Guest blogger Shellie Braeuner, a nanny in Nashville, Tenn., is the winner of the first Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Children’s Book Contest. The contest invites previously unpublished adult authors to submit their stories for a children’s book. First Book Advisory Boards serve as the initial judges and help identify the top 15 – 20 stories to be considered. Cheerios provides cash prizes to up to three winners, and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing reviews the top winner for a potential book deal. A book deal is not guaranteed, but last year, Shellie’s entry, The Great Dog Wash, not only won the contest, but earned her a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster as well.

I still remember my very first book. It was called Ballerina Bess, and my parents gave it to me on my fourth birthday. I was lucky. I grew up in a house filled with books. But they belonged to my parents, or to the whole family. This was the first book that was wholly and completely my own. I still have Bess, packed away somewhere, waiting to see if I will have a child of my own.

In the meantime, I’m having a new kind of first. Thanks to Cheerios and their Spoonfuls of Stories Children’s Book Contest, my first book will be published in 2009. The Great Dog Wash will be available first inside Cheerios boxes next April, and then available through booksellers. You can even see early sketches for my book, done by illustrator Robert Neubecker, at www.spoonfulsofstories.com. It is all very exciting. Especially when I think that perhaps The Great Dog Wash will be a first book for another child. One can hope.

READ MORE »