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Dixie Wants an Allergy

by Tori Corn & Nancy Cote, illustrator

Sky Pony Press      4/01/2014

978-1-62087-991-7

Age 4 to 8      32 pages

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“It’s Dixie’s first day of school, and some of her classmates are sharing about their allergies. Bridget tells of her wheat allergy and how she gets to order a special meal from restaurants, Dixie thinks that must be a really special meal! And Charlie had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance once due to his dairy allergy. Dixie thinks that must have been thrilling! Dixie races home and begins to eagerly search for the slightest sign of an allergy. After many failed attempts, Dixie discovers she is allergic to something after all. But is getting what you wish for actually as exciting as it once appeared?”

Opening

“On the first day of school, Dixie got to know her classmates. Some of them said they had allergies.”

Review

Have you ever wanted something so much you would do almost anything to get that thing? Dixie feels that way about having an allergy. Her kindergarten classmates talk about special bracelets, special restaurants meals, special school snacks, and even special rides in an ambulance, all because they have an allergy. This all sounds grand to Dixie. She goes home and begins searching for her allergy.

Dixie crawls under her bed and sniffs week-old, rank socks and dust bunnies. Nothing happens. She sniffs fresh flowers and waits. Nothing happens. She eats handfuls of pistachios and waits. It works! She gets a stomachache. Mom says she just ate too many pistachios. Oh.

Are you laughing yet? Dixie is a cute little girl. Of her six new friends, three get special treatment because of an allergy. I doubt Dixie understood an allergy is like being sick, and it is definitely not fun. None of her new friends were complaining about their allergy or saying it was a bad thing to have. Maybe Dixie should have asks some questions as she admired the allergy bracelet.

I do love her ingenuity when giving herself spots. Dixie must have a little understanding about allergies. Of course, those red spots do not itch or raise up into a welt. The illustrations use backgrounds of blue and yellow. Even the sky is yellow to represent a hot day. If Dixie had noticed the pinpoint eyes on her classmates, she would have noticed the allergy kids—except for special restaurant meals kid—were not happy when telling of their allergy.

Kids will enjoy Dixie Wants an Allergy, but it is best suited to kids with siblings or friends that already have an allergy, as a way of explaining the disease. According to the World Health Organization, nearly half of all school-age children have an allergy. To help explain the “special treatment” of some students, teachers of young children can read the kids Dixie Wants an Allergy.

I really love the illustration of Dixie marking herself with a red marker, hoping a fake allergy would be as much fun as a real allergy. I don’t have that spread to show you, but when you do see it, it will give you a belly-ache-laugh, especially if you have kids. The author doesn’t leave the story just yet. Dixie goes to school and tells her new friends about her allergy. Then comes a twist. A new thing to be jealous of and wanting for yourself. It’s always something, right? Here is a hint: it involves a photograph.

I like Dixie Wants an Allergy. The story will hold children’s attention, it will make them laugh, they might learn to be careful of what they wish for (as they might just get it), and the twist will start up a new topic of discussion—laughs and smiles included.

Buy Dixie Wants an Allergy at Amazon—B&N—Sky Pony Press—your local bookstore.

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Learn more about Dixie Wants an Allergy HERE.

Meet the author, Tori Corn, at her website:  [http://toricorn.com/

Meet the illustrator, Nancy Cote, at her website:   http://nancycote.com/

Find more books at the Sky Pony Press website:  http://www.skyponypress.com/

Sky Pony Press is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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Also by Tori Corn

What Will It Be, Penelope?
coming soon in 2014

Also by Nancy Cote

Watch the Cookie!

Ella & the All-Stars

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HOT OF THE PRESSES:

Laurie Wallmark’s book ADA, about a smart little girl who likes science and math was sold to Marissa Moss at Creston Books, by Liza Fleissig at Liza Royce Agency.

Laurie had a critique with Ginger Harris of the Liza Royce Agency at the last NJ SCBWI annual conference. She and Liza Fleissig expressed interest in Ada.

After six revisions based on their and Marissa Moss’s feedback, Creston books made an offer.

Emily Feinberg at Roaring Brook has bought world rights to INN BETWEEN by Marina Cohen, in a two-book deal.

The story follows 12-year-old Quinn, who is driving across country with her best friend’s family when a stopover at a creepy Victorian hotel in middle of the Nevada desert turns terrifying.

Publication is set for winter 2016;

John M. Cusick of Greenhouse Literary was the agent.

