This content was originally posted on Chapter Book Challenge.
I’m so excited to announce the cover reveal for my debut chapter book, THE ENCHANTED SNOW GLOBE COLLECTION – BOOK ONE: RETURN TO CONEY ISLAND. The book releases on July 25, 2017!
It’s very appropriate that Becky is hosting this reveal because I wrote the first early draft of the manuscript during the Chapter Book Challenge in 2016! I participated in the challenge as an author new to the process of writing chapter books. I really enjoyed spending the month brainstorming ideas and writing alongside others who were pursuing the same goals and facing the same obstacles. Next, I enrolled in The Chapter Book Alchemist course with Hillary Homzie through Mira Reisberg’s Children’s Book Academy. Hillary’s online course and critique helped me with character development, pacing a chapter book, and so much more. I subsequently enrolled in the Chapter Book Blueprint course, further refining my work. In Chapter Book Challenge 2017, I made great progress on the manuscript for Book Two: THE LIBERTY BELL TRAIN RIDE!
I’m so grateful to the Chapter Book Challenge community – everyone is incredibly supportive and it's heartwarming to know that an entire group of like-minded authors is rooting for you to succeed. So thank you to Becky, and to the rest of this wonderful community. I can't wait for next year’s challenge and for ChaBooCha Lite in September!
So here it is, the cover, illustrated by the very talented Callie Metler-Smith. Callie is also my publisher at Clear Fork Publishing. I’m thankful to Callie for publishing this book series, and for contributing her beautiful art. I love how Callie captured the Cyclone Roller Coaster that’s featured in the story. The Cyclone is encased in the snow globe and it also forms the background of the cover, representing the worlds inside and outside the snow globe. I feel like Callie read my mind about what Emma and Simon should look like – their expressions are perfect. And I’m so happy with the fonts and the glittery snow in the globe and at the upper left corner. Callie includes so many evocative details . . . I can’t wait for you all to see the inside illustrations as well!
I’m thrilled to include a sneak peek of the back cover draft text as well:
They thought it was an ordinary sleepover . . .
When nine-year-old twins Emma and Simon shake a snow globe from their grandmother’s enchanted collection, they’re transported back to Coney Island, New York, on June 24, 1928. According to family legend, that’s the day their great-grandparents meet. But if events don't work exactly as they’re supposed to, the meeting won't take place and the twins might never be born. After a day of adventures – from the Cyclone Roller Coaster to the boardwalk arcade and finally to the fateful Coney Island trolley ride – will the twins help make it happen?
I hope you’ll follow my writing journey at www.MelissaStoller.com and sign up for my blog at www.MelissaStoller.com/blog. And of course l hope you look for my book starting on July 25th!
Cheers to all the authors working on their own chapter books! I look forward to reading your stories!