The Chalkface Challenge 2014: The Shadowing Results

We know who won The Chalkface Challenge 2014 - congratulations again to Jill Atkins for Elrac and the Konkipong Tree  but whose entries were sent with Jill's to the Shadow Judges? And did our shadows choose the same winner as the children?

Firstly,  here are our runners up - shortlisted by the children at Sparsholt C of E Primary School, in no particular order:

Ruth Griffiths @ruthsageman with Sheriff Daisy and the Cold Custard Ambush (entry22)
'I liked that this story was fun and enjoyable, yet it was probably better suited for younger readers. The story made full sense and was easy to read, I don't think I'd change anything If I'm correct about the age thing.'

Jan Deykin with Hunting Fernando (entry 28)
'It was a real page turner'
'I like that the theme was football.'
'I enjoyed it and I would like to read more.'

Celia Anderson  @CeliaAnderson1 with Teacher Torture (entry 3)
'I loved the idea of a teachers prison.'
'I found it quite funny that he only had one hair.'

Tamara Wolcough with Stag Lodge and the Missing Oracle (entry 16)
'I liked this story because there was a school for secret agents and I thought the story was really good'



The comments above are from The Chewstoke Reviewers who are aged 10 to 11yrs.
A small problem with the post (the kind that lands on your door mat) means I don't yet have the Sparsholt comments. All those of you who entered and have kindly sent me SAE's, I'll post out as sound as I do.

Congratulations Celia, Tamara, Ruth, and Jan!

So what did the shadow judges think - did they agree with the children?

Here are the shadow judges comments:


Amber Caraveo, Editorial Director at Orion Children's Books & Indigo

'I had so much fun reading the top five Chalkface Challenge entries!

It was incredibly difficult to pick a favourite. I thought Entry 3 was very funny (especially torturing the teachers with pictures of tea and KitKats! ☺) and I can definitely see how it will appeal to young readers, but ultimately the winning entry for me is Entry 22.

I thought Entry 22 was written with personality and imagination. I loved that Daisy was such a brave and feisty female protagonist, I really enjoyed the idea of her storybook characters coming to life and I adored the little details – like Ears’ ears drooping when he’s disappointed, the Strawberry Saloon serving jam tarts and Bad-Breath Bill demanding a ransom of gold chocolate coins! Fun and inventive – it’s a winner for me!'


Ben Illis, Literary Agent at The BIA Agency

'My favourite is entry 16.

Here’s why:

I love the way it starts as any ‘first day at a new school' narrative might start and then casually throws in the fact that Jamie and Dan are to be training as secret agents. There’s something lovely about the matter of fact tone in which this piece of super-exciting information is then discussed, to say nothing of the humour in Aunt Evie’s description of her own failures back in her own day and the tantalising revelation that Jamie’s mum was one of the best back in hers. I also love the way it leaves us hanging, wondering just what sort of excitement Jamie and Dan are going to be facing during their top secret training. I mean after all, who HASN’T dreamt of being a secret agent?!'


Jasmine Richards, Senior Commissioning Editor at OUP Children's

'OMG! How amazing are the shortlisted entries! Really confident and exciting storytelling and I've found it extremely difficult to choose just one because all of the stories are very strong.

However, under threat of being poked with a long stick and thrown in a cage with those horrible teachers I'm going to choose Flynn and the Cell Block Zero Teachers’ Prison. I loved how naturally funny this writer was and the attention to little details which set the scene and provided backstory.

I also liked that I could clearly see where this story was going - got a feeling that Flynn and those teachers are going to need to work together to beat that monster! Overall a very masterful piece of work - well done!'

Karen Ball, Publisher at Little, Brown Young Readers & Atom 

'My favourite extract is number 16, reasons below: The extract opens with a strong and intriguing line of dialogue. I immediately wanted to know why Jamie was struggling to breath! The opening sentences also work hard at establishing personalities in a quick space of time. We see that Aunt is distracted but very engaged in Jamie’s destiny and that Dan has a mischievous sense of humour. Our main character’s wry narrative perspective establishes the mood of the book, and I quickly understood (in a good way!) what type of journey I was on.

