Picture Book Lesson #3, Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, & Book Giveaway!

It's Baby Says, “Moo!” Week at Teaching Authors.com! To celebrate the publication of my new rhyming picture book, we’re giving away an autographed copy. Entry details below!

Today, we also celebrate the birthday of beloved children's book author Dr. Seuss. I'll always remember my mother reading The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins to my sisters and me. Our kids loved Dr. Seuss's ABC, Fox in Socks, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Join the nationwide birthday celebration by taking part in the National Education Association's Read Across America Day.

As my contribution to the picture book topic the other Teaching Authors have already addressed, I’m sharing some lessons I learned by looking back at the writing and publishing process for each of my five picture books. I’ll post one each day this week.

I learned how to research nonfiction by writing dozens of nonfiction books for beginning readers. Educational publishers assigned the titles and published them in series. I enjoyed the research process, so I decided to write a nonfiction book on a topic I chose myself. I also wanted to break away from strict rules about reading levels and sentence structures. Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move, a nonfiction picture book about the many ways seeds travel, was the happy result of both my longtime love of plants, trees, and gardens and my desire to write nonfiction in a creative, poetic way.

Lesson #3: Write about what you care about.

Baby Says “Moo!” Giveaway

Booklist says, “Everything about this picture book—concept, story, appealing art—is pretty much perfect for the two-and-under set. . . . The cumulative text is written in nicely scanning (and delightful!) rhyme that toddlers will enjoy. Fruit-juice colors and people and animals drawn in the rounded shapes of stuffed toys dominate the spreads, except in the sidebars of accumulating tweets and meows.”

Because picture book authors and illustrators typically have no contact during the illustration process, submitting a picture book manuscript requires an author to let go and trust the editor's knowledge of the field and the illustrator's ability to interpret and expand on the text. I'm happy to say that David Walker’s adorable illustrations not only fit the text perfectly but also include delightful details that help tie the story together and move it forward while entertaining readers of all ages.

To enter the drawing for an autographed copy of Baby Says “Moo!”, follow these steps:

1. Post a comment on any post this week and tell us about a learning game you’ve played with children. Enter only once, please!

2. Include your contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger or your e-mail address is not accessible from your online profile, provide a valid e-mail address in your comment. Feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as [at] and [dot].

3. Post your comment by 11 p.m. (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011.

The winner:
• must have a mailing address in the United States.
• will be determined using the random number generator at Random.org.
• will be announced on Tuesday, March 8.
• automatically grants us permission to post his or her name on our Teaching Authors web site.
• will also be notified by e-mail.
• must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
JoAnn Early Macken

Baby Says “Moo!” Week, Picture Book Lesson #2, & Book Giveaway!

It's Baby Says, “Moo!” Week at Teaching Authors.com! To celebrate the publication of my new rhyming picture book (Today's the day!), we’re giving away an autographed copy. Entry details below!

As my contribution to the picture book topic the other Teaching Authors have already addressed, I’m sharing some lessons I learned by looking back at the writing and publishing process for each of my five picture books. I’ll post one each day this week.

Sing-Along Song, my second picture book, was inspired mostly by our son Jimmy’s habit of singing all day long. But lots of other memories and emotions went into my writing, too. After a difficult winter of loss and heartache, I felt renewed by spring. A Quaker hymn called “How Can I Keep from Singing?” expressed something like what I wanted to say. I also remembered scenes from my childhood, favorite sayings from my sisters, and most of all, the importance of family.

Lesson #2: Use everything. Don’t save an idea, a quote, or even a word to use later. Pour it all in. You will find more.

Now for the book giveaway!

Kirkus says, “Macken carefully structures a seemingly simple picture book about a baby learning animal sounds—or in this case stuck on the popular bovine one—using simple rhyming text, a progressive repetition of previously encountered creatures and the harmonious refrain of, ‘Baby says, “Moo!’”

When I first considered the idea of a baby answering questions about animal sounds, I thought it might be funny if the baby got the answers wrong. One day while I walked the dog, it occurred to me that Baby could give the same answer to every question. I'd wanted to try writing a cumulative story for ages, and the simple concept seemed a good match for that goal. I also knew from the start that Baby had to be right at the end.

To enter the drawing for an autographed copy of Baby Says “Moo!”, follow these steps:

1. Post a comment on any post this week and tell us about a learning game you’ve played with children. Enter only once, please!

