BookPage Children's Review: Rosemary contest

The mind behind Rosemary Rita's next trip

The results are in: the lucky winners of the Winslow Press Rosemary Rita Contest, announced in the September issue of BookPage, have been selected.

For those not in-the-know, Rosemary Rita Hampton is a time-traveling 10-year-old whose tours of previous eras have taken her to Paris, Berlin and beyond, where she gets to meet different generations of her great-grandmothers when they were young. How does she do it? With the aid of her magical hourglass -- and the ingenuity of author Barbara Robertson. Filled with puzzles and secret messages, each Hourglass Adventures book comes with a cool postcard. The series also has neat Web links.

To enter the contest, kids had to plan Rosemary's next adventure, picking a destination and a time period, and explaining why they wanted Rosemary to go there. The grand prize winner was 10-year-old Leah Mailand of Hoagland, Indiana. Leah, a history buff who is being home-schooled, says she enjoys the Hourglass Adventures series because Rosemary Rita gets to experience so many different eras and places. Her prize-winning idea for Rosemary's next journey had our heroine traveling back to America in the late 1800s, "When women's rights were becoming a big issue. Girls all over could see what women went through to get the right to vote," Leah writes.

For her contribution, Leah will receive a $75 gift certificate to her local bookstore, Little Professor Book Company in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. She'll also get an Hourglass Adventures mouse pad and two books signed by Barbara Robertson.

The first prize winners were:

Katya Kourkina of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who had Rosemary Rita traveling back to the time of the Romanov Dynasty in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Allena D. Kinker of Gahanna, Ohio, who wanted our heroine to go to the Holy Land and meet Jesus Christ.

Kelly Elliot of Saginaw, Michigan, who suggested Rosemary Rita travel to the Middle East to teach peace and thwart the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Each first prize winner will receive an Hourglass Adventures mouse pad and a pair of books signed by author Barbara Robertson. Congratulations to all!