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is all over the place, she actually blogs every week - here! She loves to write colourfully and organises The Chalkface Challenge by sweet talking all these lovely people to read, review, judge and most importantly ENTER! You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

The Chalkface Challenge 2014 - The Results

There were 29 entries for the Chalkface Challenge 2014 - the only writing competition judged entirely by children*. This year two schools took part in the judging and reviewing process. The judges were year 3 and 4 children from Sparsholt C of E Primary School, Sparsholt, Hampshire. 10 and 11 year old children from Chew Stoke Church School near Bristol reviewed the results.


The children, supported by their teachers, Lorraine Cooke at Sparsholt and Kirstin Simmonds at Chew Stoke excelled themselves with their conscientious judging, reading and enthusiasm for new stories. Thank you!

Before I announce the winner, here are the excellent reviewers of Chew Stoke who were asked what they liked, what they didn't like and if there was anything they'd change.

The Reviewers of Chew Stoke 
click to enlarge

And here's a report from Lorraine on the excellent judges of Sparsholt:

After three rounds of intense judging, the children in Years 3 and 4 at Sparsholt Primary School have chosen a winner. But before we reveal which one it is, here are some thoughts on how the children saw the process.

The Judges of Sparsholt

They all took their role very seriously, reading, recording their thoughts and swapping within their group during the first round to come up with a top ten – 2 per group. This generally wasn’t too hard with some stories having clear appeal for the target audience while others missed out because they took too long to get into the action or the children thought that the stories were pitched at older children.

A shortlisting panel of Year 4 children reduced the top 10 to the five best entries, then all five extracts were read to all of the children and they voted individually. Voting was close and there were slight differences of opinion between the two year groups, but the winner was equally popular with both 7-8 year-olds and 8-9 year-olds.

So I am delighted to announce that the winner of the 2014 Chalkface Challenge is…

Jill Atkins
for the first 500 words of
Elrac and the Konkipong Tree

About Jill's opening excerpt, the Sparsholt children said:

• I loved it! Elrac is a great character and I long to read the rest. One thing is it could have a bit more description. Taya aged 9
• Exciting! Thrilling, so good. Next time maybe a little more description. Ryan aged 9
• A very good magical story. I want to read the rest! Could have a little more description and funny parts. Cara aged 8

Whilst the older Chew Stoke reviewers said:

• A very interesting story and it is very imaginative, but maybe you could add more characters like other people trying to be wizards. Harry aged 10
• I think the names are really unusual names but in a good way. It did startle me a bit when the man said "Boy!". It was really imaginative. I really liked it. Annabelle aged 11
• A good story with good description though the names could be a little more imaginative but good use of speech. Finley aged 11
• There was good description. I really liked this story make it a bit more interesting. Frankie aged 11

There are four runners up whose opening excepts were sent with Jill's to the shadow judges. Look in next Sunday for these authors, their comments from the children and the shadow judges' deliberations.

In the meantime please enjoy Jill's winning opening excerpt:

Chapter 1 

Deep down in the deepest, darkest cave, Elrac tiptoed towards the glowing cauldron and peered over the edge. His eyes opened wide. The liquid was bubbling like lava from a volcano. He felt excitement bubbling up inside him, too.

“Yes!” he whispered. “It looks right this time.”

Reaching out, he gripped the stirring stick and began to swirl the mixture around. “Boy!” Suddenly, a voice echoed round the cave.

Elrac jumped and dropped the stirring stick, almost tipping himself into the hot, spluttering liquid. Spinning round, he peered up into a pair of piercing yellow eyes. It was his master, Wizzbang.

“Boy!” Wizzbang boomed again, stretching himself to a tremendous height. “Is the potion ready?”

Elrac licked his dry lips. He wanted so much to please his master and to pass the test. How he longed to be a real wizard!

“Well?”

Elrac opened his mouth, but no words would come out.

“No mistakes, this time?” Wizzbang boomed so loudly his tall pointed hat quivered. “I’ve given you enough chances, haven’t I?”

