Yesterday I was told that my middle grade novel excerpt was selected as a runner-up in the 2011 Katherine Paterson Prize and placed first in the Middle Grade category! The prize, named after Newbery Award-winning author Katherine Paterson, was judged this year by National Book Award winner, Kimberly Willis Holt. Holt says this about my excerpt:

The opening of the story manages to show a lot without the reader feeling overburdened. I quickly cared about the main character because of the way she interacted with her brother on page one. And because I cared about her, my heart pounded for her when she was in peril. That's important when trouble comes so early in a story. Some writers expect readers to care just because the main character is in trouble, but you have to care about them first. This writer accomplishes that.

My novel is a re-imagining of the Arabian Nights tale, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," from the slave girl's point of view. I was excited to hear that the excerpt will also appear in Hunger Mountain's online journal of the arts!