Children's Author
Ann Searle Horowitz
NEWS & EVENTS
From upcoming author visits to trivia to my favorite middle-grade reads, this page is ever-changing, so come back again.
01
Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize quarterfinalist
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Trident was named one of the quarterfinalists in the 2021 Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize Fiction Contest. The contest had over 900 entries. And each entry received a Critic's Report (book #5 via link below), whether they liked your book or not, so it was a bit of a nail-biting experience.
02
Making a splash with swimmers
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While swim teams and other chlorine lovers enjoyed a return to one of the safest sports after the pandemic, Trident received 2020/2021 endorsements from several top competitive swimming organizations. Dive in and take a look at: USA Swimming, USA/Metropolitan Swimming, and YMCA Northeast Swimming.
03
Olympics trivia
In Trident, Richard's goal is to qualify for Junior Olympics.
Did you know . . .
The Ancient Olympic Games began in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece.
They were held in honor of the Greek God Zeus.
The prize for event winners in the Ancient Olympics was an olive branch wreath.
The 5 rings of the Olympic flag represent Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.
The rings are linked together in friendship.
Every nation's flag worldwide has at least one of the rings' colors: blue, black, green, yellow, and red.
04
I admit it -- I'm a mythology nerd
Poseidon, ruler of the seas and god of earthquakes and horses, is large and in charge in Trident.
Back in the day, his brothers, Zeus (ruler of the earth), and Hades (ruler of the Underworld, a.k.a. the world of the dead), both had special cities.
Poseidon was pretty steamed about this.
At long last, the people of Atlantis chose Poseidon as their patron god.
Poseidon's ten sons ruled Atlantis wisely, but their sons and grandsons didn't.
Atlantis went from being the world's greatest civilization to being the worst.
When the people of Atlantis forgot to worship Poseidon, the sea god lost it.
He used his trident to start a catastrophic earthquake, sinking Atlantis beneath the ocean waves.
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Then and now . . .
•Fishermen in the ancient world caught tuna with a trident.
•Long ago, the island of Thera was destroyed by a huge volcano, which caused epic tsunamis. Sound familiar?
•People still believe that Atlantis was real. And people keep looking for it, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
05
I Love Lucy: Fun facts
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Richard's mom in Trident is obsessed with 1950s TV sitcom I Love Lucy. Back then, married characters on TV couldn't sleep in the same bed (even though the characters in I Love Lucy happened to be married in real life!). No one could even say the word "pregnant" on air.
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Prudishness aside, Lucy is still one of the funniest shows on TV. See what all the fuss is about in this playful post on Reddit.
06
Middle grade books I love
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The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner; Graceling, by Kristin Cashore; The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani; The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman; The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley; Flora & Ulysses, by Kate DiCamillo; Holes, by Louis Sachar; Stravaganza, by Mary Hoffman; Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu; Wonder, by R.J. Palacio; A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin; Hello, Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly; and Hour of the Bees, by Lindsay Eagar. Check them out!