Friday, September 6, 2013

Pitch Madness SJ-16 Slush Save: JACKABY SKAR AND THE INHERITANCE OF OSLO



Genre:  MG Adventure

Word Count:  55,000

Pitch: A thirteen-year-old boy learns his not-so-imaginary friend is real when he uncovers an ancient family legacy of Norwegian trolls and Vikings. Now to guard his inheritance he must outwit a murderous kidnapper. 

Excerpt:  
Jack Brown is always in the middle row on picture day. He looks like an average almost-thirteen year old. He wears his brown hair just shaggy enough to hide his too-big ears and sweep of freckles. But nothing can hide his lopsided nose.

Every day since kindergarten he’s worn the same outfit: work boots, jeans and a button-up flannel, brown, of course – his least favorite color – because that’s the uniform of the Brown’s Family Nursery and the color of his super dull life.

There is only one thing that is special about Jack. But his uniqueness expires at midnight when he turns thirteen. And he can’t do anything about it.

With his face twisted into a frown, Jack stepped off the bus on the quiet country road and lobbed a rock down his wooded driveway, irritated. Once the bus slipped out of sight, he turned to a large, quivering bush.

“This is it, Nada. Aren’t you scared? What if you turn into a pile of goo or something?” he asked.

A giant, gray troll appeared beside him and smiled with a big, goofy smirk. “Jackabean, that’s crazy. Trolls don’t turn into goo. We turn into slime.”

Her snaggletoothed grin and deep voice made it hard to tell that Nada was a girl. Luckily the yellow bed sheet, worn toga-style, cleared up that mystery.

Nada shook her fat fist in the air. “Maybe you should use those big ears for listening. I told you I’m not imaginary. I’m your troll!”

7 comments:

  1. Oh, I'd like to look at this. I'll buy a hotel! (Full request). Thanks! Pete Knapp

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  2. "Buy a Hotel"

    ?? I'm hoping that's how I go about doing this. Sorry if I totally messed it up!

    Danielle Smith - Foreword Literary

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  3. This was such a fun excerpt to read! The humor woven into it was delightful, and I hope to see this in print sometime in the near future. My kids would get such a kick out of it!

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  4. Your premise packs a punch. Congrats on the request!

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  5. This one was considered for my team list, but I'm not always the best judge with MG. I think about my kids and whether they'd read it, but that's failed for me a couple of times. This one my 8yo definitely would, so I'm so glad my slush zombies pulled this back out.

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  6. I remember this one in the slush! Darn you Sharon! Why must you steal all the things?!

    I was grinning ear to ear while reading this. Love it!

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  7. This is darling, intriguing, and well-written!

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