Every Little Girl Needs This Book

During this time of year, everyone is searching for the perfect gift for their child or grandchild.  I want to recommend you consider DISNEY PRINCESS: A MAGICAL POP-UP WORLD. From my experience with children's books, this book is perfect to read aloud to your daughter or granddaughter. The various princesses from classic Disney movies are illustrated in these five page spreads with 27 pop-ups.

You should get this book just to see the incredible paper engineering and enjoy the reading experience with your child. They will love to see each pop-up. I encourage you to keep this book is a special place where an adult supervises and watches the child interact with each pop-up. With care, this book will provide years of fun for every reader. Matthew Reinhart has done a remarkable job with this book.

Insight Editions, the publisher, was also thoughtful about the paper for this book and produced the book in association with Roots of Peace. Two trees will be planted for every tree used in the manufacturing of this book. Roots of Peace is an internationally renowned humanitarian organization dedicated to eradicating land mines worldwide and converting war-torn lands into productive farms and wildlife habitats. Roots of Peace will plant two million fruit and nut trees in Afghanistan and provide farmers there with the skills and support necessary for sustainable land use. This book was manufactured in Thailand.

The DISNEY PRINCESS: A MAGICAL POP-UP WORLD spans eleven films and princesses including fan-favorites such as Rapunzel, Belle, Snow White and Ariel. This book will provide every adult and child hours of fun and entertainment. I highly recommend it.

If You Need A Dose of Courage. . .

There are many forces which threaten to undo our own resolve about writing and publishing. Maybe it's a rejection that you recently received. Literary agents get rejected more than most writers because we receive the news for our various clients. Maybe watching the news has discouraged you--and that's easy to have happen because the bulk of the news is about some disaster or crisis in our world.

This weekend, I read literary agent Terry Burns' speech which he posted from speaking at the Glorieta Christian Writers' Conference about publishing and the economy. If you read this material, it's not easy to take away an upbeat positive message. If you are in the middle of writing a full-length novel or trying to learn how to create a book proposal or write a magazine article, in the face of such reports, it's easy to lose heart.

For a great dose of courage for the heart, I suggest you get out and see High School Musical 3, Senior Year. Now if you are like me, you don't have fond memories of high school or know anything about High School Musical and High School Musical 2. We had no background about this mega hit Disney television movie--yet we went to see it yesterday. Even at an early showing, it was packed with many young people.

In a nutshell, Troy and Gabriella are facing a state basketball championship, senior prom and graduation. They are also wondering what to do with their lives. Like many young people, they are facing the decisions about where to go to college and what to study and next steps in their life. The music is fun and upbeat. Just follow this link to listen to little clips of some of the songs. With the G rating, you can take the whole family and enjoy the experience.

Every agent and editor that I know are actively looking for excellence--and after over 15 years in this business, I have a lot of contact with many different parts of the publishing world. Admittedly it is hard to find those excellent projects but we continue reading our submissions and working with writers because people continue to purchase books and read magazines.

If you need that dose of courage, then get to the movies. As they say in High School Musical 3, it's time to turn it up. Game on!