I am excited to tell you that the novel that I finished last year has been edited, and I am now looking for an agent or a publisher. I may decide to publish it under my own publishing company if I don't get any bites soon. ( Golden Pheasant Publishing ) It is a book written for middle grades, though I imagine adults would love it as well. I certainly enjoyed writing and reading it :-)
here's the cover... thanks to AI, Canva, and photoshop.... that is, unless someone in the industry picks it up... Let me know if you want a copy... send me a note at gmail... my name@
So here's the pitch:
I'm excited to pitch The Girls of Adirondack Woodcraft (Boys’) Camp, a lively, atmospheric middle-grade historical/contemporary crossover set in the late 1960’s, complete at 97,051 words. The story blends the nostalgic summer setting of The Summer I Turned Pretty – reimagined at a summer camp for boys in the Adirondack Mountains – with the complex female friendships found in The Girls in the Stilt House. Unlike the girls living on their own in the stilt house, my protagonist and her friend navigate their summer challenges within the support of their loving families. Readers who love a story centered in nature with a resourceful, creative heroine like the protagonist in Louise Erdrich’s Birch Bark House series will love this book.
Growing up in upstate New York, I spent my childhood with my family at Adirondack Woodcraft Camp, a boys’ camp, where my father worked as kitchen manager. Reminiscing about those idyllic days got me wondering what it might have been like to be a teenage girl living at that boys’ camp during that time. When writing the book, I had the joy of revisiting that magical place, this time as a teenager.
The idyllic 50s have ended, and the world outside the boys’ camp is smack in the middle of the turbulent 60s, and so is Molly. Molly is a small-town girl living with her family at an Adirondack camp for boys, where her father works as the summer kitchen manager.
Molly is a bit of a tomboy and dresses in whatever works in an art room or for a walk in the woods. She is most comfortable in old clothes and “creek sneaks,” her hair in a ponytail.
Her big plans for the summer involve hiking, swimming, and creating art. She has a deep love of the Adirondack woods and a desire to create.
With guidance from Doug, the camp naturalist, and Beverly, the art teacher, she will combine her passions and gain skills that she will carry with her into the future.
Enter Pam, Chief's granddaughter, and Molly’s best summer friend. Pam is fifteen going on twenty. She is from the big city, and this year, when she lands at camp, she is sporting a new, “groovy” hairstyle right out of the teen magazines. Her goals for the summer are twofold: finding a boyfriend and working on her tan.
Although Molly is on a different track, she idolizes Pam, an expert in all things teen.
This will be a pivotal summer for Molly. She will learn that sometimes standing alone is more important than fitting in. She will have to decide when to follow her friend’s lead and when to trust her own inner voice.
Navigating the tricky waters of this mismatched friendship becomes all too evident on a fateful canoe outing during a lightning storm, and later when Pam’s best friend from home makes an appearance in the chapter entitled “Three Is a Crowd.”
If teenage years didn't already have enough drama, throw in a panther stalking the camp, a thrilling cave rescue, a few bears, a visit to a gifted mountain woman, a runaway girl camped out in the woods and best of all, a first boyfriend.
Molly’s summer at camp is an unforgettable journey of growth, adventure, and self-discovery.
One of my beta readers wrote back with this note: “It’s a book every preteen girl should read. It touches on so many important themes: friendship, crushes, love, betrayal, divorce, domestic abuse, and how to navigate problems. (The abuse only garnishes a mention after the fact, nothing graphic ) All that on top of a ton of natural beauty and useful information! And exciting things happen! Any mom would feel comfortable giving this book to her daughter to read, and the daughter would find it exciting and engrossing! I wish every young girl had such a tender first experience with a boy. The readers of your book will have a better chance than they might otherwise have.
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