Book Giveaway – NO PARTY POOPERS! by Gretchen McLellan

Gretchen McLellan has a new picture book, NO PARTY POOPERS!, illustrated by Lucy Semple and published by Little Bee Books. The pub. date was just changed to June 9th. Gretchen has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you do to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. Thanks for helping Gretchen and Lucy, especially at this stressful time when authors and illustrators need to promote their books completely online.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

You’re invited to the bears’ party! But be warned, there are absolutely, PAWSitively no party poopers allowed!

Two bears decide to throw a big party in their neighborhood, but they’re having trouble making the guest list. One bear wants to invite all the neighbors, but his friend thinks it’s a bad idea. He’s worried that they’ll ruin the party–the rhinos will pop the balloons, the goats will chew up the party hats, the crows will hoard all the shiny prizes–in other words, they’ll be party poopers! Can his friend convince him to change his mind in time for the party?

BOOK JOURNEY:

How do you tackle difficult and even heartbreaking topics in a picture book? In NO PARTY POOPERS! I turned to animals to explore the difficult subjects of stereotyping and exclusion and used humor to poke at speciesism. From the distance that using animal characters and humor affords, I could then explore how challenging preconceived notions and risking change can welcome in new friendships and invite everyone to a party where all of us belong.

It is often said that writers have three themes that they return to again and again. One of mine is belonging. I spent my childhood negotiating an ever-changing set of cultures, moving from the outside in as best I could before I had to move again. I have always been keenly aware of issues of inclusion and acceptance and experienced my share of rejection because of stereotypes others held against me and my passport country. When I saw xenophobia rising in the United States, I was compelled by heartbreak to write.

So, NO PARTY POOPERS!, like most stories, has deep personal roots and started way before I put pen to paper. The first version, written in early 2017, was titled, SHOULD WE INVITE THE PARTY ANIMALS? and began as an experiment with writing a story completely in dialogue. The basic structure and arc emerged in the first rush of words. I was tickled that the text was under 200 words, a first for long winded me. Of course, revision followed. Lots of revision. My agent began submitting the story later that year, and after a revision request, Little Bee bought the story in 2018. They were looking for a humorous book to balance their list and my story fit right in. Lucky timing! The story went through seven joyful rounds of micro revisions, as my editor and I worked on pacing and deciding who would ultimately be invited to the party. So many animals wanted to come! We hated excluding a single one.

Lucy Semple charmed us all with a funny energetic sketch for the book and was signed to illustrate the story in February of 2019. We celebrated when she delivered her fantastic full color art by the end of the year. I made final edits to the text at that point so that the words and pictures worked optimally to tell our story. Our pub date was originally set for May 5^th, 2020, but the coronavirus struck and disrupted the publishing world. The book birthday for NO PARTY POOPERS! is now scheduled for June 9^th and you are all invited to celebrate with me. Details to come at http://www.gretchenmclellan.com. I am sure not a single party pooper will come spoil the fun.

Please visit my site too for free downloads of NO PARTY POOPER! coloring pages, templates to make paper bag puppets and suggestions for using the puppets as prewriting tools to create stories. (Maybe kids in your life can write a story and include all the animals who did not fit in mine.) Lucy and I will be adding to the cache of party favors over time too!

Thank you so much, Kathy, for asking me to share my story journey with you and your readers. Thank you too for featuring Lucy Semple on your Illustrator Saturday!

Celebrate!

GRETCHEN’S BIO:

Gretchen Brandenburg McLellan is the author of many upcoming picture books, a lover of teaching reading, playing word games, baking, hiking in the woods with her dog, Koby, cross-country skiing, and the culture of childhood. If she were in retail, she’d have a children’s book and toy store replete with espresso bar and bakery and places to write and draw. She seeks out places just like this to write in. Have any suggestions? She is also on a personal quest for the best hot fudge sundae on the planet. Gretchen loves to travel, especially returning to the Germany of her nomadic army-brat childhood. She once traveled overland from the Netherlands to Kabul, Afghanistan with a backpack full of, you guessed it, books. Now she hopes little backpacks will be carrying her books on adventures of their own.

Gretchen is a former elementary reading specialist who now devotes her time to writing and visiting bookstores and schools. She lives in Camas, WA. She is the author of Mrs. McBee Leaves Room 3 (Peachtree 2017), I’m Done! (Holiday House 9,25,18), Button & Bundle (Knopf, 2/29/19) and When Your Daddy’s a Soldier(Beach Lane, Spring 2022). Find out more at http://www.gretchenmclellan.com

LUCY’S BIO:

Lucy Semple is an illustrator based in Nottinghamshire, having graduated with a degree from Loughborough University in Graphic Communication and Illustration.

She always dreamed of one day slotting into a creative career, as a child she would either be using the family video camera to direct a rendition of a Roald Dahl poem or have her head firmly buried in a book. Specialising in children’s illustration she now enjoys channeling that creative energy into drawing bright, bold and often furry characters.

When she isn’t bringing her scribbled creations to life, Lucy enjoys drinking considerable amounts of tea, baking and cuddling up to watch a film with her partner, daughter and their grumpy tom cat Nim.

Midlands based Illustrator specialising in children’s publishing.

She loves creating little worlds for fun, humorous characters to live in, which are often inspired by her daughter, who when Lucy is not illustrating is taking up most of her time. Lucy is represented by The Bright Agency and has won YCN Student Awards 2017 and Loughborough University Award for Enterprise and Innovation 2017. Lucy was featured on Illustrator Saturday.

Gretchen, thank you for sharing your book and Journey with us. The story and the illustrations are great. I like the way you show how including others who are different can end up creating new friendships. The book looks like a lot of fun. Good luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy