Lots of people out there saying, "DANG!".
From the Washington Post:
The monologues were a hit with the fifth-graders, and after some urging from parents and colleagues, Schlitz sent "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies" to 11 publishers in the summer of 2000. One wrote back to inform her, she recalls, that "we have shredded your manuscript."
Now, of course, the book has won the Newbery and will sell like gangbusters.