Happy weekend, readers, writers, and shark fans! And welcome to the kids, teens, parents, teachers, and librarians we may not have seen here before! Welcome to all of you!

I am so pleased to announce that, after several years of planning and accepting submissions, the first mini-issue of Lit Pup Magazine is now live on our website. Since it’s a smaller publication with fewer submissions, we are publishing 3 to 4 mini-issues of approximately 50 pages in PDF format throughout the academic year, and then in June, around the time that everyone goes on summer break for the academic year, we will release a full-length annual issue of Lit Pup Magazine, which will include all of the mini-issues from that academic year, plus new content. This is the first mini-issue, and we’re so excited to say that there is more to come!

This first mini-issue is just over 70 pages and includes original poetry and artwork by children, teens, and creators of work that is suitable for youth audiences. At the back of the issue, there are also activity pages included that are suitable for all ages: creative writing prompts, coloring pages of various intensity, suggestions for nature activities, and bookmarks! Every issue will contain new activity pages, so it’ll be a fun experience of writing, art, and getting outside. 

I first thought of the idea of Lit Shark back in 2015, and I knew that I wanted it to be an inclusive space for everyone, no matter their age, creative background, or perceived talent level. Lit Shark has included such beautiful and complex work, and while some might jump to conclusions and think of Lit Pup as being simple in comparison, I want to argue that there is incredible complexity, vulnerability, and ARTISTRY to this piece. One child made of love, another child made of light, a dream of dancing pens, a painting that’s a whale and an ocean, all in one. It’s such a sweet and fun little issue, I’m so proud of everyone in here, and I can’t wait to share the rest of this academic year’s work with you. 

Welcome to the First Mini-Issue of Lit Pup Magazine!

A Special Thank You to Our Contributors and All Who Submitted!

We had such an incredible mix of contributors of art and poetry in this issue. We received poetry from children as young as five to as old as someone who just turned 18, not to mention lovely poetry by well-established poets who enjoy writing work that is enjoyable for children and teens. The artwork in this issue was all lovingly created by children, mostly around the age of 10. 

Available to All Readers, Writers, and Shark Fans

We believe literature of all kinds should be accessible to everyone, no matter their financial situations, educational affiliations, etc. Each of our mini-issues will only be available as free PDFs. Our annual full-length issue will be available in paperback on Amazon: since it will be a collection of all of our mini-issues from the academic year, PLUS new content, most of the content will be available for free on our site, though not quite all. You can find all of Lit Pup’s content, now and upcoming, on the Lit Pup Magazine page!

Choose Your Edition

Depending on your preferences, we’re offering two-page spread and one-page spread editions. The two-page spread will feel more like a book with facing pages, and the blank pages in the issue will “make more sense” than they do in the one-page spread.

The one-page spread will display one page at a time, which may be friendlier for those who want to read on an e-reader (though I prefer the book-like feeling of the two-page spread, and it’s been okay to read on my Kindle Paperwhite; the display is simply smaller!), and it will allow you to print larger renditions of the coloring pages, which might be desired by some!

We Hope That You Will Submit!

To be totally transparent, the main reason it took so long for us to launch Lit Pup is that we’ve received so few submissions. We are accepting poetry, stories, and art from children, teens, new adults, and professional writers who write and create art for youth audiences (children’s books, picture books, poetry, middle-grade, young adult, and art are all welcome!). For example, in our first full-length issue this year, we’re including a never-before-seen children’s book written by an established children’s book writer. You can see our guidelines and how to submit on the Lit Pup Magazine submission page.

If you are a teacher, librarian, parent, or guardian, you are welcome to submit work to Lit Pup, and I hope you will encourage the children, teens, and new adults in your life to share their creative writing and art with us. If you’d like to share our submission information with an entire class of children and mass-submit on behalf of the whole class, go for it! If you want to gather submissions from a school district library, more the merrier! You get the idea. We’re so excited about the concept of Lit Pup and have enough work that we are confident we can continue publishing through the end of this academic year, but we need help getting the WORD OUT and SUBMISSIONS IN if we want Lit Pup to have a future in the 2025-2026 academic year and beyond. 

Thank you so much for your understanding and for your support!

Thank You.

Thank you to all of you for the incredible support and excitement you’ve shown to Lit Shark over the years and those of you who have shown such excitement for us launching a companion through Lit Pup. This issue was so fun to put together, and I am so excited to share the rest of the 2024-2025 academic year issues with you. Thank you so much for being here.

Happy Reading, Readers, Writers, & Shark Fans