[QCrit] MG Fantasy - MONTABELLE MANSION (50K/First attempt)

Dear (editor’s name),

I loved reading (similar books I have read under the agent's name), and hope you might consider my 50,000 word middle grade fantasy, MONTABELLE MANSION, which features (similarities to the agent’s book) with elements of a Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Deep in the woods, behind gates featuring rifles and roses, is the maze-like Montabelle Mansion. Once home to a family who threw wild parties, hosted movie stars, and possessed–so it’s said–real magic, its gates are now locked after its inhabitants vanished ten years ago.

None of that matters to Roz, who is busy preparing for Christmas and looking forward to Mom finally having time off work. The downside? Mr. Perfect Mom-Attention-Stealing Cousin Horatio is staying for the whole week. Mom makes Roz a promise: tolerate Horatio, and they will go to the New Year’s Eve festival together. Roz agrees. And, that night, watches while Mom is kidnapped by a giant, hairy, clawed monster.

Roz doesn’t need help from anyone. She can cook, climb ladders, and fun little coincidences happen around her like magic! She can find Mom on her own. So what if the police don’t believe her? So what if Mr. Perfect Mom-Stealing Horatio decides to tag along? So what if Mom’s trail leads to Montabelle Mansion, whose cursed occupants never left, family secrets are hidden, and Roz finds herself in over her head with the dangerous witch behind it all?

*I've dipped my toes into the publishing world before and understand how difficult it is. I feel I've written a pretty solid and marketable middle grade book and would like to give it another go. Any help in solidifying my query would be very appreciated, this is the part of the process I'm pretty weak on. Thanks in advance!