“N-no sir, I mean y-yes, sir.” Elrac had been trying to forget all the experiments that had gone wrong.

“I hope you haven’t ruined this potion.” Wizzbang waved his hands in a mysterious pattern above the cauldron. “My brother, Wozznip, is relying on it. He hasn’t sat down for a week.”

Elrac knew why. The potion was for getting rid of ten enormous boils on Wozznip’s bottom!

“Well? Is it perfect, or not?”

“I-I think s-so, Sir.”

“Think so?”

“Y-yes, Sir!”

“Have you added the Konkipong leaves?”

Elrac gasped. He’d forgotten the most important ingredient - the crushed, dried leaves of the Konkipong tree. Dashing to the shelf at the side of the cave, he grabbed the jar labelled ‘Crushed Konkipong Leaves’. At that moment, a stripy orange cat leapt from the shadows.

“Grimble!”

Elrac tripped over Grimble, then staggered and fell. The jar flew into the air, turned a somersault and landed with a crash on the stone floor. The crushed Konkipong leaves wafted away with the wind that whooshed through the cave.

Sparks spat from Wizzbang’s eyes and a roar resounded around the cave. Elrac lay quaking where he had fallen. His master was very angry indeed.

I’ll never pass the test now, Elrac thought. “I’ve tried to teach you,” boomed Wizzbang. “But you’ll never be a wizard.”

“P-please, Sir, give me just one last chance.”

Elrac held his breath, waiting for the answer.

Wizzbang stared at the ceiling, twirled three times on the spot, sneezed then coughed loudly. “My poor brother,” he growled. “There are no more Konkipong leaves... except...”

“Except?”

“...except on the last Konkipong tree in the world. Fetch some!”

Elrac jumped to his feet. “Yes, Sir! Where is the tree, Sir?”

“On the Neverever Mountain!”

Elrac gasped. People who went to the Neverever Mountain neverever came back!

“You have three days,” said Wizzbang. “And if you fail again…”

“Y...y-you’ll turn me into a lizard?”

“Exactly!”

---

About Jill

I am married with two grown-up children and five grandchildren. I live in West Sussex, an escaped Primary school teacher, and erstwhile college lecturer and Bed and Breakfast landlady! I am a school governor and visit school to read my stories to the children. I recently successfully completed my MA Writing for Children at Winchester University. I belong to the Society of Authors, SCBWI and CBC.
My first children’s book was published twenty years ago and to date I have had 46 books published (three more due out this year). I have written for many different publishers and my books range from early reading books to teenage novels.
I love thinking up new ideas for stories, which often come to me in the middle of the night, and I write almost every day. I enjoy writing to deadlines. I also read a lot - a wide range of books: children’s, YA and adult.
I enjoy travelling, mainly to Canada (my daughter and three grandsons live there) and France. I like cats, cooking, speaking French, going to the theatre, classical music, seeing friends and family and walking in the countryside.

Congratulations Jill!

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Did Jasmine Richards, Ben Illis, Amber Caraveo and Karen Ball each choose the same as the children?

Look in next Sunday, same time same place, to find out!

Lots of Brilliant Stuff

Well I've had an exciting week, hobnobbing with publishers and Rowena House (celebrated for the publication of  her War Girls  story only yesterday) recording more Ask a Publisher podcasts. So indebted to Sara O' Connor who introduced us to some of the major players in children's publishing.
We have a summer ( and then some) of enlightening listening for you. The next podcast is up a week on monday. Come back next Sunday to find out who...

All 29 entries for The Chalkface Challenge have been posted to Sparsholt C of E Primary School and there's an extra bonus for this year's entrants - second school has come on board to review the opening excerpts. I'm very grateful to Ben Illis, one of our shadow judges who introduced us to Chewstoke Primary Academy eight miles south of Bristol - where his nieces attend. Schools and uncles are officially wonderful!

The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals will be announced in London tomorrow at lunchtime and according to carnegiegreenaway.org.uk the event is being live streamed.  These prestigious awards are judged by librarians and shadow judged by young people. They were part of the inspiration for the Chalkface. I'd love to add a children's librarian to our panel of shadow judges - if any are reading and fancy joining Ben Illis, Karen Ball, Jasmine Richards and Amber Caraveo do get in touch or leave me a comment.

