Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell

Fin knows that something is wrong, she just doesn’t know what. She can’t stop counting. Some of the teachers at her new school think she just isn’t paying attention, but Fin knows that maybe she’s paying too much attention--to everything. Her dad wants to be buddies with his new girlfriend. Her mother wants her to go to counseling. Her counselor wants her to take Paxil, but her mother doesn’t want her to take meds at all. Fin feels like she’s all alone--until she begins a “conversation” with a tagger on the stall wall of one of the girls’ bathrooms. Maybe she’s not so alone after all, but will she ever be able to stop counting everything? Will she take the meds? Will she meet this tagger? Read Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell and see.

Chappell does for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) what Jack Gantos and his character, Joey Pigza, do for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Neither Gantos nor Chappell presume to solve their characters’ problems, nor do they preach or sugar-coat. They do not push any particular treatments. What they do is to skillfully offer the reader a glimpse into the minds of young people as they learn that, maybe, they’re not crazy--and that they aren’t alone. Total Constant Order, scheduled for release on October 23, 2007, is a worthy addition to any young adult collection.

Launch Pad: A call for young authors and illustrators

I recently received word about an interesting opportunity for those young authors and illustrators out there. If you know of a young author or illustrator, consider looking into Launch Pad, a new publication for children's works set to debut in January/February of 2008. The following is the call for submissions along with URLs, snail mail, e-mail and phone information for the editor and publisher, Paul Kelsey. The call includes URLs for downloadable fliers. What a great way to encourage our dragonlings to get creative!!!

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Call for Submissions

Become a Published Young Author or Illustrator!

Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off! is now accepting fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6-12. We encourage children to submit a few illustrations with their written work, but this is not a requirement. We are looking for creative works about the following themes:

Animals
The Ocean
Fairy Tales & Fantasy
Heroes
Mysteries
Sports

Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off! is scheduled to debut with a January/February 2008 print issue. Please visit http://www.launchpadmag.com to review our submission guidelines!

Printable handouts:
http://www.launchpadmag.com/submitbw.pdf
http://www.launchpadmag.com/submitcolor.pdf

Email submissions and queries to: editor@launchpadmag.com

Or mail to:

Launch Pad
P.O. Box 80578
Baton Rouge, LA 70898