2. Include your contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger or your e-mail address is not accessible from your online profile, provide a valid e-mail address in your comment. Feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as [at] and [dot].

3. Post your comment by 11 p.m. (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011.

The winner:
• must have a mailing address in the United States.
• will be chosen using the random number generator at Random.org.
• will be announced on Tuesday, March 8.
• automatically grants us permission to post his or her name on our Teaching Authors web site.
• will also be notified by e-mail.
• must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
JoAnn Early Macken

Picture Books: Lessons I Learned from Writing My Own—Plus a New Book Giveaway!

It's Baby Says, “Moo!” week at Teaching Authors.com! To celebrate the publication of my new rhyming picture book, we’re giving away an autographed copy. Entry details below!

As my contribution to the picture book topic the other Teaching Authors have already addressed, I’m sharing some lessons I learned by looking back at the writing and publishing process for each of my five picture books. I’ll post one each day this week.

I wrote the first draft of my first book, Cats on Judy, when I was in college and lived with my twin sister Judy. I had a dog, and Judy had two cats. The dog slept on my bed, and the cats slept on Judy’s bed. That observation was the inspiration for a poem I wrote in a creative writing class. I put the poem in a folder, stashed it in a file cabinet, and forgot all about it.

Twenty years later, I was reading to our sons, and I thought it would be fun to write a children’s book. I remembered the poem, dug it out of the file cabinet, took some classes in writing for children, expanded the poem to picture book length, polished the manuscript (a lot!), and submitted it to multiple publishers. Lo and behold, on one of the most joyful days of my life, it was accepted!

Lesson #1: Never throw anything away.

On to our giveaway!

Baby Says “Moo!” was inspired by a learning game my sisters and I played with our little sisters. Much later, my husband and I played the same game with our own kids: What does the doggie say? What does the kitty say? What does the birdie say? I can still hear a little voice answering, “Peep! Peep!”

The Baby in the book, however, answers every question, “Moo!” Publishers Weekly asks, “So is Baby (a) just being a goofball; (b) practicing for an actual cow sighting (which occurs at book's end); (c) giving multiple shout-outs to its purple-spotted bovine lovey; or (d) slyly subverting the parents' attempt to turn every encounter into a teachable moment?”

The answer is yes! To enter the drawing for an autographed copy of Baby Says “Moo!”, follow these steps:

1. Post a comment on any post this week and tell us about a learning game you’ve played with children. Enter only once, please!

2. Include your contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger or your e-mail address is not accessible from your online profile, provide a valid e-mail address in your comment. Feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as [at] and [dot].

3. Post your comment by 11 p.m. (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011.

The winner:
• must have a mailing address in the United States.
• will be determined using the random number generator at Random.org.
• will be announced on Tuesday, March 8.
• automatically grants us permission to post his or her name on our Teaching Authors web site.
• will also be notified by e-mail.
• must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
JoAnn Early Macken

Metaphors, Similes, Panic in Picture Books, and Bathing a Dog--all! Happy Poetry Friday!

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Happy Poetry Friday and howdy to all February Picture Book Marathoners!  You can do it, you can do it--you can, you can!

Similes.  Metaphors.  You know them well.

Similes compare two unlike objects using "like" or "as": That dog is like a lump of clay--he never chases balls.

Metaphors, in contrast, don't: That dog, a lump of clay, never chases balls. Or simply, That lump of clay never chases balls.

Eli being a lump of clay.

"Metaphor" sounds like someone saying, "May the Force," doesn't it?  (It does if you tilt your head sideways and sing LALALA really loudly...)  Their force, their power can create vivid images in our minds.

When I was writing It's Not My Turn To Look For Grandma!, my editor asked me to clarify that the story starts at sunrise and ends at sundown.  I had no idea how to communicate this without being too wordy or clunkily obvious.  I was actually pretty frightened.

I flailed about.  My flailing is not pretty.  Want to see what it looks like close up?  This Monday I had a boatload of writing to do in the afternoon.  But first I had to have lunch--I mean, c'mon.  Since I was a little lost and didn't quite know how to start any of the projects looming over me, another helping of veggies and rice seemed like a jolly good idea and oh, that left-over clam chowder sure looked yummy.

After my large lunch, the flailing continued.  I had a poem due and no ideas.  None. Nada.  I lead a pretty pathetic little life, I decided.  Except for the dog park and the gym, I'd had no human contact.  So I looked around my room.  Eli was a lump of clay on the love seat--no help there.