Do you like our new banner? I have to say I've loved every one and Paul Morton's stunning blue whale  is no different - his colours are fabulous. Check out Paul's featured illustrator post for pencil recommendations and his gallery for more brilliant colour and cute penguins.

Philippa's inspiration on Monday featured my Willy Wonka - the wonderful Gene Wilder and something I didn't know - Roald Dahl, the inventor. Of course he invented marvellous stories, characters and a whole vocabulary of delicious new words but, as well a valve for draining fluid from the brain - just brilliant. Creativity, and I imagine that most if not all W&P readers have a good supply, can't help oozing out in all kinds of directions.

Many thanks to Jodie Hodges for being our Agent Confidential this week and answering readers questions and to Nick for taking me to John's lovely post about his dad's paintings - what a lovely way to celebrate father's day. I wish I'd thought of that -  my dad was an inventor, only unofficially, but he did have a Caractacus Potts shed and an impressive collection of spanners.

Next week...
For the midsummer solstice we have a new Creature Feature from folklorist, Ken Lymer on Unicorns,
Americanisms from Catriona Tippin
and Heather Chapman is featuring the illustrator and national treasure I and probably everyone most associates with Dahl, the Brilliant Quentin Blake.

Hope it's a great week!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is all over the place, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

A Week with Publishers

Very exciting - entries for the Chalkface Challenge are rolling in. In this competition everyone's a winner. Last year's entrants loved receiving comments from the children who judged. I'm sure the published among us can relate to how wonderful it is to receive a handwritten note from a child who's read your words. Isn't getting your story into the hands and head of a child or young person what it's all about?


If you entered last year and by any chance didn't receive your judges comments, do get in touch #neverthrowanythingaway.
If you entered last year, what was your experience?


Last week...

• We asked Venetia Gosling, Fiction Publishing Director at Macmillan - listen for her most unusual acquisition story. Can she choose just four desert island books?
• I'm still catching up with the blog break because I was blown away Sarah Mcintyre's Hay experience - it was as if I was there. However I have been overly distracted by Nick's latest invention - stuck for a plot, look no further than The Massive Mash-Up Machine. (Just promise me you'll come back to W&P eventually if you follow that link)   
• After Macmillan Children's Books on Monday, on Wednesday Little Tiger Press', Ellie Farmer with our very own RA Natascha Biebow brought another treasure trove of picture book wisdom to W&P. Voice, tone, and pitch - is your picture book text truly child-centred? 
• Then on Friday, Gillian McClure of  The Plaister Press' was very insightful on USPs - why they're so important and if you're stuck on identifying yours, Gillian has identified something that can help.
• Finally on Saturday, it was wonderful to celebrate Chitra's success with Farmer Falgu - she has some great pictures of her in storytelling action in Streatham! 

A very publisher focussed week.

This afternoon we'll also have some news about the April Slush Pile Challenge.

Next week...

• Charlie Bucket was 50 yrs old last Wednesday on June 4th, so June is a Dahl themed month and Sandra Greaves invites us into the great man's shed on Monday.
• On this Wednesday with Karen Hart, we celebrate Charlie's 50 years and a week.
• We'll also be celebrating with Bridget Strevens-Marzo, W&P's marvellous Art Director. I love the word 'marvellous' I've been saving it up for Bridget because I do marvel at what she manages to fit in!

Don't forget: If you entered The Chalkface Challenge last year I'd love to know how it was for you and if anything happened next....

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is all over the place, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

The Chalkface Challenge: Introducing the Judges

The Chalkface Challenge
presents…

The Shadow Judges…

• KAREN BALL, @karenball is a publisher at Little, Brown Young Readers & Atom.
• AMBER CARAVEO, @AmberCaraveo is editorial director at Orion children's books & Indigo
• JASMINE RICHARDS, @JRichardsAuthor  a senior commissioning editor for children's books at Oxford University Press
• BEN ILLIS, @bookboyben is a kids & YA literary agent at The BIA literary agency

These excellent people will each select their favourite opening excerpt from the 5 entries shortlisted by the young judges at Sparsholt Church of England Primary School. They won't know who has actually won until after they've made their selection when the children's verdict is announced on Sunday 20th July. Will Karen, Amber, Jasmine and Ben pick the same winner as the children? The Shadow Judges results and their comments will be published the following week on the 27th July.

