Wordless Picture Books with Stephanie Graegin

We are so excited to have Stephanie Graegin join us today to share information about Wordless Picture Books!

Stephanie Graegin is the author and illustrator of The Long Ride Home (June 2022), Fern and Otto, A Story About Two Best Friends, and Little Fox in the Forest, which garnered four starred reviews and appeared on many Best of the Year lists. She is also the illustrator of over a dozen picture books, including You Were the First by Patricia MacLachlan; Listen by Gabi Snyder; and Peace Is an Offering by Annette LeBox. Stephanie lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at graegin.com.

When I started working on Little Fox in the Forest, I had experience as a children’s book illustrator but not as a writer. I thought that making a wordless picture book as my first authored book would be more comfortable to me than a worded book—but quickly learned wordless books are challenging!

Step 1 - Studying the Medium

A wordless picture book is a solely visual narrative. Because of the amount of visual information that needs to be laid out clearly, wordless books often have structure and panel elements similar to graphic novels and comic books. I’ve alway been a fan of the medium (Little Nemo, Calvin & Hobbes, and Jimmy Corrigan are some favorites), so I spent time digging into the mechanics of them. 

I read as many wordless picture books as I could find, uncovering how others tackled pacing and structure. I knew that I wanted some big moments to open up in full page spreads to give a cinematic feel. Emotions needed to be conveyed clearly, and the storyline needed to be easy for the youngest readers to follow. 

Some wordless books I recommend studying are: Bluebird by Bob Staake, Journey and Quest by Aaron Becker, Door and Pool by Jihyeon Lee, Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle, The Only Child by Qoujing, Waterloo by Olivier Tallec, The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee, The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett, and Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith.

Step 2 - The Basic Story Idea

Little Fox in the Forest started with several kernels of ideas out of my sketchbook. Some things I was thinking about were:   

  • Losing a favorite stuffed animal.

  • An animal taking a toy that resembles them. I had read a news article years ago about a real Bear stealing a teddy bear out of a house, and that story always stayed with me.

  • Combining anthropomorphic animal characters and human characters in a story, having two worlds in one book.

Most of the thought process took place in my sketchbook. I kept thinking through sketching characters, trying to figure out their story.

Step 3 - A Linear Timeline to Map out the Story

Once I had a grasp of the story and characters, I wrote a basic linear timeline of bullet points of the events of the story. It was very simple (girl loves her stuffed animal, girl brings stuffed animal to school, on the playground a real animal steals the stuffed animal, girl follows animal into the forest, etc). Little Fox started out as a little raccoon and became a fox later on when I was thinking about how color might work. I didn’t know exactly what the resolution would be at this point. But with a basic timeline, I had a place to start sketching thumbnail panels to put together a dummy book. 

Step 4 - The Thumbnail Dummy Book

I would try to visualize the scenes in my head like a movie without sound. I drew and redrew tiny thumbnail drawings over and over. I made photocopies, I cut them up, I rearranged them. I taped new drawings over old panels. My sketches were only 2 inches tall, so I could keep redrawing and rearranging quickly. The story became more refined each time I redrew it.  This process went on for a year.

Step 5 - Lots of Little Sketches and Revisions

Once I had a dummy book I was happy with, I sent it to my agent, Steven Malk, at Writers House, who then showed it to Lee Wade (who was the editor at Schwartz & Wade). She saw the potential in the dummy book and decided to take it on.  I received a steady flow of feedback from Lee and Art Director Rachael Cole. I would take their ideas/suggestions and integrate them into the next round of changes, then resubmit the revised dummy. The process is repeated until the book feels complete. It’s like sifting earth through ever-finer sieves—first you get rid of the big rocks, then the twigs, until you’re left with only the finest, purest sand. This experience made clear how every picture book is a collaboration between author/illustrator, editor, and art director.

Step 6 - FInal Art

Once every aspect of the story and characters were refined,  I spent time working on the color palette. I knew I wanted the ‘human world’ to be monochromatic and the animal world bright and colorful. Color would slowly be introduced as the girl moved from human-world to forest-world. I ended up using a cool, blue palette for the human-world, which allowed the bright orange little fox to stand out on the page. The final art was a mix of traditional artwork and photoshop. The drawings were all made with pencil on simple copier paper. I made layers of texture using watercolors, crayons, and pencils. These were all then scanned in, colored, and assembled in Photoshop. 

Thanks so much for joining us, Stephanie!

You can find Stephanie on her website at graegin.com or on IG @sgraegin.

Constructing a Cumulative Story with Sandy Asher

We are so excited to have Sandy Asher join us today to share information about Cumulative Books!

