Back in November, I received an invitation to participate in the Pearson Prize Teen Choice Book Award Contest, so I packed up a couple of copies of Misfit McCabe and sent them off to Lester B Pearson high school in the care of Michael Sweet, author and educator, founder of the Learning for a Cause Organization. Michael is no stranger to LLBR as we reviewed his poetry book, Nude in Review 56, earlier this year.
Not only did I send books in as entries to the contest, but also, the class in Durango, Colorado sent Book 1 of the Where in the World is Misfit McCabe? project to them. So, hopefully soon, I will have the list of students who read Misfit McCabe and will be able to update the website.
I was very proud and pleased to receive notification that Misfit McCabe had garnered runner up honors in the Pearson Prize Teen Choice Book Award Contest. I had just been thinking about sending a message to Michael to remind him that once the contest was concluded I would need a list of the participants in the WITW is MMC project, when I received the following email which started:
It is my pleasure to inform you that you are a runner-up for the 2009 Pearson Prize Medal for
your title “Misfit McCabe”.
Congratulations. More than 20 teens choose your title as their number one selection from more
than 150 titles!
I felt like I was walking on air. While I do not get the trophy, I still have the satisfaction of knowing that my little story was in the top 3 books read this year at Lester B Pearson High School. Plus, I get to put some of those little foil labels on my books which say that my book is an award winner. I loved the comment from one of the student judges of the contest about Misfit McCabe:
There is an interesting range or varied emotions from crying to laughing to simply secretly smiling to yourself because you can relate to every turn of events. You should definitely read this book.
There can be no greater satisfaction for a writer than to have their work read and enjoyed. Now all I have to do is get Nowhere Feels Like Home ready to enter next year’s contest.