The judges have also sent in some information on  their reading preferences.

Here they are:

Robert, Shadat, Dominic (Year 4)

Cara, Ben, Isabelle (Year 4)

Abby, Imogen, Georgina (Year 3)

Jacob (Year 3)

Generally:

Y3 children like magical adventures. Characters should be funny and the adventures full of excitement. Their wish list included a girl as a knight, a war in the woods and a big creepy castle. Characters were the main thing they liked about their favourite books.
Y4 children read longer books. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Tom Gates are all big favourites at the moment. They still like lots of adventure and excitement but were less insistent about a magical element. Lots of realistic (gory*) detail though was requested.

This shouldn't in any way deter you from sending in your ungory* story because, as we discovered, last year's judges uncharacteristically shortlisted Julie Fulton's gripping opening to her WW2 canal boat adventure. They are a discerning group of people.

The closing date for entries is Sunday 15th June at 12 noon BST
Instructions for how to enter here.

You have 14 days to make your opening 500 words Sparsholt ready!

Good Luck!

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The Chalkface Challenge 2014

THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES.
They're back! The love you or hate you sort of judges - though in our experience they're all lovely. They could be your harshest critic or your biggest fan. They're not the gatekeepers but if you want a future in this business, they're ultimately who you have to please.

Do you have the courage to find out if your work stands the test?


Yes the Chalkface Challenge is back and this year's young judges are 7-9 years old and they come from Sparsholt Church of England Primary School in Hampshire.

Send us the first 500 words of your unpublished   novel for 7-9s.

The competition will be judged entirely by the children. They will compile a shortlist of five and then vote for the excerpt they most want to hear more of. These five excerpts will be read to them by the class teacher and they will vote for the excerpt they like the best.

The five shortlisted excerpts will be sent to a shadow judging panel consisting of an agent an editor and either a publisher or a published author.

You can see the results of last year's shadowing here.

And the winning excerpt  will be published in Words & Pictures with the children's comments.

The competition is open to all SCBWI British Isles members and it's free to enter.

TO ENTER, PLEASE

• Send a PDF attachment of your first 500 words. Less is fine, more is not.

• One entry per member. 

• Email it to editor@britishscbwi.org with the subject line - Chalkface Challenge: Your Name.

• Ensure your name does not appear on the PDF submission, but does in your email.

• Do not include the title of the story on the PDF, while a good title is very important in selling a book, for this pilot competition we would like the children to only judge the story and not be influenced by words like 'pants'!

• The deadline for submissions is 12 noon GMT (so 1pm BST) on Sunday 15th June 2014

• The winning excerpt, with comments, will be posted on Sunday 20th July 2014

Good Luck!

To join SCBWI and take advantage of the many opportunities to raise your profile: market your work, meet fellow writers, artists, the gatekeepers to publication, while being supported in the development and pursuit of your craft, visit scbwi.org.

UPDATE: Introducing the JUDGES...

The Chalkface Challenge: The Shadowing Results

So far no one has told me that the Chalkface Challenge isn't the only kidlit competition wholly judged by children so, so far, we are! Half way through the preparation for our first Chalkface Challenge I thought wouldn't it be interesting to find out if some industry professionals chose the same as the children....

...or not.


Here are the three industry professionals I asked to Shadow Judge and who all, wonderfully, said YES:

Imogen Cooper              Sara O' Connor           Gemma Cooper

All very good friends of SCBWI and Words & Pictures.

The three shadowing judges chose from the five shortlisted entries. They were asked for their 'favourites'.

