Joan Reardon (MG Fantasy)
Author: Joan Reardon (@WritingReardon)
Age Range: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Agent: Larissa Melo Pienkowski, Jill Grinberg Literary
The Query Letter:
Dear Larissa,
When the Bell Witch cursed the Grimsbane men with untimely, unusual deaths, the Grimsbane women decided to hunt the witch and break the curse.
That was four hundred years ago.
The curse still isn’t broken.
Part-time skater, full-time troublemaker Anna Grimsbane may only be eleven, but she knows she’d be the best witch hunter ever if her family would give her a chance. Unfortunately, they disagree, which means she’s stuck fetching coffee and vacuuming the family funeral home until she’s in high school.
This changes when Anna’s nerdy, accident-prone, and extremely cursed older brother runs away on Halloween night. When Anna realizes he’s trying to hunt the Bell Witch, she does what any good sister would do. She gathers her eclectic friends, steals her family’s guide to witch hunting, and ventures into the haunted forest to find him before the witch does.
Soon, Anna discovers the Bell Witch isn’t the only spook with a vendetta against the Grimsbanes. The forest is crawling with cryptids, all of whom want to see Anna’s head roasting on a spit. As her lack of experience starts to show, Anna realizes her brother isn’t the only Grimsbane risking a bloody demise.
Because you’re on the lookout for haunting, multi-generational middle grade narratives, I think my manuscript would be a great fit for your list. THE GRIMSBANE FAMILY WITCH HUNTERS (47,000 words) is a spooky middle grade fantasy that fuses the friendship and adventure of Stranger Things with the American-folklore-inspired fear of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. I believe it will appeal to fans of Ghost Squad, Whispering Pines, and Scritch Scratch.
I am a graduate student and amateur cryptozoologist from northeast Ohio. While earning my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to study witch and monster folklore and what that folklore tells us about our own history. This is reflected in my manuscript.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best,
Joan Reardon