Picture Book Biographies with Guest Mandy Yokim

Mandy Yokim is a nationally published writer based in the Pittsburgh area. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and online publications across the United States and in Canada. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She’s striving to get her picture books published and into the hands of young readers. You can find her online posting photos on Instagram, occasionally tweeting random stuff on Twitter, and sometimes musing about life on Facebook.

---

A picture book biography is just what it sounds like: a true story about a person, written for children in a concise, picture book format. This genre has exploded in popularity in recent years because, in just around 32 pages, these books can teach young readers about important people who have contributed something valuable to our world. It is a pleasure to read a picture book biography with the kids in your life and discover at the end that you’ve both learned something new. 

Writing a picture book biography can be exhilarating if you enjoy research. Even though the picture book is short, the information that you draw upon needs to be broad enough to provide a good grasp of your subject but also specific enough for you to create a compelling narrative that makes your story stand out. If you’re a naturally curious person, this genre can be fun to explore. 

This genre is extremely challenging to write well because, once you have pages and pages of research, you must find the focus. What are the connections in your research? What will your theme be? It is helpful to know that you do not have to start from a person’s birth and tell their whole life story. You can choose to focus on a particular event in the person’s life, an intriguing relationship, or the source of inspiration that motivated the person. There is room for creativity when crafting your unique approach to the subject. 

The best way to learn how to write picture book biographies is to read lots and lots of them. Are you interested in books about amazing women? What about famous people from Pittsburgh? Maybe you just want a broad overview of 100 biographies about a variety of different topics? 

Here are some specific examples of various approaches you can take when writing in the picture book biography genre:

• New angles on a popular person

  • Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played The Piano for President Lincoln by Margarita Engle

  • Lincoln Clears A Path: Abraham Lincoln’s Agricultural Legacy by Peggy Thomas

• Unconventional narrators

  • Sylvia’s Bookshop by Robert Burleigh 

  • Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution by Rob Sanders

• Same subject, different books

  • Dorothea’s Eyes: Dorothea Lange Photographs the Truth by Barb Rosenstock

  • Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression by Carole Boston Weatherford

• Unique structures 

  • Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Margaret McNamara

  • The Girl Who Thought in Pictures: The Story of Dr. Temple Grandin by Julie Finley Mosca

• Special relationships

  • Martin & Anne, The Kindred Spirits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank by Nancy Churnin 

  • Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship by Nikki Giovanni

• Heavy topics

  • Jars of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust by Jennifer Roy

  • Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story by Marc Tyler Nobleman

• Light and fun topics

  • Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton

  • The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons by Natascha Biebow

Remember that the point of writing a picture book biography is to engage young readers in a story that both informs and entertains. Who will you write about? What story are you excited to research?

I can’t wait to hear what inspires you!