Imogen, Senior Editor, Chicken House Books
"I have eventually decided on entry 1. The author knows how to handle their material, the voice is consistent and by the end of the excerpt the reader knows where the novel is going." Jennifer Killick, Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink

Sara, Editorial Director, Hot Key Books
"I'm really liking entry number 10... And I'm really pleased to see how many middle grade stories there are floating around in SCBWI land!" Mike Pringle, Autopet Farm

Gemma, Literary Agent, The Bent Agency
"What I liked about this one (entry 10) was that it instantly threw us into a world that had android dogs (of sorts), but it didn't dwell on this or explain it." Mike Pringle, Autopet Farm

Gemma went on to comment further about Mike's winning entry:
"The world just is this way, and because the opening is so confident and the first paragraph so fantastic, the reader is happy to go along for the ride. I loved the little details thrown in, like Cedric eating a curry without any lubricating oil additives - it added to the world-building without being a massive info dump. The main character, Berthold, is likable because he's been given this faulty little terrier, but despite having to clear up all his poo, he shows a lot of affection for the little dog. I found the beginnings of their relationship rather sweet, with Cedric slobbering in Berthold's ear. I'd love to read more. "

In fact all three judges wanted to read more. I'm so pleased for the authors and for everyone who was brave enough to enter, as they all ticked boxes for the young judges.

In the autumn we'll have a new Chalkface Challenge for  a younger age group, I'd love to hear from any industry professionals who would like to shadow judge, do contact me at editor@britishscbwi.org.

Meanwhile all good wishes to Mike and Jennifer and again, many heartfelt thanks to Gemma, Sara and Imogen.

Fresh From the Chalkface

It's so exciting to publish the results for our first Chalkface Challenge.

It's a win-win-win kind of competition. The children comments are all very warm and encouraging so I hope those not shortlisted have still won a wonderful confidence boost. Teacher friends have done a similar thing for me and hearing a child describe an incident in your story that they particularly enjoyed, is great. Not only did the children enjoy the reading it sounds like they enjoyed the whole process.

Celia Anderson,
Year 5 Teacher

"Well, you have made a gang of ten year olds very happy today! 
There was almost a fight over who is on my panel... decided in the end to pick names out of a hat..."

 "They're so enthusiastic; it's a real pleasure to be taking part "

"The children loved the whole experience"

These young people and young people like them are who it's all for anyway.

Thank You Very Much, Year 5,  St Edwards' Catholic Primary School, Swadlincote. You've been brilliant!

Due to wifi limitations at the weekend  (I'm festivalling!) I'm posting on Tuesday so please do use the links in the side bar to catch up with our 17th W&P week but I can tell you that next week week we have part 2 of the Team Cooper Retreat Report  and, for the time being at least, Duck & Bear reaches it's series finale.

With less than a month to the UV deadline, have fun creating!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta.

The Chalkface Challenge: The Results

There were 27 entires for the first Chalkface Challenge - the only writing competition judged entirely by children*. The judges were year 5 children from St. Edwards' Catholic Primary School, Swadinlcote, Derbyshire

The children, supported by their teacher, Celia Anderson, excelled themselves in their conscientious reading, their warm and helpful comments to the authors and their enthusiasm for new stories. Thank you!  You can see the children judging in this week's editorial.

I am  delighted to announce that the winner of the first Chalkface Challenge is Mike Pringle for the first 750 words of Autopet Farm.

Mike Pringle

The children said:

• "Funny, very good nothing to change and keep on going." 

• "I absolutely loved it nothing I would change. So funny too."

• "No words can describe but hilarious."

• "Amazing book nothing wrong with it at all"

• "I liked you don't actually expect them to shove a gun in your face"

• "You made my daylistening to that fabulous story. the humour makes it a better book. I'd love to read more. It's amazing. I wouldn't change anything. I loved it all."

There were four runners up, in no particular order:

Julie Fulton, Narrow Escape "I loved the warfare idea. It's great because of the scared people running away how you would do in real life. I wouldn't change anything it's great."
Jennifer Killick, Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink "Wow! This book is amazing; it's hilarious. I wanted to read on."
Elizabeth Dale, Help! I Think I'm An Alien! "I liked this book because it was really funny. And my favourite bit was when he was comparing what he liked to what his family liked. And I would not change anything about this book."
Jo Thomas, Betsy Beeble Has No Beard "I found this really funny and cool. It was amazing, funny funny funny."

