miller

SUNNY’S ADVENTURE by Katie Nam

MOUNT EVEREST by Amelia DiValerio

ROCKY THE SUPER DOG by Olivia DePrince

THE SURPRISE COOKIE POTION by Hannah Lee

AN AWESOME ADVENTURE by Olivia Handzel

RAINA THE RAIN DROP by Joanna Kim

Ages 9 – 10 Years Old

AN ADVENTURE FOR LUCIA COIN by Eliana Du

AS A DRAGON by Katherine Min

REFLECTIONS OF THE FUTURE by Azlyn Raja

THE MAGICAL PEPPERMINT by Ayza Siddiqi

REMEMBER ADELINE by Allegra Gray

GONE by Evan Hansen

BIRD OF PREY by Penny Dugan

THE SLEEPING STORY by Ben Handzel

THE CAVE OF EVER-REST by Connor Straub

THE ADVENTURES OF ME, A HOPELESS KID by Lila Shelton

ARCTIC CHILL by Lizzy Higgins

THE ALIENS OF ZYBORG by Lauren Waldstein

TRAPPED by Hemali Patil

Ages 11 – 12 Years Old

THE KATCHETHORDAN DIAMOND by Karen Wang

LETTING GO – by Caroline Zhao

IN THE WOODS by Katie Schornhorst

THE LOVE DESTROYERS by Macy K. Li

THE ATTACK IN ST. AUGUSTINE by Eli Hagelberg

HOW I GOT ACCEPTED INTO FT. HAMER MILITARY ACADEMY by Kyle C. Rickly

THE SEARCH FO THE LOST CITY OF SUBMERGED by Andrew B. Brannon

NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

A THISTLE BEDTIME by Maria Therese Qualkinbush

SOMETHING IN THE WOODS by Emma Wisecarver

THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK by Rama Khabbaz

VANISHED by Bolanle Ayangade

CALL OF DESTRUCTION: SURVIVAL OPS IV by Ajitesh Kundeti

LIGHT IT UP by Nicolas Potts

THE MIRACLE OF TIME by Savannah Weaver

Ages 13 – 18 Years Old

THE SIGNAL by Saddat Nazir

PANACEA by Annika Russell

WOODEN SECRETS by Hae-in Joann Ryu

DMT by Laura S. Moser

THE MOUND OF BASKERVILLE by Seth Roetenberger

FIGHTING THE FLAMES by Adaline Griffiths

FELINE FLUMMOX by Isabella Astuto

SNOW DOG by Sylvia Nica

A WORTHY RISK by Matthew Inda

MONKEYING AROUND by Monica Inda

A FRESHMAN’S WORST NIGHTMARE by Evan Orozco

THE BIRD AND THE ANCHOR by Ella Osborn

WHEN THERE WERE FOUR OF US by Ella Osborn

What next?

Now our judges will select their top FIVE from each category. Those will be our contest finalists. Those entries will go to our guest judges who will select one winner from each category 🙂

Stay tuned!

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THE SCHOOL IS ALIVE! (Eerie Elementary #1)
by Jack Chabert
Genre: Children’s Chapter Book, Scary Stories
Publisher: Scholastic (June 2014)
Format: Paperback, SALE $2.97 on Amazon

Summary
Eerie Elementary is one scary school!

This series is part of Scholastic’s early chapter book line called Branches, which is aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!

In this first book in the series, Sam Graves discovers that his elementary school is ALIVE! Sam finds this out on his first day as the school hall monitor. Sam must defend himself and his fellow students against the evil school! Is Sam up to the challenge? He’ll find out soon enough: the class play is just around the corner. Sam teams up with friends Lucy and Antonio to stop this scary school before it’s too late!

Author Jack Chabert is a pen name for Max Brallier. Max is the author of more than twenty books for children, including the Galactic Hot Dogs and The Last Kids on Earth middle-grade series. He lives in New York City with his wife, Alyse.

WEBSITE | TWITTER

Colleen’s Review

Fun, picture-filled pages, perfect to read to pre-schoolers/Kindergarteners/First Graders.

THE SCHOOL IS ALIVE (Eerie Elementary #1) by Jack Chabert, is an early reader with black and white illustrations throughout. My 5-year-old loves illustrated books about kids, and the quirky title/cover of this book caught his eye and the creepy story line held his attention.

