Welcome to KidLit Cares, an online talent auction to benefit the Red Cross relief effort to help communities recover from Hurricane Harvey and related flooding. Agents, editors, authors, and illustrators have donated various services to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with donations being made directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund. You can read more about KidLit Cares here. Now, on to the auction!
Author Alison McGhee is offering one Skype visit with a book club, classroom, other group or individual, plus the following middle-grade novels in both print and audio editions (print editions signed and inscribed as you wish): Firefly Hollow, Maybe a Fox (co-written with Kathi Appelt), and Pablo and Birdy.Opening bid: $50
Auction ends: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at 8pm EST.
Any bids submitted in comments after that time will be void. (Please note: bidding at the last second isn’t a good idea. Websites get overloaded & there’s always a chance that your bid might not post on time. So please bid your best offer with plenty of time to spare.)
If you’d like to bid on this auction, check the current high bid and place a higher bid by leaving your name and bid amount in the comments, along with some way to contact you (email, FB or Twitter…I’m not fussy.) Winners will be notified when the auction ends and should be prepared to make an online donation to the Red Cross Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief fund in the amount of the high bid at that time. After you’ve made your donation, you’ll forward your receipt to me, and I’ll put you in touch with the person who donated the service you won so that the two of you can work out the details about how and when. All services will be provided at the convenience of both the person making the donation and the auction winner, but this should happen within three months of the auction’s end unless something else is agreed upon by both parties.
Good luck, and thanks for bidding!
Author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is offering a 30-minute Skype visit (in December/January) and signed copy of Two Naomis. Olugbemisola is the author of 
Offering 10 Raisin, the Littlest Cow picture books (ages 4-9), signed by both Miriam Busch and Larry Day, and a 25 minute Skype visit with Miriam Busch.
Nancy Churnin, theater critic for The Dallas Morning News and the award-winning author of five non-fiction picture book biographies is offering a 30-minute Skype chat with your library, classroom, or book club. Nancy’s first book, The William Hoy Story, How a Deaf Baseball Player Changed the Game, is on the 2016 NYPL Best Books for Kids; the 2017 TLA’s 2X2 and Topaz lists and the 2018 Monarch Award Master List. Her newest book, Manjhi Moves a Mountain, the true story of a man who moved a mountain for love, using only a hammer, chisel and his own persistence, is a 2017 Junior Library Guild Fall selection and comes out Sept. 1. Date & time will be mutually agreed upon by the winner and Nancy after the auction ends.
Laura Shovan’s middle grade novel-in-verse, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, is a NCTE 2017 Notable Verse Novel and won CYBILS and Nerdy Book Club awards for poetry. She is a longtime poet-in-the-schools and the author and editor of three books of poetry for adults. Laura is offering a full manuscript critique of your middle grade novel or YA novel-in-verse.
Debbie Levy is the award-winning and NYT-bestselling author of I DISSENT: RUTH BADER GINSBURG MAKES HER MARK, as well as 20+ other books for young people of all ages. She is offering a 30-minute Skype visit with your school classroom, book club, or library group, plus signed copies of the following books I DISSENT; THE YEAR OF GOODBYES: A TRUE STORY OF FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY, AND FAREWELLS; WE SHALL OVERCOME; DOZER’S RUN; and SOLDIER SONG.
Literary agent Fiona Kenshole has donated a first 15 pages critique for a YA novel. She will provide a written critique and Skype follow up.
Kelly Jensen is offering an up to 60 minute Skype author/editor visit + 10 copies of HERE WE ARE. Discussion can be about feminism, a creative nonfiction writing workshop, and talk about some of the best YA books available. Could also be about finding a path in writing through nontraditional means. She’s also willing to do this as IN-person for winner if in the Milwaukee/Madison/Rockford/Chicago area (roughly 90 miles from Beloit, WI). 
Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang, co-authors of THIS IS JUST A TEST, are offering to co-author a manuscript critique. They’ll look at the first 30 pages of your kid-lit manuscript, along with a one or two page synopsis. You’ll also receive a signed copy of their book.
Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate has donated a 30-minute author Skype visit, with 5 signed copies of her new book, Wishtree, and personalized bookmarks for every child in a class.