Jo,  Elizabeth,  Jennifer,  Julie

Here's Mike's winning opening excerpt:

Chapter 1
Mutt Butt

Gundogs are usually things like Labradors, with floppy ears and a waggly tail. Or fluffy Golden Retrievers. Or Poodles. You don’t expect them to actually shove a gun in your face. Especially not a semi-automatic 7.62 calibre, Flexilite assault weapon.

     Of course as I was standing there dribbling, I didn’t know any of these technical details. All I knew was a dog the size of a small truck was coming at me with teeth like a tyrannosaurus. And he had a gun instead of a tail, and it was wagging at me. I did what any sensible person would do. I screamed like a big girl’s blouse, and ran as fast as my skinny legs would let me.

     As my life flashed through my mind I cursed my own little dog, Cedric, for wandering off and leading me to the farm the monster dog was guarding. I cursed Eddie too, my so-called uncle. In fact , the thought of him totally filled my head with swear words. Really bad ones. If he hadn’t had the brainwave to buy Cedric in the first place, I would’ve been peacefully tucked up in bed with my PlayStation instead of chasing the stupid mutt halfway across the country.

     But that’s Uncle Eddie for you. A complete moron who decides for no reason whatsoever that what every eleven year old boy needs more than anything else in the whole wide world is a dog. Not a state-of-the-art, fully pedigreed, oiled-up type of dog, of course. Not one that friends and neighbours drool over because of how handsome it is, or because of the way it does everything perfectly. Oh no. Just mangy little Cedric, covered in slobber and fleas and fitted with a dodgy Poo-matic 1.4. And in case you’ve been living under a rock and never come across a Poo-matic before, you should know that it’s the oldest, cheapest and definitely most useless internal poo-collecting device on the market. It’s made by AutoPet Inc., supposedly the world leaders in gadgets for improving animals, and uses a disposable cartridge system powered by two AAA batteries. I don’t need to tell you where the cartridge has to be inserted, and I don’t need to tell you what sort of mess a faulty 1.4 can make.

     And as for the smell...

     But I suppose it wasn’t really Cedric’s fault. Apart from the Poo-matic he was a perfectly normal little terrier, with wiry grey hair sticking out at all angles, even though I don’t think he’d had a wash since the day he’d been born. Just don’t ask me how he came to be called Cedric.

     ‘Sort the dog out, Berthold,’ Uncle Eddie shouted earlier that evening, when we heard a bleeping coming from the kitchen. Don’t ask me how I got my name either.
   
     Dear Uncle Eddie has to shout everything. He doesn’t do normal talking like the rest of the human race. I must have been all of a metre away from him as he sat there picking his nose and yelling. He rolled his fat body to one side, lifted a white flabby thigh and let rip a monster fart. I swear his boxer shorts fluttered like a flag in the breeze.

     I was more than happy to get out of there.

     Cedric was sitting in the kitchen wagging his tail. He might have been looking guilty. It was hard to tell through all that scraggy grey fur. More than likely it was just a haven’t got a clue what’s going on look.

     His Poo-matic alarm was still beeping. I clicked the switch on his collar and got a mild electric shock from the shonky wiring. I sighed, and watched the cartridge fly out of Cedric’s rear end, followed by everything that should have been inside it.

     ‘Grief, Cedric,’ I said. ‘Did you have to eat that curry last night?’

     Of course this wasn’t really fair on Cedric. The dried up chicken balti and half an onion bhaji were left over after one of Eddie’s drunken nights out. Maybe he thought Indian takeaway made a nice treat for a dog. Even if it didn’t have any lubricating oil additives.

     I gathered up a ton of kitchen roll and knelt down. Cedric slobbered in my ear. The poo cartridge was on the floor. As usual. The poo was on the floor too, but not in the poo cartridge. As usual.