Sam Graves and his two friends, Lucy & Antonio, are students at Eerie Elementary School, where Sam discovers the school is trying to eat the students. As Hall Monitor, it’s up to Sam to fight the school and save the students. In this installment, during the class play, the stage and props come to life and try to swallow the students.

I read this book to my 5-year-old son, who thoroughly enjoyed Sam’s exciting adventure and looking at the pictures as I read. Though this is marketed as a book for newly independent young readers, I saw more than a few large words that might be too advanced for a newly independent reader. However, there may be enough repetition to help in comprehension. As a book read out loud to a pre-schooler, it was perfect. The chapters are numbered with digits, which made my son happy that he could “read” which chapter we were about to start. The print is large enough to point out sight words for him too. He’s excited to read the rest of the books in the Eerie Elementary series.

I’d recommend this book for parents who like to read to their pre-schoolers/kindergardeners/1st graders, and to 2nd-3rd graders who read independently, especially for kids who like adventure and won’t be scared by a dark tale with a student-eating villain.

4.5 Stars

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: CM McCoy’s Contest Policy applies. Rafflecopter terms and conditions also apply. No Purchase necessary to enter. Void where prohibited by law.

Some readers reached out to us, wanting to learn how to write a more helpful, professional-looking book review, and so we put together this quick “how-to” guide.

The bottom line is that you can write a book review however you want–even one sentence works. If you’re interested in writing a more thorough book review, read on 🙂

How to Write a Book Review

A professional book review includes:

0. A tagline/summation. Give your overall reaction to the book or a summation of your review.

Ex: Wow! <– That’s all you could get out of me for hours after reading this book. OR Hogwarts meets X-Men’s Xavier’s School with an unforgettable romance. OR My head hurts, my heart hearts, and I’m a little sick to my stomach (in a good way)

1. An intro. Give the title, author, genre, and series info (or stand-alone) for the book.

Ex: EERIE by CM McCoy is a young adult fantasy with romance and the first book in a series, which can be read as a stand-alone.

2. Why you decided to read the book. Did the cover call to you? Do you already know and love the author? Did you see a catchy ad and loved the blurb?

Ex: CM McCoy is a new author to me, but when I saw that EERIE had been featured in both PEOPLE magazine and on INSIDE EDITION and I wanted to check it out.

3. Expectations. How you felt going in to the book, how you felt when you finished, and whether the book met your expectations.

Ex: The EERIE blurb and reviews promised I’d find a quirky/dark story with unexpected humor and memorable characters and IT DELIVERED 🙂

4. Summary. Write a short summary of the plot (without spoilers).

Ex: Hailey Hartley suffers a devastating personal loss during her senior year of high school–her big sister is abducted–only to find that the supposedly mythical creatures called Envoys are to blame. Hailey follows an Envoy named Asher to a Paranormal University in Alaska, where Asher promises to protect her from other Envoys who really really want her dead. Things become more and more uncomfortable for Hailey as she struggles to survive her supernatural classes, avoid the campus’s paranormal perils, and get along with her roommate from Hell. When she accidentally ignites Asher’s jealously by spending time with another guy, Fin, things come to a head and Hailey hopes this one creature that can protect her from the other Envoys doesn’t end up killing her himself.

5. Commentary on what worked and what didn’t work for you. This can be however long or short you want to make it. Mention whether the main story line is tied up and whether there is a cliffhanger. Include whatever you want, but be sure to comment on the book the author wrote, and not the book you wish the author had written.

Ex: The world-building in EERIE and the sheer imagination involved in creating this new mythology are astounding. There are so many new creatures and characters I’ll never forget, like Hailey’s grumpy “loner” roommate, who just wants to be left alone but optimist Hailey can’t take a hint. And the villain, Cobon, who’s so creepy and gentlemanly at the same time and who’s so unapologetically sure of his “got to break a few eggs to make an omelet” attitude. The heroes are beautifully flawed, and I honestly didn’t know who to root for until the very heart-breaking end. This book is a perfectly paced, with great moments of edge-of-your-seat suspense coupled with the slow burn of unrequited love. Even though the book over 400 pages long, I read the whole thing in one night. I only wish it were LONGER so that I didn’t have to wait for the sequel to get more of the story. There is no happily ever after ending in this fairy tale, but the main story line is tied up wonderfully with a teaser chapter at the end to let us know more is coming (and hopefully soon).