I was too lazy to actually stand up and walk to my bookshelf (sometimes I'm inspired by the pattern or subject of other poems).  There was a lemon next to my computer because I'd picked it from our tree and meant to drop it off in the kitchen but brought it into my office instead.

Not to make those of you shivering under snow jealous or anything, but this is our Meyer lemon tree right this very minute.

A lemon.  Hmmm.  So I wrote a poem about the lemon.  That lemon saved my day.

But back to my book and how to show time passing.  I flailed (picture a woman with eight arms, frantically waving them in all directions--yeah, that's me...).  I think I did some brainstorming.  Or maybe I opened the refrigerator and took out an egg.  I don't remember.  The key is that in the middle of this kind of panic, I know one thing: I've got to keep my eyes and ears open to any gifts the universe may be giving me.

I made a hard boiled egg.

My mind began to play.  What if the sun were an egg?  This turned into my scaffolding upon which I could hang time passing. Here's what I sprinkled throughout the story:

• Dawn was just cracking over the hills.
• Noon was sizzling like an egg in a cast-iron pan.
• Afternoon clouds scrambled in the sky.
• Shadows were eating up the day.

No one notices this as they are reading the book.  But it helped me stop flailing and begin writing.  

Are you flailing?  Maybe the Writing Workout below will help.

Writing Workout ~ Metaphors and Similes


In the poem below, I used the metaphor of war.  There are battle images in each stanza.  Which are similes?  Which are metaphors?

BATH
by April Halprin Wayland
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My sister and I are pushing a big aluminum tub
across our brick patio to the grass
sounding like a tank rolling towards war.

I hold the hose and she turns the spigot.
Water thunders into the tub like a drum roll
filling it up.
x
Searching,
we find him trembling behind bushes,
camouflaged.
x
We pull our prisoner across the yard,
his head down,
his paws gripping the passing grass;
x
then, my sister, because she is older,
lifts him above the tub...
and with a long sigh, he surrenders.
This poem was included in the book, Poems for Brothers, Poems for Sisters selected by Myra Cohn Livingston (Holiday House, 1988)

So here's your assignment: go into your bathroom and look for gifts from the universe.  Could that bar of soap be a hunk of cheese or the remote control of a Martian space ship?  Is the bathtub a giant stew pot...and are you part of the stew? What could a toothbrush be?  The toilet?  Shaving cream?  A liquid soap dispenser?  If the bathroom doesn't trigger ideas, take your Metaphor and Simile Search to the rest of the house.  Is the stove a creature with four eyes?

Once you have a few fresh ideas, pick one and write a poem or start a picture book.  Dive in--and metaphors be with you!

poem, drawings and photos of our lemon tree and of Eli on the love seat (c) April Halprin Wayland

"You Are as Good as Your First Line"

Over the last two weeks I learned (again) what a good first line can do for you. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm working on a picture book biography. While researching the genre, I came across an interesting article by award-winning biographer James Cross Giblin. In it, he speaks of the importance of finding "anecdotes that bring the subject to life in ways that can be appreciated by younger as well as older readers." I do have several such anecdotes about my subject, but I've been having a hard time arranging them into a story with conflict/tension that rises to a climax. My draft also lacked a well-defined focus or theme.

So I tried the Writing Workout I suggested last time: I went back to the stack of sample biographies I'd brought home from the library and I studied the opening paragraphs to see how each author set up the tension and/or piqued the reader's interest. In other words, I examined how the authors "say who, when, and where" and "state the problem," as Mem Fox says.  Here are several of my favorite openings from those books:

"No one expected such a tiny girl to have a first birthday. In Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1940, life for a baby who weighed just over four pounds at birth was sure to be limited." (34 words)

--from Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman

by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz

"In 1917, some girls dressed their dolls. They played house and hopscotch, jump rope and jacks.
    But one little girl wanted more. Elinor Smith wanted to soar." (27 words)

--from Soar, Elinor! by Tami Lewis Brown, illustrated by Francois Roca

"From the time he was young until long after his beard grew white, Charles Darwin loved to collect things. He collected rocks from the English countryside he explored as a boy, coins in the home where he grew up, shells from trips to the sea, and dead bugs, too." (49 words)

-from Darwin by Alice McGinty, illustrated by Mary Azarian

Each of these openings hints at the challenges and/or aspirations of the book's subject while also introducing theme and tone. In each case, it took fewer than fifty words to hook me so that I wanted to know more.