SANDY ASHER has published over two dozen books for young readers, including the acclaimed picture books Too Many Frogs! and Chicken Story Time, along with hundreds of stories, poems, and articles in Highlights for Children, Ladybug, Hello, and Spider, among others. She's also edited several anthologies. With All My Heart, With All My Mind: 13 Stories About Growing Up Jewish won the National Jewish Book Award for children's literature. Writing It Right: How Published Children's Authors Revise and Sell Their Stories provides a unique look at the revision process of 20+ authors. Sandy has also adapted many of her books for the stage, including Chicken Story Time. The American Alliance for Theatre and Education has honored her with three Distinguished Play Awards (for A Woman Called Truth, In the Garden of the Selfish Giant, and Jesse and Grace: A Best Friends Story), as well as the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Playwright Award and the Sara Spencer Artistic Achievement Award for lifetime contributions to the field.  

THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT -- AND YOU CAN, TOO!

Constructing a Cumulative Story

by Sandy Asher

Here's how to build a cumulative story.

Lay out a floor plan of repetition

that will help you build your cumulative story.

Add your images, quirky and strong,

that furnish a floor plan of repetition

that will help you build your cumulative story.

Upholster with fabric: a lively rhythm

that covers your images, quirky and strong,

that furnish a floor plan of repetition

that will help you build your cumulative story.

Choose your decor: surprise and humor

that suits the fabric: a lively rhythm

that covers your images, quirky and strong,

that furnish a floor plan of repetition

that will help you build your cumulative story.

Complete with a roof of meaning or theme

that shelters your decor: surprise and humor

that suits the fabric: a lively rhythm

that covers the images, quirky and strong,

that furnish a floor plan of repetition

that will help you build your cumulative story.

Good luck!

That bit of advice is inspired, of course, by the classic cumulative story, THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.  

Note the building blocks: repetition, strong images, lively rhythm, surprise and humor, and meaning or theme.  Look for them in the final verse of "Jack":

This is the farmer sowing his corn
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn
That married the man all tattered and torn
That kissed the maiden all forlorn
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built!

Sources say this may be the original cumulative story, dating back (roughly) to the 16th century. What does it mean? Maybe back then something we no longer recognize. Or maybe the goal was simply to paint a topsy-turvy village in a few bold strokes. Or maybe it's just meant to celebrate clever use of language. Whatever the original intent, it remains fun to read and has inspired countless variations, including the equally well-known THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY, interpreted and reinterpreted by many authors and illustrators.

You'll note that rhyme isn't included among my building blocks. Rhyme is nice if you can manage it, but it’s not always possible or needed. Focus on the essentials, and you're well on your way. The variations are endless. Wikipedia defines cumulative stories simply as those in which "action or dialogue repeats and builds up in some way as the tale progresses."

My own CHICKEN STORY TIME, illustrated by Mark Fearing, uses the basic building blocks.  

As with "Jack" and "the Old Lady," there's constant repetition, but, in this case, the repetitions don't fold back on themselves.  They move the story forward: "Story time at the library.  One librarian.  One story.  Children.  And a chicken."  

There's a steady build:  "One week later.  Story time at the library.  One librarian.  One story.  More children.  More chickens." 

Weeks pass until there are so many children and chickens, the librarian is overwhelmed.  But she's resourceful (pun intended) and gives each child a book to read to small groups of chickens. 

I found it helpful to work backward.  I thought about everything I wanted in the finale, then eased my way toward it. I knew the librarian would be overwhelmed, and I knew her solution. I got there step by step, layering on repetition, strong images, lively rhythm, surprise and humor, and meaning or theme.  Children who were listeners at the beginning became readers at the end.

It's enormously satisfying to craft a tight-knit story that packs a mighty punch in style and content. Done well, it makes for a fun read, too.  Try it!

Thanks so much for joining us, Sandy!

You can find Sandy on her website at http://sandyasher.com or watch her on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/sandyplaywright.

Using the Alphabet to Structure Your Concept Book with Shannon Anderson

We are so excited to have Shannon Anderson join us today to share information about Concept Books.

Shannon Anderson has taught for 25 years, from first grade through college level. She is now an award-winning children's book author with over 15 published books so far. She served as the Regional Advisor for the Indiana SCBWI and was named one of the 10 teachers who "awed and inspired" the Today Show in 2019. Shannon loves to do author visits, present at conferences, and provide PD for teachers. You can learn about her at www.shannonisteaching.com.

