Joanne Levy Receives PJ Our Way Author Incentive Award

It was in reading a newsletter just like this one that I learned about the incentive. Out of curiosity, I opened up the list of what PJOW was looking for and lo, they had a call out for summer camp stories. And it just so happens (you see where this is going, right?), I had a summer camp book already written (but not sold to a publisher). Queen Bea Makes a Buzz is a story that’s close to my heart, because it’s semi-autobiographical, loosely based on one of my years at sleepover summer camp. The bad news is that it was a rough summer for me, filled with bullies, illness, and a whole lot of tears. The good news is that many years later, it inspired me to write this book. You know what they say—if it doesn’t kill you, put it in a novel.

I submitted the first three chapters and outline and, uh, sort of forgot about it. Until I got the wonderful email saying the committee loved it and wanted to see the whole thing. Of course, I sent it along and tried to put it out of my head—you authors know how it goes. After some back and forth where we chatted about content and what works for PJ Our Way readers and families, I did some tweaking of the book and sent it back in again. A little while later, I got the excellent news that PJ Our Way was awarding me the full author incentive and was committing to putting Queen Bea into their PJ Our Way catalogue in the future.

I could not be more excited to have another book in the program, especially since I was also chosen to be one of the writers to attend this year’s Tent program at the Yiddish Book Center. While I was there, I was able to meet the people behind PJ Library and PJ Our Way, including Harold Grinspoon himself. I saw for myself how committed the PJ people are to getting books into kids’ hands and supporting the authors who make those books. It was a chance for learning, sharing, and getting inspired to write the books kids will love. I absolutely encourage you to apply for a spot at Tent if/when it comes up again.

Queen Bea is in the process of finding a home with a publisher, and I’m looking forward to seeing it with that cool PJ Our Way badge of honor on the cover.