Friday, November 13, 2009

Congratulations!

For those of you keeping track, Anthology #1 is closed, but if you have a holiday play that you'd like to submit, the deadline is midnight PST, Monday the 16th.

We're happy to accept Daniel Munson's play, Point of Adventure, which deals with the power of imagination and how a person can live vicariously through books.

Congrats to Mary Main, with Uncle Jonas and the Birthday Bonus. One element she touches on is books you own, versus books you share. And we're also happy to include JoLyn Brown, whose Halloween play, A Costume for Dad, has been accepted.

If you plan on subbing, write hard this weekend! Good luck!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Congrats!

Congratulations to Mary Main, who will appear in Anthology #1 with Tiana Joins the Circus. Prominent elements include the power of imagination!

Also, congratulations to Sarah V. Richard, whose play Curly Shares in Tradition has been accepted for Anthology #2. This is our second Christmas play, so Aspiring Contributors might begin casting about for ideas of other holidays... Halloween, Thanksgiving, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, and the Fourth of July are all obvious ones that haven't been tapped yet.

Best of luck!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Cover Illustrator

There are so many talented artists with so many different styles, finding our cover illustrator was a very daunting project, and lots of fun.

I'm very excited about the illustrator we have lined up. If everything goes well, I should have more information to share in the future. But I'm pretty confident our cover will be all that and a bag of chips. :o)

So if you don't want to write a puppet play because you love the idea of entertaining little kids in libraries across the country, do it because your cover will be the coolest cover on your block, and you want to make everyone in your writing group jealous. :o)

Have a good Columbus Day weekend!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Congrats!

Congratulations to Rachel Greene, whose play, Goodnight, Howie, has been accepted for Anthology #1. One of the key themes is bedtime stories.

Best of luck to everyone!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cathy Hall, whose play, Oh, Deer. Oh, Dear was accepted for Anthology #1. Themes include homophones and homonyms. We also look forward to including Curly Reads a Book by Sarah V. Richard. Prominent elements include judging a book by its cover.

We have also accepted a (secular) Christmas-themed puppet play, A December Emergency, by Nikki Loftin, for our holiday anthology.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Q&A!

Q: I'd love to submit a puppet play, but I've never seen an amateur performance. Any hints to keep me from being too ambitious with my stage directions?

A: This ties back into the "rely more on dialogue and less on props" bit of advice. Do you want your puppets to manipulate an object? Do you think you could manipulate that object easily if you had a sock on each hand, your arms up in front of you, craning your neck sideways to read the script? It's possible, but not easy. If you want to use a prop, you might think about it being on the stage from the beginning. Many puppet theaters have a sort of shelf that can accommodate props like that. But also keep in mind that the more complicated your stage scenery is, the harder it is to put on your play. Not all libraries are likely to have a puppet-sized computer, or a rain stick, or a model train locomotive in their prop box. And that means that librarians will have to work harder to perform your play.

Q: So, yeah, dialogue. What kind of voice are you looking for?

A: Can you imagine Bert and Ernie performing your play and sounding natural? How about Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse? (YouTube is great for a refresher.) Think casual, think witty, think tongue-in-cheek. Remember that you're not only entertaining two-year-olds, you're also having to entertain their parents and the librarians. Libraries are great places for information... but they're great places for entertainment, too.

Q: When you say, "Characters should be flexible 'types'", what do you mean?

A: Some libraries have a closet chock-full of puppets. Others get by with a cardboard box. What characters does your play call for? If you craft it properly, the librarian should be able to substitute one puppet for another with a minimum adjustment of dialogue. Maybe your play absolutely, positively needs to have a hippopotamus puppet or else the whole thing falls apart, but such plays will really have to amuse and impress us otherwise.

Q: I'm always nervous about anthologies... I don't want to duplicate someone else's angle.

A: Keep checking for updates. We'll keep a running tally of the plays we accept, along with a few pertinent themes each incorporates, just for this purpose. (Look for the label "acceptance".) Just because you see we already accepted someone else's play about returning library books on time doesn't mean we won't accept a second, but if you see we have three or four plays with that theme, you might cast about for an idea that isn't so well-represented. And if it helps any, we're currently receiving about five general anthology subs for every one holiday anthology sub.

Best of luck, and feel free to query for more clarification!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Congrats!

Congratulations to Nikki Loftin, whose play, Readin' on the Range, was accepted for Anthology #1! For those who are keeping track at home, major themes include cowboys and pondering the question, what are books good for?

Friday, September 11, 2009

Q&A!

Q: I'd love to put together a play on how to use the Dewey Decimal System! Is that too mature for your kids?

A: What a cool idea, but it's a little advanced for our audience! A lot of them are still working on the concepts of "Big" and "Little", "Hard" and "Soft", "Loud" and "Quiet", numbers and colors and rhyming words and ABC's. Think closer to something you might see in a Sesame Street skit.

Q: I want to submit something, but everything comes out too preachy. Any suggestions?

