Giveaway: Author Prize Pack

We love reading around here. I read a lot. The wee ones read whenever they get the chance - including sometimes when they aren't supposed to. I also discovered during spring break that Mister Man loves to write (he had to keep a journal describing his vacation since we pulled him from school a few days early).

It shouldn't have been a big surprise to me. After all, he invented an entire comic book series called "Beyond Time and Space" that was incredibly complex and had great characters - super heroes with some pretty cool abilities - who got into great adventures. Of course he loves to write.

Cheerios encourages this with their new author contest going on now! Those - adults only - interested in writing a children's book in either English or Spanish. The book should be aimed at children ages three to eight and submitted now through July 15, 2011.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that I have tons of ideas for children's books. Actually executing on them is the challenge. I think this might be some of my incentive to finally sit down and work on it though! You can find out more about the contest here. Did I mention that the grand prize winner One Grand Prize will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a possible publishing deal with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, in addition to having his or her book featured inside Cheerios cereal boxes nationwide?



I've got great company. Cheerios via MyBlogSpark sent me a great prize pack with a box of Cheerios that includes the 2009 winner's book How Do You Hug a Porcupine? by Laurie Isop. The wee ones also received two book writing kits for kids. The Creativity for Kids kit includes to create your own hardcover books.

Let's just say the wee ones were thrilled. Beyond thrilled. They couldn't wait to write and illustrate their very own books - and with two books in the kit, each child was able to have one to write. Mister Man immediately sat down and began composing the 14th episode of Star Wars. You didn't know it went that far, did you? Little Miss grabbed her book and ran up to her room with it, paging through the empty spaces. I could see her imagining how she'd fill it, but she hasn't decided upon a final story yet.

The books allow you to both write and illustrate the story, making it great for a wide variety of ages. There are also sticker sheets and colored pencils. I love that the kit also included ideas of what to write to help some of those who are stuck trying to come up with an idea - fortunately not an issue with my wee ones, though Little Miss may need help trying to narrow down her idea!

I also have one of these prize packs to give away to one of you. Whether you enter the author contest or not, you're invited to enter to win the box of Cheerios (focused on encouraging the development of a love of reading) and the Creativity for Kids create your own books kit.

So what do you have to do to win? First of all, let me stress that you must follow all the rules. If you do not follow the rules, your entry will not count!

This contest is open until Friday May 22 at 7pm CST. I must have a valid way to reach you, so leave me your email address in your comment or be sure your profile has your email address visible. No duplicate comments will count. This giveaway is open to US residents age 18 and older. Winners will be selected via random.org and must respond within 48 hours of being notified by me or I will select a new winner.

Mandatory Entry: If you were writing a children's book, what would you write about?

Bonus Entries (leave a comment for each entry - if you put it all in one comment, I'll count it as one entry):

1) Earn one additional entry for following me on Twitter and tweeting this contest with the following tweet: "Have a young author in your house? Win a Cheerios author prize pack from @honestandtruly http://bit.ly/jlrNbP" (leave a link to your tweet as your comment and make sure you do all the steps!)
2) Earn one additional entry by following this review blog publicly via Google Friend Connect.
3) Earn one additional entry by following my “regular” blog Honest & Truly! publicly via Google Friend Connect.
4) Like my blog on Facebook and let me know what name you used to like it.

Good luck!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a Cheerios prize pack as described above courtesy of MyBlogSpark and General Mills. There was no compensation involved, and all opinions expressed are my own.