Idea

When I set out to write Y is for Yet, I really wanted to share as much as I could about growth mindset. I’m passionate about inspiring kids to believe in themselves and to embrace their mistakes as part of the process of learning. As a teacher and parent, I had so many things I wanted to include that I decided an alphabet book would be perfect. I would have 26 different letters to use as vehicles to deliver all of the information!

Research

I reread Carol Dweck’s Book, Mindset, along with many children’s books on the topic. I watched every Ted Talk and video I could find about growth mindset. Now full of ideas, I dusted off my ABC board I used to use in the classroom and started filling it with sticky notes. I had to have a key term to go with each letter. Some letters had lots of sticky notes and others were harder to figure out.

Planning & Plotting

Once I had a word for each letter, I had some decisions to make. Did I want to just define the terms? Did I want to use a question and answer format? I needed some kind of hook or device. I could have each page rhyme, or have a narrative arc, or create some kind of cumulative effect. I ultimately decided on some key “characters” who were all learning different skills that would be shown in a progression throughout the book. My publisher liked the idea and encouraged me to make illustration suggestions for specific skills kids could be working on.

Some of my scenarios included kids learning to do things like growing plants, archery, martial arts, teaching a dog a trick, painting, tennis, knitting, learning a new language, and more. The illustrator, Jacob Souva, did an AMAZING job capturing the learning progressions beautifully. 

Next, I wrote a brief introduction and conclusion, as well as a few pages of back matter. I wanted teachers and caregivers to have more information about growth mindset to expand on and some extension activities to use after reading the book.

Extras

One activity that goes perfectly with the book is for kids to create their own growth mindset alphabet book using the same process I did. Teachers can use an ABC board and have kids brainstorm on sticky notes. (They don’t have to use the same words I did in the book; they can come up with their own.) Each student can choose a sticky note to then create their own page for their class book. This is a great way to remember what they have learned and apply it through the creation of their own special book.

Parting Thoughts

Creating an alphabet book to explore a concept is a fun way to share a lot of great information in a familiar structure. Since there are a lot of alphabet books out there, the key is to make yours different in some way. How can you give yours a special hook?

Thanks so much for joining us, Shannon!

You can find Shannon on her website at www.shannonisteaching.com, Instagram @shannonisteaching, Facebook, and Twitter @shannonteaches.

Humorous Picture Books with Cindy Derby

We are so excited to have Cindy Derby join us today to share information about writing humorous picture books!

Cindy Derby is an author and illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for children. In 2021 she won a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in Outside In. The New York Times describes her work as “profound” and “wonderfully out of control.” Cindy lives in San Francisco.

If I sit down at my drawing table and say, "I need to make something funny," I would kill every ounce of my creativity. Instead, I say, "I'm going to make some marks on my paper and see what happens."

It's a relief to work this way. It takes the pressure off of taking myself so seriously. At that moment, I am just a human making a thing. A thing that might be bad. Or it might be alright.

All of my author/illustrated books have originated this way. And sometimes, the mark on the paper turns into a character. And once I decide to hang out with this new character, I take out a massive stack of post-it notes and draw and write anything that pops into my head. I draw it faster than I have time for that critical voice to comment on it—no nice paper for this or expensive pen. The idea isn't ready for that fancy stuff.

When I feel like I am onto something, I put my characters in circumstances that would force various reactions from them.

My upcoming book, Blurp's Book of Manners is a good example of this. I created a character named Ms. Picklepop, with a cupcake style hairdo. She evolved into an etiquette teacher in her fancy mansion. She is inspired by a lady who was the head trainer at a dog academy that my mom and I went to for her two very misbehaved dogs. At the end of the week, the head trainer performed a final dog show on a stage to prove how well-behaved all the dogs became. In between the tricks, the dogs ran around chaotically and pooped everywhere. The trainer covered it up with a smile and pretended it wasn't happening.

After creating Ms. Picklepop for my book, I asked myself what would be the absolute worst thing for this character. And that was easy: a messy paint blob who burps up paint, of course. Taking these two drastically different characters and putting them in a scene together made for some highly amusing moments. I knew I was onto something because it was making me laugh. And that kind of laugh where you are NOT supposed to laugh...because it would be highly inappropriate. Those are the best kinds.

How to Walk an Ant, my debut book, also plays with extremes. A professional ant walker, Amariyah, wants to teach how to walk an ant, but things get a little chaotic when a colony of ants wants to join.

This book is inspired by a drawing I made of a character holding a jump rope. But the jump rope morphed into a leash with ants because I didn't know how to draw a jump rope.

It was so fitting for this character. So out came the massive stack of post-it notes, and the questions. Rules began to emerge and tips on how to successfully walk an ant. Suddenly I was writing out a Nine-Step guide in the voice of this character.