I spent days working on a first line/paragraph that would accomplish the same thing for my manuscript. When I finally had it, so much of the story fell into place. My new opening provided more than a hook; it helped me find the focus I'd been struggling to define. What a Eureka! moment.

In a bit of Synchronicity, yesterday I came across a short article by author-illustrator Lindsay Barrett George on picture book writing in general. When writing picture books, she says:

"Keep these three things in mind:

• You are as good as your first line.
• Something has to happen.
• The character that we meet on the first page cannot be the same character that we leave on the last page."

As I learned these past two weeks, this advice is helpful for both fiction picture books and picture book biographies. (I think it applies to novels, too!) If you'd like to prove it to yourself, try the Writing Workout below.

In my last post, I shared some resources for finding high-quality children's picture books to study, whether you're writing fiction or biography. Since then, I've found three more sites that list recommended books for children and teens (both fiction and nonfiction): 

• The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners, past and present
• NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People (scroll down for links to annual lists since 2000)
• Reading Rockets web page linking to multiple children's awards lists

I also came across a book that both teachers and nonfiction writers should find helpful: Picture That! from Mendel to Normandy: Picture Books and Ideas, Curriculum and Connections--For 'Tweens and Teens by Sharron L. McElmeel

And for those of you who, like me, are interested in picture book biographies, I suggest you read my friend Bruce Frost's blog, Words Not Taken. He's currently doing a series on the genre.

Only five days to go in this year's Picture Book Marathon!
Hooray for all of you who are heading toward the finish line, especially my good friend (and former student) Cathy Cronin. You can do it!

Writing Workout

Focusing on First Lines

This is a variation on the Writing Workout I shared last time.
Over at the Pen and Ink blog, Susan Berger recently posted "first lines from  first picture books." For today's Writing Workout:

1. Read the first lines Susan shares from ten picture books. Which make you want to read more? Why?
2. Now find the books in a library or bookstore. Does the rest of the story live up to your expectations?
3. Can you apply what you learn from this exercise to your own picture book drafts?

By the way, if you're a novelist, at the end of Susan's blog post you'll find links to posts containing the first lines of novels, too.

Happy Writing!
Carmela

Happy 300th to Us

    Today is the 300th post in the TA blog.  It's also President's Day, so some of you will be reading this tomorrow.

      For the TA's, this is National Toot Your Own Horn Day. At three blogs a week (with an occasional vacation) we have lasted longer than a lot of TV shows. (Anybody remember Supertrain?) This is no small feat.

     Back in the Paleolithic Age of the Internet (1996), when Alta Vista was my search engine of choice, and a site with graphics was  a rare treat, I first ran across this thing called a "blog." After  determining that "blog" was a combination of "web" and "log", and had nothing to do with Star Trek--my original thought--I checked out a few of these early blogs. After two weeks I was blogged out because so many of these early entries had a lot in common. Not good things.

    Lots of the blogs were intensely personal, like reading someone's diary.   Someone's really boring diary. I could not imagine that anyone could possibly be interested in every soy latte I consumed, or how many pounds I had lost that week.  The bloggers seem to have the same problems;  many of the bogs I read were "one-hit-wonders---especially the weight loss ones. The blogger would eloquently describe
the woes of obesity (which in itself varied by definition), describe their new diet, vow to post every week and lose X number of pounds by (Christmas, Hannukah, 10th class reunion). There might be a post or two more...then silence, leaving me to imagine that the writer had returned to the Land of Many Calories.

   There were the ranters (usually something involving governments and/or conspiracy theories). Movie review blogs that I enjoyed, but like everything else, fizzled out after  few weeks or months.  Later on I discovered personal author blogs, which to me, the unpublished author, was a glimpse of the Promised Land with descriptions of book signings and school visits. I was so envious that I would have to read a weight-loss blog to calm down.

     When our Fearless Leader, Carmela, suggested doing a group blog of authors who also teach, I thought it was a great idea. I  was also skeptical, remembering all those one-entry-self-indulgent blogs I'd read. Learning I would have five other partners in crime helped me decide to join in. I knew I couldn't carve out time for a weekly blog, but every two weeks was something I thought I could manage. I think this is where some of my fellow bloggers fell by the wayside...underestimating the amount of time it takes to write a blog, overestimating what you have to say that someone would want to read or find helpful.