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Mike Pringle,
Chalkface Challenge Winner

Mike has spent most of his adult life creating, writing, designing and illustrating for children. He has produced material for He-Man, Transformers, Puddle Lane and Thomas the Tank Engine; worked on a wide selection of non-fiction books for publishers such as Collins, the BBC and Usborne (including Starting Point Science, winner of the Young Science Book of the Year Award); and, more recently, designed computer systems to help young people explore information over the Internet.

At fourteen, Mike learned to drive a tank and over the years has practised a number of activity sports, including parascending, abseiling, shooting, running and motor-biking. Mike also has a black belt in Karate. He illustrated and co-authored Foulsham’s Junior Guide to Karate, and wrote tongue-in-cheek articles about the world’s highest graded martial artist, Kevin Kickbutt.

Mike currently lives in Swindon with his wife Claire and their dog, Peb, who is half Labrador, half Poodle and half lunatic. Mike recently added to Swindon’s skyline by turning the walls of an office block into a road, complete with roundabouts, zebra crossing, and two full sized Mini cars!

Congratulations Mike!

There will be a new Chalkface Challenge, for a different age group,  in the Autumn.

Who's it all for anyway?

If you're reading this on Sunday morning and you're a SCBWI British Isles member you'll still have time to send us the opening 750 words of your middle-grade novel for our first Chalkface Challenge. Do you have one tucked in a forgotten file in some dark and cobwebby corner of your hard disk?

On Wednesday there'll be much excitement when The Kate Greenaway Award and the Carnegie Medal winners are announced. Bridget's overview of The Kate Greenaway reminded me how children and young people are involved in the judging process. For the Chalkface Challenge, which is of course no comparison to these prestigious awards, we've handed it all over to the kids with one judging criterium - which story do you want to hear more of?

There are so many people we create stories for and for so many reasons - agents for representation, publishing professionals for publication, other writers and illustrators for approval, ourselves for our own fulfilment... so many people and so many reasons that sometimes it's easy to forget who we are really writing and illustrating for.

We are the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators after all.

Wanton use of disguised children to illustrate a point.

A year or so back, I drew up a list  of what I thought we give children when we give them a book. The list would be the same if it were what we have the potential to give them when we write or illustrate a book.

Hopefully, as well as the wonderful gift of entertainment, we also give:

• The reassurance that other children feel the same way – they’ll have access to children’s secret thoughts, the ones that aren’t shared in the playground  the thoughts that make children feel they’re the only one. A book can show them they’re not.
• A way to live their lives – not by being told but shown how other people live and the freedom to come to their own conclusions about how to live their way. 
• A hiding place – who hasn’t slouched over their desk behind a text book wall?
• The opportunity to be read to – a bedtime or anytime story is one of those priceless relationship-building times.
• An escape hatch – when everything gets too much.
• A wardrobe door – a gateway to possibilities of the imagination for the real and the made-up worlds.
• Inspiration – kick starts to their own imagination
• The chance to meet extraordinary people up close and personal – often, unexpectedly extraordinary people, who might appear ordinary on the outside but because they’re in a book, the reader will know what’s really going on.

and...

• Hope – bad things will always happen in real life and in a good story you have to have trouble. Books can help children find a way through their own.

The original list is here.

I really like the idea of keeping children at the centre of what we do.

Last Monday would have been Maurice Sendak's 85th birthday, this year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Where the Wild Things Are. I  hope you caught the marvellous Google Doodle on Monday.

I spotted this on my timeline yesterday...

With the Greenaway overview, we had other goodies this week too  –  an interview with the prolific and award winning Sophie Mckenzie,  Candy Gourlay and Teri Terry's 'perks and pitfalls' of appearing at festivals, brilliant blogs for coffee breaks, Network News, a report of Apps Night at the London Professional Series and we celebrated Paula Rawsthorne's new book.

Next week with breaking for blogs, news and celebrations, we have Ask a Publisher with Sara O'Connor and Hot Key, Nicky Schmidt with Marketing Part 2: 'Brands' and on Friday a new Featured Illustrator.

Excitement all round!

Jan Carr

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Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta.