Countdown to Release Day (plus a giveaway!)

I don't know how this happened, but my picture book, HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS (illustrated by Courtney Dawson), officially releases in exactly one week from today! (Aaaaaahhh!!) With the countdown to release day in full-swing, I wanted to share a little behind-the-scenes fun (and then host a giveaway!).

The first time I chatted with my editor at Capstone, my editor asked me what I thought about possibly including some back matter in the book. She couldn't have known, but I am a BIG FAN of all things back matter in fiction picture books. I leapt at the chance!

Ideas came swimming into my head immediately. I told her I had a lot of characters who didn't make the cut in the book. Since HELP WANTED is about story characters who apply for the job of bedtime storyteller, what if we did some character resumes for those lost characters?

She loved the idea, and so I got right to work, and sent her a sample later that week. That sample---a resume for Pinocchio---is now published in the final pages of my book. In fact, there are FOUR character resumes at the end of my book. I hope you'll love them! (Here's the tiniest sneak peeks.)

But guess what? I wrote way more than that. Yep. I wasn't sure what Capstone would like, so I sent them 8 to choose from. But I wrote even more resumes than that . . . because I only sent them the 8 best ones. So over the course of this week, I'm going to be sharing FIVE of those lost resumes! Eventually, they will be available for download on my website, but for now, here is LOST RESUME #1 for your viewing pleasure. May I present SNOW WHITE!

Snow White did not make the cut because I didn't think this resume was quite as amusing as the others. Thus, I never sent this one to my editor. In the end, it was just as well because Snow White, who hadn't been featured in my book at the time of that initial phone call, went on to replace a different character. Oh, the intrigue in the fairy tale world!

Who got replaced you ask? Take your best guess in the comments! I'd love to hear. And maybe I'll answer that question when I share the next Lost Resume! I'll add the links here as they're available:

Lost Resume #2
Lost Resume #3
Lost Resume #4
Lost Resume #5

But now, on to more fun stuff. With my release date being so close, I must, of course, celebrate with a giveaway!

So, to one lucky winner, I am giving not only a copy of my book, but a copy of a picture book written by a member of the 2020 Debut Crew (one book of your choice!)!! You can find a list of the authors and their books HERE. If the book you choose is not yet released, I will pre-order a copy of their book for you.

Entries close on Saturday, February 28th at midnight EST.

For all you international blog followers, this giveaway is open to every country where Book Depository delivers.  If you aren't certain about your country, check it out HERE.

For any U.S. followers, I will gladly send a signed copy of my book upon request. If you win, just let me know!

Just use the handy dandy Rafflecopter link below to enter. Good luck, my friends!

a Rafflecopter giveaway