    Hopefully, in these 300 posts, we have provided some of you with something interesting or useful some of the time. We all hope we have been of some use to you in both the classroom and personal
writing.

   So here's to another 300 posts (helpful, hopeful, useful ones)...and now I'm going to Starbucks for a soy latte to celebrate.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

This Is What Democracy Looks Like

Thousands of teachers and other state workers are protesting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposed budget bill in Madison and across the state. Walker plans to cut spending on education and other expenses by canceling existing contracts with all state workers, including teachers, nurses, prison guards, road workers, and many other laborers and professionals.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Walker will propose cutting statewide funding for school aid by about $1 billion for next year, about 15% of the current amount. Milwaukee Public Schools are already expecting almost $100 million less in federal aid and other grants, largely because of the end of two years of federal economic stimulus funding. Walker is also considering refusing federal Title 1 aid for low-income students, which brings tens of millions of dollars each year to Milwaukee Public Schools.

I was supposed to post today about writing picture books, but that post can wait. Thursday morning, I visited second and third graders in a school that is already losing five teachers next year. Thursday afternoon, I went to Madison.

Protesters gathered outside the Wisconsin state capitol . . .

including firefighters and police officers.

Supporters from across the country . . .

packed the capitol . . .

chanting and cheering . . .

showing democracy in action.

I hope that state leaders can resolve this difficult issue without sacrificing workers' rights or our children's education. Because I believe that education is not only a basic right but a critical key to success and even survival, I intend to keep speaking out. You can read more about the Wisconsin budget protests here:

• Democrats flee state to avoid vote on budget bill  
• Tuition would jump under proposed UW-Madison separation  
• Budget repair bill  
• State budget protest photos

JoAnn Early Macken

Learning from a (Picture Book) Master...

Hurrah for writers everywhere currently engaged in this month’s Picture Book Marathon, courageously writing a picture book a day.
And Hurrah for writers everywhere currently engaged in writing a Picture Book period.
Contrary to popular thought, the picture book format is – NOT – for sprinters, whether on a daily, monthly or even seasonal basis.
Mem Fox said it best: “Writing a picture book is like writing War and Peace in Haiku."

When it comes to writing a picture book, I share many of my fellow TeachingAuthors’ practices.
I type out model texts.
I read picture books non-stop, first as a reader, next as a writer.
I read picture books aloud to myself, listening for the necessary rhythms, the essential lyricism.
I read picture books aloud to children, paying careful attention to where their interest builds, where their interest wanes.
Ann Paul’s Writing Picture Books (Writer’s Digest, ’09) and Sandy Asher’s Writing It Right! (Institute of Children’s Literature, ’10) anchor my shelves of writing books.

Though two years new now, SCBWI’s Master Class On Creating the Picture Book with this year’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal Winner Tomie dePaola also holds a prominent place on my bookshelves. The American Library Association award honors an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. Tomie dePaola’s works include Strega Nona (Prentice-Hall, 1975), Oliver Button is a Sissy (Harcourt, 1979) and one of my favorites, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. Wilder Award Committee Chair Megan Schliesman praised the author/illustrator as “masterful at creating seemingly simple stories that have surprising depth and reflect tremendous emotional honesty. They have resonated with children for over 40 years.”

Hosted by SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver, the 70-minute Master Class DVD offers an up-close-and-personal conversation that serves as a how-to for anyone creating this singular format, in words and/or pictures.
(Teachers, please note: the DVD is an inexpensive and swell way to bring this well-loved author to your classroom!)
I love how Tomie dePaola distinguishes between “an illustrated story” and a “true picture book” – one in which the young reader remembers the story just by looking at the pictures.

Visit the SCBWI website to hear an excerpt, learn more and (hopefully) purchase for but $14.95.

Happy Picture Book Writing, whether marathoning or not!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
NaNoWriMo Participants: take a look at the SCBWI Master Class on Writing the Novel for Young Readers with Richard Peck!

Writing Workout

In the SCBWI Master Class on Creating the Picture Book, Tomie dePaola addresses the need for writers to be economical in their writing. However, the writer needs to include enough words, or even better, the right words, to offer the illustrator the opportunity to both bring the story to life and include his or her vision.

Select a picture book you’ve never read. Ask a friend, colleague, fellow student to cover the text with colored paper. Now tell yourself the story, aloud, from the cover forward, using only the illustrations.