6. How much (if any) you skimmed.

7. Romance / Language / Violence / Age Recommendation. If there’s romance, is it sweet, steamy, or for adults only? How much cussing is there? If there’s violence, is it mild, moderate, or gory? Recommend an age range for the book.

Ex: The romance is sweet, the violence mild, and I counted one F-bomb in this book. I’d recommend this for readers aged 14 and older. 

8. A recommendation and comparison for readers who like x, y, or z.

Ex: Fans of Moning’s DARKFEVER will like the adventure and supernatural suspense of EERIE. The romance in EERIE will appeal to fans of TWILIGHT, and fans of HARRY POTTER will love the unique world and new mythology in a remote school setting.

9. A star rating. You can rate a book however you want. This is the scale we use on our review blog:

5 stars = We loved the book enough that we’d buy it in hard cover or buy a copy as a gift for a friend.

4 stars = We’re keeping this book because we enjoyed it or parts of it so much we might read it again.

3 stars = We very much enjoyed this book, but we probably won’t read it again.

2 stars = We didn’t really enjoy the book as much as we wanted and on the whole, it simply fell flat for us.

1 star = We finished reading the book, but there were so many issues with the writing/editing/story line that we were sorely disappointed and can’t in good conscience recommend the book at all.

DNF = We didn’t finish reading this book, because for whatever reason, it simply wasn’t for us. If what we read warrants a star-rating, we’ll use the above scale to rate what we did read, and we’ll try to recommend an audience for this book.

Where to leave a review

Here are some places you can leave a book review:

• Goodreads
• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• Library Thing
• YA Books Central

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Meet our 2016 contest judges!

Final Round Judges

These guys will choose our Grand Prize winners:

Astronaut Bill “Billy O” Oefelein

Billy O was the first Alaskan in space and the first person to write a blog whilst in orbit. He’s logged over 300 hours in space and thousands of hours flying in more than 60 types of aircraft with more than 200 carrier-arrested landings. He’s climbed both Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua (two of the seven summits), completed an expedition to Antarctica, and teaches corporate pilots how not to crash when stuff goes wrong. He also writes Picture Books 🙂 Billy O loves a great adventure story that makes his heart pound and his eyes race through the pages.

PEOPLE Magazine Staff Writer Jeff Truesdell

Twitter  | Articles

As a staff Writer for People magazine since 2005, Jeff Truesdell draws on three decades as a newspaper reporter, editor, freelancer, journalism educator, and budding documentary filmmaker. Jeff loves emotional stories that ring true to life.

Literary Agent Michelle Johnson

Twitter | Facebook | Website

Michelle is the founder of Inklings Literary Agency. After a life long obsession with books, a career in business management/ownership including bookstores and community writing centers, and a few years with small presses in an editorial capacity, Michelle Johnson is now a sought-after literary agent, who represents many NYT Bestsellers, award-winning authors, debut authors, and indie authors alike. She loves books that are like watching a train wreck you can’t look away from, characters that leave you feeling like you’ve just lost a friend because the book is over, and plots that she can’t predict at every turn. She especially loves books that make her think about something in a new way, but without preaching. Michelle also loves to laugh and loves dark, smart humor.

Literary Agent Naomi Davis

Twitter

Naomi Davis has a background in writing, editing, and customer service. When she’s not entertaining her spawn, she’s immersed entirely in imaginary worlds with the characters who inspire her fiction, or reading stories with characters who spring off the page, grip her by the heart (/throat), and wring her emotionally dry. She loves a good bad guy, especially when he has a story to tell, too.

Literary Agent Amanda Jain

 Twitter | Facebook

Amanda Jain has loved books for as long as she can remember. When she was a kid, Amanda always had her head in a book. In her room, in the car, in the bathtub, wherever. She probably would have brought a book to the dinner table every evening if that was allowed.  After earning a BA in English, she worked in the trade department at W. W. Norton for seven years before earning her MA in the history of decorative arts. Amanda loves stories that completely immerse her in their world. She wants to feel the sun on her shoulders, smell the smoke of the battlefield, and hear the horses galloping in the distance.

