KidLit Chuckle Challenge Champ 2026, Author, Firewife, Mom, former YS librarian & professor 📝 Querying 3 picture books
Myrtle Beach, SC
Joined December 2025
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📖 Funny! Punchy! Sweetly spooky
🚸 Picture book, ages 4-8
✔️ #Q #PB #writingcommunity #kidlit #questpit entry 3
Colleen Bays is ✨️Querying✨️ retweeted
TEDDY BEARWOLF = Maurice the Unbeastly x Gustavo the Shy Ghost
🧸 A teddy bear in a forest of werewolves
👬 Who chooses friendliness over fear
✨ And changes the forest and the werewolves for the better
🎃 Seasonal vibes, folklore with a twist, spooky meets cute
#QuestPit #PB #Q
ALT Teddy Bearwolf by Shelbey Davis. Picture book. 530 words.
ALT Teddy is party teddy bear, part werewolf, but 100% adorable--and it's a problem!
ALT Comparative titles include Bunny Bear, Gustavo the Shy Ghost, Creepy Sheepy, Maurice the Unbeastly, Spooky Scouts, etc.
ALT Themes/Entry Points: Folklore, Halloween, Identity, Inclusion
Colleen Bays is ✨️Querying✨️ retweeted
“If you don’t stop pouting, a bird will poop on your lip!”
Birdy the Bluebird would never! Birds aren't that gross, are they? But her quest to prove so by seeking support from feathered friends unveils a fowl truth. Can birdwatchers help Birdy to redeem herself?
BIRDS ARE (NOT) GROSS! = No One Likes a Fart x I Am Not Grumpy!
#QuestPit #PB #Q #Humor
📖 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day gets a contemporary twist in the style of The House That Jack Built!
📚 Part of a character-driven series!
🚸 Picture book, ages 4-8
😡 SEL & interactive
✔️ #Q #PB #writingcommunity #kidlit #questpit entry 2
📚Mo Willems’ Pigeon x No, Fuzzball! x Secret Agent Splat
🚸Picture book, ages 4-8
👋Interactive! Breaks 4th wall
⌛️#amquerying
#kidlit #questpit entry 1 #q #pb #WritingCommunity
Colleen Bays is ✨️Querying✨️ retweeted
In that "sweet spot" where I have several things to do and can't decide which I want to work on:
- 3 picture book manuscripts to edit
- a novel to finish writing
- 2 short stories to start writing
#authorlife #authormom #writingcommunity
Mind blowing. Grateful to @FeralGirlBooks and Black Anchor Publishing Group for making my first adult fiction publication possible!
25 stories were chosen out of over 250 submissions. My mind is blown! #writingcommunity #authormom #horrorauthor #horrorreaders #readingcommunity
I submitted my entry to the #fallwritingfrenzy! Thank you @kaitlynleann17 and @lydialukidis7 for hosting this contest!
Thank you @AprilBerryBooks, @JulieHauswirth, @LawyerBri, & @MusingMomMumble for hosting the #kidlitchucklechallenge! Thank you so much to Dara Henry for donating your time & expertise as a prize! I can't wait to get my manuscript critiqued & ready to query!
OH MY GOODNESS!! I'm ecstatic to be named a #kidlitchucklechallenge Champ!! Thank you to those who gave feedback on my story, @AprilBerryBooks @JulieHauswirth @LawyerBri & Kris DeCaro for hosting this contest, & all the amazing prize donors!!
When you just wrote your first short story (to hopefully submit for an anthology) and it's an adult horror. 😳 We're just trying all sorts of new things over here! 😆 #writingcommunity #authormom
I'm so excited for the #kidlitchucklechallenge! I'm deciding between 2 stories I wrote for it, both of which I plan to prepare for querying. One of them I drastically expanded, and it even includes nonfiction back matter for the full picture book! #writingcommunity #kidlit