A: Think along the lines of how a library can improve a toddler's life. For example, three plays that I've written for my library-- boy wants to be a comedian, boy only knows one joke, boy can check out joke books from the library. Or boy wants a pet, boy isn't quite clear on what you can do with a goldfish or a hamster, boy can check out books from the library to find himself the perfect pet. Or one friend goes to another friend's house for a slumber party, the guest is too bossy, the friend calls her on it, they find a compromise and decide to look into a book from the library about-- you guessed it! --how to have a sleepover. Make the problem funny, make the audience feel smart. The book or the library doesn't have to form the main component of the plot or be the setting, but if it doesn't, it should help provide the solution to the problem. You don't even need to show them reading the book, finding a funnier joke, finding the perfect pet, or finding a slumber party game both of them like-- it works better if you don't, because it leaves more to the audience's individual imaginations about what they found. Wrap it up nice and punchy. :o)

Q: What about fairy tale retellings?

A: A straight fairy tale retelling? Probably not. A fractured fairy tale? Possibly, but they're very present in the current body of literature for puppet plays. We're hoping to bring some new ideas into the niche, but we're not totally opposed to them. Using fairy tale/nursery rhyme characters in a totally new plot and setting? Go for it!

Q: My library doesn't have a puppet theater. What do they look like?

A: Puppet theaters vary in size, shape, and design, but they're probably not going to be able to hold a candle to the Von Trapp's private puppet stage. :o) Though some have backdrops, most just take place against the curtain. Rely less on props and more on dialogue. Remember, these puppeteers are amateurs! Be kind! :o) (I'll try and find some pictures and post them.)

Good luck, and feel free to write with a question if you need help with direction!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Call for Submissions #2

Anthology:
(Title TBD)

Opens: September 1, 2009
Deadline: November 16, 2009
Responses by: December 1, 2009
Projected Publication Date: January 19, 2010

Contact address: librariansaide@gmail.com

What Are We Looking For?:
We are looking for previously unpublished puppet plays. Our primary audience is children 2-4 years of age, but submissions should be entertaining to their parents and older siblings as well.

Details?:

The theme revolves around holidays and other celebrations! Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day, Independence Day or Mother’s Day, birthdays or even Library Week--- if it’s something that’s relevant to a toddler’s interests, have at! (OK, librarians are the only ones who get excited about Library Week, but who’s performing these shows? ^_^) For holidays such as Christmas or Easter, both secular and religious interpretations are acceptable. You get extra bonus points if books, reading, or libraries figure into your plot in a natural way. Characters should be flexible "types", and plays should be performable by only one person (a max of 2 characters on stage at once). Plays should be 1,000 words or less (we expect most to be in the 500 range) but the word limit is not strict-- if you feel you can keep a toddler's attention for longer, go for it!

Format?:

12-pt Arial, 1.5-spaced within one character's line of dialogue; an extra space between characters. Name, mailing address, and e-mail address in your header on each page. Center title. Cast list, with a short descriptive blurb about each character in your skit. For dialogue, each character's name in bold and caps; tab one inch for their lines. Actions in parenthesis between lines of dialogue; directions in parenthesis within the dialogue.

Submissions?:

Authors in the US and Canada are welcome to submit e-subs. Please save them in .rtf attachment and email them to librariansaide@gmail.com with the subject header Submission: Anthology 2: [Title]. You will receive notification of receipt within one week, and a rejection or acceptance within four weeks. As we are only likely to choose one piece per author for this anthology, please wait for your first play to be rejected before querying with a second submission.

Payment?:

$10 plus one contributor's copy after publication.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Call for Submissions #1

Anthology:
What's Black and White and Red All Over?
[and Other Puppet Plays for Libraries]
(working title)

Opens: September 1, 2009
Deadline: November 9, 2009
Responses by: December 1, 2009
Projected Publication Date: January 5, 2010
Contact address: librariansaide@gmail.com

What Are We Looking For?
We are looking for previously unpublished puppet plays. Our primary audience is children 2-4 years of age, but submissions should be entertaining to their parents and older siblings as well.

Details?
Each play should show in an entertaining way how books and/or libraries can be relevant to a preschooler’s world. Characters should be flexible "types", and plays should be performable by only one person (a max of 2 characters on stage at once). Plays should be 1,000 words or less (we expect most to be in the 500 range) but the word limit is not strict-- if you feel you can keep a toddler's attention for longer, go for it!

Format?
12-pt Arial, 1.5-spaced within one character's line of dialogue; an extra space between characters. Name, mailing address, and e-mail address in your header on each page. Center title. Cast list, with a short descriptive blurb about each character in your skit. For dialogue, each character's name in bold and caps; tab one inch for their lines. Actions in parenthesis between lines of dialogue; directions in parenthesis within the dialogue.

Submissions?
Authors in the US and Canada are welcome to submit e-subs. Please save them in .rtf attachment and email them to librariansaide@gmail.com with the subject header Submission: Anthology 1: [Title]. You will receive notification of receipt within one week, and a rejection or acceptance within four weeks. As we are only likely to choose one piece per author for this anthology, please wait for your first play to be rejected before querying with a second submission.

Payment?
$10 plus one contributor's copy upon publication.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

About Us

As our tagline above says, Librarian's Aide is dedicated to encouraging literacy and library usage through excellence in programming. Trying to think of fresh ideas to fill a blank program calendar month after month can be very daunting for a youth librarian! So that's where Librarian's Aide comes in--- we have reading incentives, program kits, and craft kits that help supplement a library's current offerings.

In addition to that, we are developing a line of publications. On a few projects, we'll specifically request contributions from library professionals, but unless specified, anyone is welcome to contribute. We look forward to working with you!