Author Lynn Lovegreen

Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Website | Books

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. She taught English for 20 years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys reading, hanging out with friends and family, and hitting targets with a cowboy action shooting club. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters.

Preliminary Round Judges

These guys choose which entries go to our final round judges. It’s arguably the toughest job in the contest to whittle all these great entries down to the top 3-5 in each category!

Author CM McCoy (aka Colleen Oefelein)

Twitter | Facebook | Website | Books

Our contest coordinator, Colleen is well aware no one can say or spell her last name, hence the pen name. She’s an Irish dancer and retired military officer living in the Great White North. Though she holds a B.S. in chemical engineering and one in German from Penn State, she’s far happier writing stories of near misses and awkward kisses. In Alaska. While working 911 dispatch for Alaska State Troopers, she learned to speak in 10-codes, which she still does…but only to annoy her family. Her debut novel is EERIE, a teen fantasy about a girl from the city who travels to a Paranormal University in Alaska. There she battles Yetis and carnivorous trees and finds that if her classes don’t kill her, the guy she fell in love with just might.

Author Crystal Brinkerhoff

Twitter | Website

Crystal writes teen fiction and currently lives in Spring, TX with her adventure-loving husband, five boisterous children, and one boxer who’s happiest when he’s in the thick of it all. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Her current project, CLEVER ELSIE, is hauntingly intriguing: Elsie quickly learns that an asylum in 1930 is full of sterile smells and whispers of experiments. Desperate to gain Ma’s freedom, Elsie seeks out the director of the hospital to appeal for Ma’s release. But Elsie soon finds that the director is not what he seems and the asylum has its own sinister secrets.

Read more about her novel, CLEVER ELSIE on Crystal’s website.

Author Jodi Gallegos

Twitter | Facebook | Website

When she’s not saving lives (she’s a nurse) or kicking butt (she’s a black belt), Jodi writes historical teen fiction. An intern at Lakewater Press, Jodi G is also a devourer of books, publishing reviews on her blog where she also posts about writing. She lives with her husband, three sons and an evolving herd of undisciplined animals in Colorado. She has a well-earned fear of bears, but tolerates the Teddy and Gummy variety.  She loves historical fiction featuring well-developed characters with beautiful backstories.

Author Karen Nunes

Twitter | Website

Karen writes dark teen fiction and likes off-the-wall stories. She works numbers by day, words by night and lives in sunny California with her husband, two children, and dogs. Most of her spare time is taken up with reading and writing. She’s currently hard at work on her 2nd Young Adult novel and enjoys reading anything dark and/or strange.

Author Sherry Howard

Twitter | Website

Sherry Howard lives with her children and crazy dogs in Middletown, Kentucky, a stone’s throw from the beautiful horse farms Kentucky is always bragging about. In her previous life Sherry was a teacher, consultant, author, and principal in one of the largest urban/ suburban school districts in America. She was published in the educational field for years, and she’s seen her poems and stories appear in multiple journals and anthologies. After writing six novels, she finally decided to see about getting an agent and getting one published. Sherry loves poetry, scifi, and fantasy in the vein of Jumanji and Beetlejuice.

Author Destini Sawyer

Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Books

Destini writes contemporary romance and fantasy. She’s a wife of a billion years (feels that way sometimes) with three beautiful demon children that keep her active and make her insane. She reads romance and mystery, when she has time, and drinks enough coffee to keep the small town she lives in awake for days. She likes road trips that lead to nowhere and pulls ideas for her writing from everyday life.

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The details for the 2017 Writing Contest for Kids are up!

Deadline to enter: 31 Dec 2017

Click here for all the details and the entry form: http://adventurewrite.com/blog1/contest/

All entries are in and judges are making their first round eliminations of the emailed entries now that they’ve finished their first round eliminations of the USPS entries.

Only 5 finalists in each category will move on to our guest judges, who will choose winners in each category. This year, we’re honored to have 3 literary agents from Inklings Literary judging as well as our astronaut, Bill Oefelein, and Alaska author of historical teen novels, Lynn Lovegreen.