SMOOCH - YA
Dear Mystery Agent:
Sixteen-year-old Haley is ready for true love--but Biology comes first.
When Haley decides to dissect a frog rather than stick to her beliefs
and have her grades suffer, the pro-animal teacher deems a
magical punishment. The teacher isn't going to let Haley get away with the
immoral choices she makes in favor of academic pursuits.
With a sprinkle of eraser shavings, the teacher turns Haley into a
frog, and seals her fate: dissection.
Haley's new gig as an evening frog isn't so convenient for her social life.
She really can't explain to her sister why she wanders off each evening
and comes home naked and reeking of swampy water. Haley can't
tell her almost-girlfriend, either, why she refuses to go on evening
dates, even though she desperately wants to. But she can't help
it--each day at four o' clock, Haley turns into a frog. Just like the
frog in the fairy tale, she's going to spend each night enchanted,
unless she can convince her frog-phobic princess to kiss her. Of
course, if the spell lasts too long, she's going to be the one on the
dissecting table.
SMOOCH is a young adult novel complete at 48,000 words. I would
be glad to send SMOOCH upon request. Thank you for your time.
Best,
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI like the concept here. Very original!
However I do have a question: why would a pro-aminal teacher have their class dissect frogs in the first place? Perhaps it was a test to see if Haley would do the right thing? Or is this a different teacher than the one that made the class dissect frogs? Maybe make that more clear here.
Good luck with this. Sounds like a really cool story.
This sounds like a great story! And the first paragraph strongly reminds me of the early 2000s TV drama, 'Popular', and the character 'Lily Esposito'. (Faces frog dissection in class. Strongly refuses... eventually hooks up with the cutest guy in class, but that's another story)
ReplyDeleteI think you should clarify in the first paragraph that Haley only turns into a frog at night. Because I had to double take and read the query twice to realise that she only turns during the evenings.
Otherwise, really cool premise! Good luck!
This is a fun idea. I just got a bit confused in the query, especially when your protag is 16 and you mention this is MG. Love the title, voice and premise. Just maybe clear up the teacher motive and add age range and word count.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a lot of hilarious fun, but it doesn't sound like MG at all. Age is too old, sexual references - I don't think that's MG.
ReplyDeleteI can only assume there are two teachers involved, otherwise it's too confusing. So I think it would be good to clear that up.
The line about coming home naked and smelling of swamp water is very funny.
Best of luck!
I loved this and it made me laugh. Maybe clear up if there are one or two teachers though.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing that confused me was the part about the almost-girlfriend. What is an almost-girlfriend? Maybe make that a little clearer too. Also I didn't get the part about the frog-phobic princess kissing her. Should that be prince?
Otherwise I loved it.
Good luck.
Premise is interesting but I wonder if a 16-year-old protag is too old for MG? And I agree about the teacher confusion.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should include word count in the query.
Good luck!
I don't have any constructive criticism to add that hasn't already been posted, but I wanted to say that this concept is fab. Love it!
ReplyDelete