Who claims the story and what is it about? Where is the story set? What’s happening, scene after scene? How does the story build? What’s the resolution?

Next, turn that telling into words you choose and order.

Compare your telling to the book’s text, noting the economy of the actual text’s telling as well as any differences in viewpoint, tone, voice and concrete details.

Short, Sweet, Sold

As someone who never read picture books as a child (the only kid I know who never cared to look at the pictures) and who has yet to successfully write a salable one, my primary qualification in writing this post is as a mother to a three-year-old and five-year-old.  Yes, I realize that I am hardly unique in this regard, but bear with me for a moment.

Those pesky editors we keep hearing about who want picture books to be shorter than 300 words?  I have a confession.  They are my heroes! 

Despite the oft-heralded demise of the picture book, both of my kids are read to at school daily. My son's preschool has an aftercare program called Leaping Into Literature, in which each day's activities are tied to the picture book du jour.  (They cooked Stone Soup last week - yum.)  The breadth of literature read is impressive and spans Hans Christian Andersen to Weird Al.  But at home, we chiefly read at bedtime. And if at bedtime I pluck from the shelf a book with enough words to place sleep another ten minutes from our reach -- back it goes in all due haste.

When my kids were very little, I took them to story time at the library. Mostly I would chase them through the stacks in our (blessedly!) tiny branch. While I started reading to them when they were infants, it took until they were about three until they learned to sit still for a good story.  My son, age 3.5, can now read simple texts himself and will listen attentively to a book for at least fifteen minutes; however, I'm still not sure how much he comprehends.  For my daughter, the bedtime routine might include a picture book, an easy reader, and/or a chapter of a book meant for older readers.  Sometimes I read, sometimes she reads, and sometimes we read to each other. While she may practice her independent reading skills with an appropriately leveled easy reader, there are picture books that she could never read herself that have plots and vocabulary more befitting the story sense of a child her age.  Each has its purpose, and indeed, the pictures serve an important function in helping children to decode the words.

Apropos of reader Bruce's recent comment about multi-layered picture books, a few weeks ago I was reading Jan Brett's Gingerbread Friends to Kate for the first time. In keeping with my typical failure to study the (gorgeous) illustrations, I got to the end of the story and was baffled as to what had happened.  Where did the gingerbread friends come from?  "Well," Kate said patiently, "Mattie was baking them.  See the pictures inside the hearts?" She pointed to the story within a story unfolding in the margins.

Last night we were reading the fabulous Dear Tabby by my good friend, Carolyn Crimi.  While Kate obviously had no idea who Dear Abby was, she was thoroughly entranced and asked to hear the story again and again.  The grown-up humor was such that I was equally happy to read it repeatedly, and the uplifting message was one that I could stand to hear every day.
(Real-life conversation:
Me: We got a new book.  It's called Dear Tabby.  A tabby is a type of cat, and I know you like to read about cats. 
Kate: A pussycat is another type of cat. What does 'pussy' mean? 
Ah, aren't books great conversation starters?)

For every 1,000-word book my daughter may read now, she will be just as happy to return to the board books for her infancy.  Can't we all relate to the nostalgia for the simpler days of our youth? :)

I calculate that I spent roughly five years (3,000 sittings, conservatively estimated) reading the same fifty or so books (happily) and the another fifty or so more (not so happily) to my under-three set. I don't care how 'soft' the picture book market is at the moment. There is a dearth of books with very few words that are meant for the youngest readers -- the sort that our JoAnn Early Macken writes so beautifully.


This is, needless to say, a tough market to write for.  Those of us who are also artists have a leg up.  Those of us who were kept after school in kindergarten because we were deficient in cutting skills (*raises hand*) have considerably larger hurdles when it comes to pitching a concept-heavy book for the youngest readers in which the pictures that we can't draw will tell a large part of the story.  But take heart from JoAnn (as I do).  It can be done!  

Whoever your audience, whatever you do -- spend time with a little kid.  Get inspired.  Enjoy!
--Jeanne Marie

Writing Workout

Crystallize your one-sentence idea.

Write your book for a one-year-old.

Write it for a three-year-old.

Write it for a five-year-old.

If you are feeling very ambitious, write it for a seven-year-old.

Observe how it changes with each iteration. 

Observe how it stays the same. 

Read it to a real kid (or three or four). 

Have fun!