CONTACT ME:

Rachelleburk@gmail.com

CRITIQUE and EDITING SERVICES for CHILDREN'S WRITERS

Rachelle's fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children have appeared in national publications such as Highlights for Children, Scholastic Classroom magazines, Pockets Magazine, and others (see list below). She is also the author of several picture books:
 TREE HOUSE IN A STORM
 DON'T TURN THE PAGE!
THE BEST FOUR QUESTIONS
PAINTING IN THE DARK: ESREF ARMAGAN, BLIND ARTIST
THE STORY OF SIMONE BILES
STOMP, WIGGLE, CLAP, & TAP: My First Book of Dance
LET'S PLAY AN INSTRUMENT
WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD.
She's a Mensch! Jewish Women Who Rocked the World

         Coming soon:

Space Torah: Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman's Cosmic Mitzvah
Matzah Ball Chase
A Mitzvah for George Washington
The Story of Taylor Swift
Passover on Everest 

 as well as a middle-grade science adventure novel THE WALKING FISH. 

Rachelle visits schools and libraries as an author and storyteller. 

As a member of several critique groups, and a freelance editor for over a decade, Rachelle has critiqued literally hundreds of manuscripts. Many have gone on to publication. 

She has also served for as a mentor for a north Jersey Teen Arts Festival, critiquing creative writing manuscripts of junior high and high school students. 

She is a member of SCBWI, and on the conference committee of the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature "RUCCL 1-on-1 Conference."

At this time, Rachelle is only accepting non-rhyming picture book clients. (If you have a rhyming manuscript, she can recommend someone).
 
PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR RATES:
RACHELLEBURK@GMAIL.COM
 

Critiques include feedback on the following:


--Formatting: Is the manuscript formatted correctly for submission to a publisher?
--Choice of title: Is it catchy?
--Target age: Is the story appropriate for the stated target age and market?
--Length of work: Is it too long or too short? What, if anything, should be cut?
--Opening paragraph: Do you have a powerful, catchy opening that will hook the reader?
--Do you "show" rather than "tell"?
--Dialogue: Is it believable? Are the characters' voices distinct? Is there a good balance between dialogue and action? Are dialogue tags used well?
--Character Development: Have you developed characters that the reader can care about and relate to? Are they interesting?
--Illustration considerations: Does the story lend itself to lively and interesting illustrations? Does the story give unnecessary details that can be shown instead in the illustrations?
--Conclusion: Is it satisfying and believable?
--Line by line comments within the text, including feedback about grammar, word choices, dialogue, sentence length, structure, and more. 
--Rhyming picture books: includes suggestions on rhymes, meter, syllables, and story development (She critiques a limited number of rhyming manuscripts but can refer writers to other professionals).
Manuscripts are submitted by email as an attachment.

Please submit manuscript in the same form as you would for an editor (for example, click here):12 point font (Times New Roman or Arial)
One-inch margins all aroundName, address, email & phone in upper left corner (single spaced)
Word count in upper right corner
Title centered, halfway down the page.
Double space after title, then manuscript starts just beneath the title.
Double space manuscript
Each page, except for page one, should have a header which includes your name/ title/page number.

Payment by check, Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal.

References on right of this page, and can also be found on LinkedIn.
Email me for more information!



RACHELLE'S PUBLICATIONS

  • TREE HOUSE IN A STORM: (Children's Fiction Book, Stemmer House Publishers, 2009)
  • Blind Ambition (nonfiction, Highlights Magazine, Jan. 2009). AWARDED "AUTHOR OF THE MONTH" by Highlights for this story.
  • Blind Ambition (nonfiction, Educational Testing Service. Originally published in Highlights magazine)
  • The Holiday House (fiction, Highlights Magazine-TBA)
  • The Victory Coop (fiction, Highlights Magazine-TBA)
  • The Ski's No Limit (nonfiction, Scholastic Scope, Jan. 2008)
  • Mismatched Socks (poem, Pockets Magazine, Jan/Feb 2008)
  • Why Does Skin Get Wrinkly in Water? (nonfiction, "Ask Science World." Scholastic Science World, May 2011)
  • The Come Back (fiction, Catholic Forester Mag., Spring 2008)
  • From the Inside Out (Nonfiction science/nature, Birds and Blooms Mag., Sept. 2006)
  • To Catch a Fairy (poem, Dragonfly Spirit e-zine, Sept. 2005)
  • Michael's Dance (poem, Itty-Bits of Bliss poetry anthology, 2006)
  • Not So Little (poem, InspiredMoms e-zine) 2006
  • The Write Stuff (Writer and editor of monthly column: Kidsville News/Middlesex)

Tree House in a Storm, by Rachelle Burk (Stemmer House Publishers, 2009)