Tag Archives: author

It’s Time for our Annual Writing Contest!

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It’s here! And it’s our 15TH YEAR! We challenge you to write a short, 350-word story that includes the sentence “The sound was impossible to ignore.” (just 344 words left to go!). Winning stories will be illustrated and published on Pop Goes the Page. Additionally, winning authors will enjoy an online $50 shopping spree.

Open to ages 9-16

This contest is a celebration of writing and personal voice. Your wonderful imagination and efforts should be treasured and lauded. Therefore, we will not accept any submissions in which AI is used in any way, shape, or form. By entering this contest, you acknowledge that the writing is yours and yours alone. Thank you!

350 for 50 Contest Submission Requirements

  • Stories must be no longer than 350 words, and MUST include the sentence, “The sound was impossible to ignore.”
  • The sentence MUST stand alone in the story (not be a part of another sentence).
  • Submissions are accepted in e-mail text fields ONLY please. Attachments or files shares will NOT be accepted. No Google docs!
  • One submission per author, please. E-mail to: cotsenevents@princeton.edu
  • One winner will be selected from each of our four age categories (ages 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16).
  • The following MUST be included with your submission: Your name and age (as of April 11, 2025).
  • Your name, age, and story title are not included in the 350 word count.
  • No submissions in verse or in graphic novel format, please.
  • Literary shopping spree is limited to books and writing materials.
  • Winners will be notified via e-mail on April 28, 2025 and posted here.

Contest submissions are due by 3:00pm on Friday, April 11, 2025

Say it with Sunflowers

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What could be better then a big brilliant sunflower? Why, a sunflower that also shares good thoughts and positive messages with everyone! It’s a colorful craft project with a lot of heart, much like the author of this very special story time book.

We read Hubie by Barbara Valenza (Potato Publishing, 2021). Hubie is an unhappy horse who seems to attract bad feelings and problems. Overwhelmed, he shouts for help…and help arrives! A brilliant creature kindly explains that Hubie is a magnet, attracting both positives and negatives. She encourages him to learn from the negatives, and focus on the positives. Taking her lessons to heart, Hubie transforms his life from misery to joy.

Barbara Valenza has been featured on our blog before! Take a look at the wonderful story time and interview for her picture book, Little Lovedog’s Long Walk Home.

You’ll need:

  • 1 paper towel tube
  • 1 small box, bucket, cup, or flower pot
  • Construction paper
  • A butterfly template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

Our sunflower construction was very basic…a paper towel tube served as the stalk, and then we attached construction paper petals and leaves. If you’d like to add a little texture, use cardboard to create the sunflower’s face, then glue brown tissue paper fringes on it:

In the story, Hubie the Horse uses a dented bucket for his sunflower, so we snagged these cute mini buckets on Amazon. But a box, paper cup, or flower pot works just as well. We also added green crinkle paper around the sunflower’s base to steady the stalk. Now for the message butterflies!

Color and cut the butterflies from the template, then add a tag with a positive message on it. You can attach the message butterflies directly to the sunflower, or you can do what we did and turn them into magnets! Our magnetic butterflies attached to the metal buckets, but we also slipped paperclips on the petals for the butterflies to rest on. Gift a message butterfly to friends and family, and they can proudly display them on their fridges!

We also had a special surprise for our story time kids. Barbara Valenza famously sewed stuffed animals of her book characters (check out her Little Lovedog dachshund). Well, here’s Hubie, her awesome horseshoe magnet horse:

As a nod to her marvelous sewing skills, we had a drawing for a GIANT stuffed horse at story time. Here’s our happy winner…she was quite enamored, and her Dad emailed me later and shared that she insisted it sleep next to her that night.

This story time was full of love, laughter, positivity, joy, and delight. This was very intentional, as it was also a celebration of Barbara herself, who passed in February 2024. Hubie has a special place in my heart, and I was extraordinarily honored to share her final book with our community.

One last magical thing. Barbara’s husband Mark came to the event and brought copies of Hubie for every family! It was incredibly generous, and I very much want to thank him for coming and celebrating with us. Kids weren’t even waiting until they left the library to enjoy the story of sweet Hubie the Horse.

The Young Federalist

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It’s not everyday you get to hold history in your hands! But when Princeton University sophomore Abigail Readlinger gifted us a copy of her children’s novel, I just had to facilitate a connection between her love of American history and our special collections. Later, I asked Abigail to write about her experience and share the inspiration for her charming book…

Firestone Library’s Special Collections gave me the chance to travel through time. Among its vast array of original documents and fundamental texts is Alexander Hamilton’s very own copy of The Federalist Papers. Writing in the late 1780’s, Hamilton—along with John Jay and James Madison—drafted this series of eighty-five essays in hopes to encourage the ratification of the new Constitution. These Federalist Papers, as evidenced by their substantial contribution to the adoption of our government, are ones of profound and utmost importance. They reveal the nature of American political thought and a corresponding guide by which we ought to live by.

I myself am somewhat obsessed when it comes to The Federalist Papers. Forced to read them during my freshman year of high school, I became immediately attached. I had always loved American history, and The Federalist Papers seemed to transport me directly into the minds of our great Founding Fathers. Desperately bored during the pandemic, but armed with my love for The Federalist Papers, I began to write what is now a published children’s book: The Young Federalists.

The Young Federalists. Written by Abigail Readlinger and illustrated by Stephanie Fliss Dumas. Mascot Kids, an imprint of Amplify Publishing Group, 2022

The story follows the journey of the Kennedy siblings—Reagan, AJ, and Dolley—as they travel through time, meet Alexander Hamilton and discuss (over a cup of tea!) the importance of Federalist No.1. Just as Hamilton endeavored to inspire his generation through his writing, so also do I hope to inspire mine. The value of the American way is timeless—from then to now, for old and for young.

So when I heard Hamilton’s personal copy of The Federalist Papers just so happened to be located in my own university’s special collections, I jumped at the opportunity to see it.

I still cannot quite articulate the feeling of flipping through the pages of a book both so informative in my life and belonging to one of my most beloved heroes. In 2024, author of The Young Federalists, I was holding the same book that Alexander Hamilton, author of The Federalist Papers, once held over two hundred years earlier.

The Federalist Papers. Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Just like the characters in my book, I was having my own time travel adventure. Visiting special collections, peering over the handwritten scribblings of Hamilton’s notes, and experiencing history hands on, has been by far one of my favorite Princeton experiences. There is so much to explore in our university’s incredible collection, and to have had this opportunity has really been beyond my wildest dreams.

Would you like to see inside this copy of The Federalist Papers? You’ll find a digitized version here. All are welcome to conduct research in Special Collections at Princeton University. If you are interested in visiting, you will find more information here. Do you have a question for Abigail? Email or visit her Instagram.