[Query] Alice Is Almost Everything, Upper Middle Grade, 45K, #1

Hi! I’m sharing a query letter draft to Reddit (the past two times were in PT) for this project. I plan to post my 500-word synopsis in the coming days as well since my goal is to start my outreach to agents mid-Sept. Also, I’ll be specifically disclosing my BIPOC identity in the official query letter.

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Good morning AGENT,

I am excited to present my adventure of an upper middle grade contemporary novel set against metropolitan Boston, ALICE IS ALMOST EVERYTHING, complete at 45,000 words. It is as a love letter to the BIPOC parentified eldest daughter but will appeal to fans of the overachieving mindset centered in Keeping Pace by Laurie Morrison, the alive-and-breathing city landscape and sister love of A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser and heavy realities of parentification The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Childenko features.

I trust you will enjoy this book and we would work well together because [PERSONALIZATION].

14-year-old Alice thinks she’s invincible — and there’s no better time to prove it than the summer before she starts high school.

When her Mom and Dad immerse themselves in legal battles over their divorce, Alice is assigned a series of responsibilities: keeping the house afloat, watching her two younger sisters and caring for her middle school graduation gift in the form of a bright red betta fish named Flash.

In Alice’s mind, as long as she keeps everything running smoothly as the newly appointed household manager, the world won’t fall apart. But then her parents break the news that they have spent too much money on their endless visits in court, leaving Alice’s hard-earned spot at McIntyre Preparatory Academy on the line.

Alice channels her signature tenacity into ensuring she gets to attend the Cambridge high school and quickly learns that 14-year-old logic can't solve adult problems. As her Beacon Hill household runs low on Windex and high on her mother’s grief, Alice’s perfect and careful hold on her responsibilities shatters. She must learn — even if it’s the hard way — that she deserves to be a kid fresh out of middle school and surviving the summer means risking letting her parents be parents.

I am a national K-12 education journalist, the parentified eldest daughter of divorce and a BIPOC woman who proudly considers Boston the shape of her heart on a map — all complexities included, and ALICE IS ALMOST EVERYTHING keeps that heartbeat going.

Thanks for your time and consideration!