Nanci Stockton Turner-Steveson has signed a contract for Swing Sideways, AND another as-yet-unwritten book with Rosemary Brosnan, Executive Director at HarperCollins.

When I asked Nanci to describe the book this is what she wrote: My editor (wow, did you read that?) referred to Swing Sideways as a “timeless and heartfelt” middle grade novel.

It is the story of two girls from opposite sides of the country who meet one summer and form an unlikely friendship while struggling with their own challenges, and the discovery of a secret that links them together in a surprising and heart wrenching way.

Illustrator Nancy Cote ( featured on Illustrator Saturday) illustrated Tori Corn’s new picture book Dixie Wants and Allergy published by Sky Pony Press. Both Nancy and Tori are represented by the Lisa Royce Agency.

Dixie Wants an Allergy provides a comical and engaging approach for children who are beginning to learn about and who are coping with allergies—and who also have trouble finding what makes them unique. Corn’s playful text and Cote’s inviting illustrations encourage children to accept those with differences while learning that wanting what others have is not always a good idea. For ages 3 to 6, and a good addition to any preschool or Kindergarten classroom for read-aloud time. This book not only introduces children to the realities of allergies, which many of their peers will have, but also teaches the important lesson of being careful what you wish for.

*****

Nancy Armo, who was featured on Illustrator Saturday has signed a contract with Peachtree Press for her first written and illustrated picture book titled, A FRIEND FOR MOLE.

Here is the Publisher Market announcement: Nancy Armo’s A FRIEND FOR MOLE, about an accidental encounter between Mole and Wolf, one afraid of the light, the other afraid of the dark, who together learn that friends are all they need to conquer their fears, to Kathy Landwehr at Peachtree, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2015, by Anna Olswanger at Liza Dawson Associates (World).

*****

I just learned that Eliza Wheeler, who was featured on Illustrator Saturday did the artwork for Holly Black’s DOLL BONES. I have had that book on my wish list since it came out. Had I realized the illustrations inside and out were by Eliza, I would already have it on my bookshelf.

*****

What I don’t get is, out of the seven people in this post, only the first two let me know about their success. Are people just shy about doing something worth shouting from the rooftops? I tell every illustrator that I feature to please let me know when something good happens and I really do mean it. I am very happy to hear about good things when they happen. Please don’t rely on me to find them.

Congratulations to everyone!

Remember this weekend there are two great book signings in the North Jersey area:

S is for SEA Glass

Doris Ettlinger

Fair Haven NJ – May 16, 3:30-4:30 pm 

River Road Books

Clinton NJ - May 17, 1-3 pm 

Clinton Book Shop

Pandemic Book Launch Party 

Yvonne Ventresca

Sunday, May 18^th, 2 pm 

WORDS Bookstore

179 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ 07040

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

I met Tori years ago at one of the first events I put on as Regional Advisor of the New Jersey Chapter of the SCBWI. I got to see the effort that Tori put into her books and making sure her work was seen by editors and agents.  She is represented by the Liza Royce Agency and was one of their first clients.

Tori’s interest in children’s books began when her daughter was born. She fell in love with picture books after spending countless hours at the library reading to her daughter. By the time her sons were born, she was inspired to write her own stories and quickly became hooked on writing. She also studied picture book illustration at the School of Visual Arts. Tori joined New Jersey SCBWI and attended writing conferences where she learned the ins and outs of the publishing industry.  Writing and illustrating children’s books became an unexpected, exciting second career for her. She has expanded her writing for children of all ages and is currently working on a historical fiction novel.

Her debut picture book, What Will It Be, Penelope? hits the book shelves on June 4th.

You can meet Tori Corn (author)and Dannielle Ceccolini (illustrator) at The Corner Bookstore tonight to celebrate the publication of What Will It Be, Penelope?

Wednesday, May 22nd – 6:00 p.m.

RSVP: (212) 831-3554 or [email protected]

Here are a few questions I asked Tori that I thought you might be interested in reading:

Can you tell us about your journey with What Will It Be, Penelope?

Watching children try and decide what flavor ice cream they wanted is what inspired me to write the story. Sometimes my youngest son would hold up the line at the Mr. Softee ice cream truck! Of course there’s a bit of me in the story. I’ve been known to take forever to decide something silly like which soap to buy at Target! Penelope was the first picture book I wrote that wasn’t written in rhyme. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many versions there are!

How long ago did you write What’s Will It Be, Penelope?