My second author/illustrated book, Two Many Birds, was inspired by a drawing of a very long line of birds.

I asked myself, "what are they waiting for?" And "where does this line lead to?"

Then in my post-it note pile, an idea emerged that they were in line to sit on a tree, which prompted more questions. What if there is a maximum capacity to sit on the tree? And who enforces the rules for this?

These questions prompted my addition of the Bird Monitor, who shouts ridiculous rules. And of course, I asked, "What is the absolute worst thing that could happen to this character?"

Well, if there were too many birds on the tree and if the birds fight back.

I am beginning to see a theme emerge in all of my author/illustrated books— this idea of control versus chaos. I think it is because playing with these extremes makes for some ridiculously absurd scenarios.

Here are a few things I've learned:

  • Let the character take the lead. Follow them. See where they go.

  • Don't go into a book saying, "I am going to make a funny book." Instead, start by saying, "Let's see where this goes."

  • Put this character in a room with someone/something that is the exact opposite of them and see what happens.

  • Play with extremes. Up the stakes. More. And keep going. You can always dial it down later.

  • As you go about your daily life, bring around a tiny notebook, or use the Notes app on your phone to jot down funny things that happen or ideas that flash into your head. Otherwise, you will never remember them later.

Thanks so much for joining us, Cindy!

You can find Cindy on Twitter and IG @CindyDerby, on Facebook, or on the web at www.cindyderby.com

Humorous Picture Books with Michelle Vattula

We are so excited to have Michelle Vattula join us today to share information about writing humorous picture books!

Michelle  was born in Boston but spent most of her life in Erie, PA. After she received her Bachelor’s degree from Miami University of Ohio, she ventured back to Boston for her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Northeastern University. Michelle currently lives in the beautiful rolling hills of North Pittsburgh with her Finnish husband, two golden retrievers, and two beautiful boys who are her true inspiration for writing.

Michelle’s debut picture book, THE STALKING SEAGULLS, was released by MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing on April 20, 2021. Michelle is part of the Western Pennsylvania SCBWI leadership team as their New Member and Critique Group Coordinator. She is also a proud member of the Twitter group #Newin19. Michelle is represented by T.J. Kirsch from JCH Literary. She is open for interviews and virtual visits.

What makes a story memorable? Many things contribute to a memorable story—the characters, the arc, the twist at the end. But what about humor? Humor brings about a sense of silliness and ease which can allow the reader, and listener, to react to the book, thus leaving a permanent mark in their memory. But what makes a picture book funny? With various types of humorous picture books, humor can be quite subjective. Books are like people—they are all different, and you don’t have to enjoy them all—meaning, it’s all preference. 

When my children were young (ages 1-3), they loved books that incorporated different sounds, noises, and unpredictability. For example, Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton addressed the noises animals make, and in the end, incorporates the reader to join in on the sounds. Participation seems to keep a child’s interest and increases the chances that they will want to read the book again. Peek a Who by Nina Landen is another book that allows the reader to participate throughout the book by guessing and subsequently making the sounds that are found on the following page.

As children get older, they continue to love silliness, especially when dealing with  relatable humor.  Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein perfectly demonstrates something a child would actually do during a bedtime story, making it relatable—thus, funny. Speaking of animals, it is not hard to go wrong with animals that are acting like humans. A perfect example of this, and one of my all-time favorite picture books, is Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. I mean, how could typing cows demanding heated blankets via a go-between duck not be funny? LOL. Similarly, Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae has wild animals dancing human dances…I mean, dancing animals!

Of course, you can’t discuss humorous picture books and not talk about bathroom humor. What kid doesn’t get a kick out of reading about underpants and going potty? Classic stories certainly come to mind, such as Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi. A few other great stories surrounding potty humor are: The Story of the Little Mole Who went in Search of Whodunit by Werner Holzwarth & Wolf Erlbruch and Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman. 

This is just a small sample of great humorous picture books to read to your kids. Again, humor is subjective, so while you may think something is funny, your kids may not. It is all about finding the right fit and simply enjoying a good laugh.

Thanks so much for joining us, Michelle!

You can find Michelle on Twitter @Mmvattula.

Grief Picture Books with Patrice Karst

We are so excited to have Patrice Karst join us today to share about her picture books!

Patrice Karst is the bestselling author of The Invisible String – over 1 million copies sold! – The Invisible Leash, The Invisible Web, You Are Never Alone: An Invisible String Lullaby, and the co-author of The Invisible String Workbook. She is passionate about spreading her message of love across the planet. Born in London, England, she now lives in southern California and is the mother of one grown son, Elijah. Patrice invites you to visit her online at www.patricekarst.com.

