BOOK GIVEAWAY: CURLILOCKS AND THE THREE HARES by Andrew Hacket

Andrew Hacket has a new early reader book, CURLILOCKS AND THE THREE HARES, illustrated by Jan Dolby is being published by The Little Press on May 1st. They have agreed to send a copy to one lucky winner in the US.

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 other things you do to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you. Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, or reblogging really helps spread the word about a new book. So, thanks for helping Andrew and Jan.

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

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Dripping dye, sizzling styles, and excess accessories -just-right?
Curlilocks & the Three Hares is a modern fairy-tale early reader for guaranteed fun.

Everyone far and wide loves Curlilocks’ hair. Everyone except for Curlilocks, who is ready to quit her curls and discover her “just right” ‘do.

With picture day fast approaching, Curlilocks is ready to quit her curls. When she finds the three Hares of the local salon have hopped out, Curlilocks chooses to take her hair into her own hands. Dripping dye, sizzling styles, and excess accessories lead to ‘hair’larious results that leave Curlilocks in a tangle. She will need a curltastic idea to reclaim her mane and her confidence before picture day.

BOOK JOURNEY:

Curlilocks & the Three Hares was one of the first manuscripts I wrote once I decided to take this dream of becoming an author seriously. I was inspired by my beautiful daughter, who at the time was 6. She was a curly girl and was not a fan of it. Instant inspiration!  Now how to get this idea on paper? Luckily, once the name Curlilocks was in my head, a Goldilocks remake was a no-brainer and provided a familiar structure from which to work. 

From the start, I knew I wanted this to be a story about self-acceptance, that changing ourselves or our appearance is not the path to happiness. As I look at my body of work, including Ollie, the Acorn, and the Mighty Idea as well as Hope and the Sea, these SEL themes and concepts of acceptance our a common thread.  

So I had a structure and a theme. The next step was setting the tone. Envisioning the hairstyling antics that I wanted to ensue I knew there needed to be humor and a playfulness. And being a sucker for puns and wordplay, I couldn’t resist switching three bears to three hares and having them run their own hair salon. Add to that dripping dye, sizzling styles, and excess accessories and we needed to get kids giggling.

I worked away at this shiny new manuscript, polishing, and pruning, revising and rewording until each and every word was perfect. My amazing agent, Dan Cramer, subbed it to publishers and we crossed our fingers and waited for someone to fall in love with our 32-page, 400-word picture book manuscript.

Fast forward through the snails-pace that is publishing and we were thrilled to have interest from Michele McAvoy at The Little Press. Michele loved the concept and saw Curlilocks fitting into their new Modern Fairy-Tale series. The catch? The series was an illustrated, early reader chapter book. In other words, not a 32-page, 400-word picture book. 

It was time for Curlilocks to get a makeover! Words were added (lots of them), scenes were added, and chapters were made until we landed at 56 pages, 9 chapters, and 1,000 words. 

Jan Dolby, who also illustrated the first in the series, Willa the Werewolf, written by Michele McAvoy, then got to work bringing Curlilocks and the Hares to life. With the final addition of her incredible artwork, Curlilocks and the Three Hares was finally JUST RIGHT!

ANDREW’S BIO:

Andrew Hacket is a writer, second-grade teacher, and father of three. Andrew recognizes that being a kid is hard and he writes to create ways for kids to see themselves in stories and characters, to accept and overcome their insecurities, or to escape for just a little while through the power of their imaginations.

He has three books coming out this year: Ollie, the Acorn, and the Mighty Idea (Page Street Kids, April 9); Curlilocks and the Three Hares (The Little Press, May 1); and Hope and the Sea (WorthyKids, May 28).  He and his family live in Massachusetts.

JAN’S BIO:

Jan Dolby is a freelance children’s illustrator and graphic designer based in Aurora, Ontario Canada. Jan is internationally published and has a vast amount of technical and graphic design experience. She has illustrated over 35 books for children and is incredibly grateful for her creative life and is delighted to be illustrating for the children’s industry. Seeing her work in bookstores and online is a dream come true.

Her first Canadian picture book, ‘Gabby’ written by Joyce Grant won the Rainforest of Reading Festival Award – Montserrat in 2015. Since then she has illustrated Gabby: Drama Queen, Gabby: Wonder Girl, Lucky Me, The Cold Little Voice, and But Why? A Virus Story About Feelings. She has illustrated children’s books with authors Joyce Grant, Alison Hughes, and Jackie Azua Kramer to name a few.

Discussion questions are included to continue the conversation with your young reader.

Children will delight in this modern-day fairy tale twist. Curlilocks & the Three Hares is book two in this engaging and entertaining illustrated early reader series. Be sure to check out Willa the Werewolf (book one) and Digital Red (book three).