It’s hard to say. I wrote the first version about seven years ago but I put it aside and didn’t look at it for years. It was way too long, around 850 words, which is a common mistake for picture book writers who are just learning their craft.  It took me a while to figure out how to tell a story in only 500 to 600 words.

Did you do revisions? 

Did I do revisions? All I did was revisions! And once I sold the manuscript, I still had to do more revisions!

What did it feel like to sign that first contract? 

It was a really special day for me, especially since I’d been envisioning the moment for such a long time.

Can you tell us a little bit about Sky Pony Press? 

Sky Pony is a wonderful publisher.(I’m not biased.) Launched in fall of 2011, it’s the children’s book imprint of Skyhorse Publishing. Their list includes picture books, middle grade, young adult, educational books and reissues of some well-loved classics. Since their first list in Fall 2011, Sky Pony now has over 100 books in print. I feel so blessed to have Penelope on that list. Next year, I’ll have another picture book called Dixie Wants an Allergy on the list too. What I love about Sky Pony is that they make decisions quickly and are capable of producing their books in record time. I signed my contract in Jan 2012 and I was holding a copy of my book in my hands in May 2013! Amazing.

Did you have any input into choosing the illustrator?

No I didn’t, but I’m glad that Sky Pony chose Danielle Ceccolini to do the illustrations for What Will It Be Penelope?  In general, the publisher chooses the illustrator, not the author.

Do you ever think you will try your hand in illustrating one of your books? 

Yes! I was an art major at SyracuseUniversity. I love to draw and paint!  As a matter of fact, I illustrated the cover for my website. You can probably tell by looking at it that I was a textile designer because of the textures and the prints on my character’s clothing.

I took picture book illustration classes at The School of visual Arts and began working on a book dummy for my picture book called Sometimes I Wake in the Middle of the Night. Hopefully I’ll finish illustrating it someday. And you never know, maybe I’ll write and illustrate a story about the mice on my website! www.toricorn.com

Do you have any other books on the horizon?

I’ve written eight picture books and I’m currently working on a historical fiction novel.

What types of things have you done to help get prepared for your book launch? 

Well, for one thing, I had a website developed.  I’ve also purchased some cute Penelope giveaways to give to kids after I’ve read my book during school visits. I’m hoping the children will go home and ask their parents to buy my book and these items will help them remember the name of my book!

Do you have any words of wisdom to share that would help unpublished writers? 

The most important advice I can give writers is to be thoughtful when deciding who to send their manuscripts to. This cuts down on the amount of (and type of ) reject letters you get. For instance, I only sent my manuscripts to editors and agents that I met at SCBWI conferences and I didn’t send them to everyone, only those whom I felt were seriously interested in my stories. That way, I only received encouraging reject letters! Most of them had excellent editorial comments so instead of feeling bad, I actually felt  inspired to work harder to improve my manuscript.

My second piece of advice is for writers to envision their books getting published. That’s really important. Someone once told me to “Stay on the road and keep looking forward” which is what I did. I think it’s also important to join a writing group so you can have your manuscripts critiqued often and learn what other authors are doing right and wrong.   And remember, if a few people are saying the same thing, you should listen. That said, always stay true to yourself.

Thank you Tori for sharing your experience with us. Best of luck with the book. Stop by www.toricorn.com to see Tori’s new website.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

I have to point out the book trailer that Gayle Krauss sent me a few days ago. I knew that Gayle had published a book titled, RAT GIRL.  I was planning to buy a copy, because I know Gayle and I always try to support people I know, but somehow (Don’t be mad at me Gayle) the title did not entice me. I am so glad Gayle sent me this trailer, because it does exactly what a book trailer should do – sell the book. Now I am really  looking forward to reading RAT GIRL: SONG OF THE VIPER. Great job!

Gayle Krauss’s RAT GIRL: SONG OF THE VIPER book trailer.

Kit Grindstaff did a great job with her book trailer, too, for her new book THE FLAME IN THE MIST

Kit at her first book signing.

Paula Newcomer signing her poetry book, TOSSING OFF THE GLOVES.

Tori Corn’s debut picture book, WHAT WILL IT BE PENELOPE? arrived in the warehouse this week and will be available on June 4th. Here is the Amazon link.

It looks like Penelope is a popular name.

Robin Hutchinson has combined the fun of cooking and reading in this self published book titled, PENELOPE’S SECRET COOKING CLUB: IS THERE A SECRET TO KEEP? Here is the Amazon link.

Congratulations to all!

Hope I will be able to share your success on a future post.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy