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We’ve found this time of year we get more manuscript submissions in our slush pile than usual. We think this might be because 1.) plenty of people—especially teachers and school librarians—are on holiday break in late December and have extra time to stamp all those SASEs and 2.) “Write and publish a children’s book” sounds like a fabulous New Year’s resolution, doesn’t it?

We don’t mind the extra mail—and yes, we do read ALL the submissions, every last one. And with all these new aspiring authors, there are bound to be questions. One we hear a lot is: When’s the best time of year to submit a manuscript? It depends on the publisher: some places receive unsolicited submissions for only a few months out of the year (and some don’t at all). But we’re always open to submissions—for us, the slush season is year-round. We read all the time, and when we’ve found enough book projects to fill our next list, we look for books for the list after that!

We publish books twice a year: our Fall list comes out in September, and it’s when we publish books about fall and winter holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Groundhog Day, and so on), while books about spring and summer holidays (Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.) are published in March on our Spring list. Plenty of our other titles have seasonal considerations as well—we make sure we publish our books in time for African-American History Month, the start of the school year, or even the apple harvest. Sometimes, it’s all in the timing.

But if you’re a writer wondering when you should send your holiday or seasonal book manuscript—well, “anytime” still applies. (One thing we editors learn early on is to have flexible imaginations. We’ll read stories about Santa Claus even during a heat wave in August.) Keep in mind that it always takes time to consider a submission, and even longer to publish it—this is especially true of picture books: an illustrator will need several months to produce the artwork. So if you sent us a Christmas story last week, it isn’t likely to be published in time for next Christmas. (Alas, your friends and family won’t get your book in their stockings, and you’ll have to give them all Chia Pets again.) And if you have a picture book idea about, say, the winter Olympics, you’ll need to get it into a publisher’s hands ASAP for it to be out in time for 2010—and at some publishers, you’ll be too late already.

What this all means, of course, is that your New Year’s “publish a children’s book” resolution for 2008 will probably take until at least 2009 to accomplish. So what are you waiting for? Read our guidelines!

We’d wanted to try Hoppin’ John—the black-eyed pea dish served on January 1st for good luck—ever since Uncle Albert published New Year be Coming!: A Gullah Year in 2002. So this time last year, when we were in the middle of production on the book Shanté Keys and the New Year’s Peas, we were sure to cook up a pot of black-eyed peas at home on New Year’s Day. Not just for the good luck (though editors could always use some, you know, to make up for bad rejection-letter karma) but for research purposes. We picked a recipe and fixed it for dinner.

It was some tasty stuff, and we like to think that we were pretty lucky in 2007. Good things are happening with our current and upcoming titles, which we’ll continue to tell you about here. And for this new batch of peas on Monday, we’ll be serving it with greens (for money), cornbread (for gold), and tomatoes (for health). Also, celery for starred reviews, and ham for getting our books on state master reading lists. Okay, we made those last two up. Still, we’re going to try!

If you’d like to make your own batch of Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day, try author Gail Piernas-Davenport’s recipe, which appears in the back of  Shanté Keys.  Click below for more, and have a Happy New Year!

Hoppin’ John 

3/4 cup chopped onion; 3/4 cup chopped celery; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 2 teaspoons canola oil; 1 12-ounce package fresh black-eyed peas, rinsed*; 2 2/3 cups chicken broth; 1/2 pound cubed ham; 1 bay leaf; cooked rice.

Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté onions, celery, and garlic until tender, about 3 minutes. Add peas, chicken broth, ham, and bay leaf. Boil for 3 minutes, then lower heat, cover and simmer until peas are tender, about 45 minutes. Check the pot occasionally and add water if needed. Remove bay leaf and serve over cooked rice. Season to suit taste.

* This recipe uses fresh black-eyed peas, which can be found in the produce section of your supermarket, but you can also use canned peas or dried peas (follow instructions).

Tim Coffey is the latest Albert Whitman illustrator to be featured online for the annual Robert’s Snow art fundraiser. Tim illustrated the award-winning books Red Berry Wool, by Robyn Eversole, and Mabela the Clever, by Margaret Read MacDonald. He also wrote and illustrated Christmas at the Top of the World, and if something about his style looks familiar, it’s because he also has a line of scrapbooking products. Today he’s being profiled by Pam Calvert at her blog The Silver Lining.

Once again, the Robert’s Snow auctions begin November 19th, and we’ll let you know when you can bid on snowflakes by your favorite Albert Whitman illustrators to raise money for cancer research.

One of the editors here keeps this slightly modified Día de los Muertos diorama near her desk to remind herself that the slush pile of the dead is even more eternal than the one in her office.

We’re showing it to remind you that with this fall’s new release, I Remember Abuelito / Yo recuerdo a Abuelito by Janice Levy and illustrated by Loretta Lopez, we now have two Day of the Dead picture books available, and both books are bilingual editions. Abuelito was recently featured in School Library Journal’s Curriculum Connections newsletter, which is a great collection of resources about the holiday.