The irony is that I literally fell into the children’s book world.

I had started off writing and publishing adult books (Spiritual and Self Help): GOD MADE EASY and THE SINGLE MOTHER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE. 

I had no inclination or even interest in writing for children.

That all changed when my son was in pre-school and as a full-time working single mom, he cried when I had to drop him off at school.

One day, I told him what was obvious to me: that we were connected all day long by an Invisible String made of love.

The moment he heard of this wondrous, magical, all-connecting String, his separation anxiety vanished into thin air. 

Soon all of his classmates wanted to know about the Invisible String.

And I knew that I had something special.

I sat down one day and wrote about THE INVISIBLE STRING as a children’s story. I knew nothing about book dummies and formats and 32-page limits and plot point changes and character analysis and all the stuff that I finally heard about through SCBWI (The Society of Book Writers and Illustrators), which I joined many years later.

But as they sometimes say, ignorance can often be a good thing. 

I did not think about it, I just wrote it, and thank the good Lord I did.

I went to a very small publisher that I knew and presented him the story.

He liked it and published it in 2000.

It did quite well for many years (with very little distribution, marketing or advertising),  but then it exploded about ten years ago by sheer word of mouth, and even more so when an amazing new publisher (Little Brown for Young Readers) launched a paperback version with new art in 2018. It then became the go-to book for the pandemic, and honestly, shows no signs of ever slowing down. We just hit the big milestone of a million copies sold, and it has been translated so far into 15 languages.

Used by the military, foster agencies, adoptive families, grief groups, hospitals and hospices, the prison system, therapists and social workers, teachers, rabbis, pastors, librarians, gift-givers at celebrations of love like baby showers, parents on the first day of school, and loved ones on Valentine’s day, it is a book to bring comfort for loss and separation and to bring joy at the understanding that love transcends time and space! 

Adults buy it for each other too! 

It seems to have a grace and a destiny that is more than anything I could have consciously conjured up.

It is all way bigger than me, and I am just a lucky, blessed woman.

I think it is a tangible concept for an abstract idea and a universal truth that we all need to remember.

It has one page that deals with grief, but it has turned into one of the top books for children’s grief all over the world.

As a hurting little girl from an unfortunately abusive childhood, the concept of realizing that you are never alone could have helped me and brought me much comfort. Maybe, on some spiritual level, it is the book that I wrote for my own “inner child.”

So what, then, is my advice about writing a picture book?

First off, there are a million places where you can learn all the “proper” stuff to do.

But I say write about what matters to you passionately, what brings you utter joy to write about, what world you want to hang out in deeply for a long time to come.

To me, there is no other way to do it.

See it come alive, and how does it make you feel? 

Write a book that thrills your being, and you will never regret it.

The rest is up to the book gods and karma, destiny, grace, and plain old good luck.

Hard work helps too, but without the above, all bets are off.

Good luck, and happy inner writing travels.

The world of picture books is MAGIC!!!

Love,

Patrice Karst

Thanks so much for joining us, Patrice!

You can find more about Patrice and her books on https://patricekarst.com.

Picture Books about Grief and Death

We are so excited to have Susan Claus join us today to share information about Children’s Picture Books about Grief and Death.

Susan Claus is a children’s librarian, writer, and illustrator from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is happiest outside on slightly rainy days. Susan makes sure to let her inner child out every day to play.

“Anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve.” Alan Wolfelt

The Reference Question Librarians Dread

It happens about once a month. A family comes into the library. The parent shoos the children off to look at the fish tank or the guinea pig, comes up to the reference desk, then leans in close and asks me a barely audible question. I know the signs and am already pulling up one of two booklists in my head: books on Where Babies Come From; or books about Death. 

If it’s Death, the book request is usually very specific. Most often, death of grandparent or death of a pet. Less often, more heartbreakingly, the death of a parent or sibling.

Picture book authors have tackled the subject of grief and death from many different angles: Death of a Grandparent, Death of a Pet, Death of a Parent, Death as a Part of Life, How to Remember Someone Who Died, Funerals. Few picture book authors seem willing to tiptoe into the minefield of theories about the afterlife.

Parents and caregivers should introduce some of the following books about death and grief into the reading life of young children BEFORE they have a personal reason to need them. Picture books give children a scaffold on which to build their knowledge of the world, and that includes how to think about, or talk about, death and loss. 

The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown, Illustrated by Christian Robinson

ISBN 978-0-06-028931-7

An unsentimental classic that perfectly captures children’s fascination with funerals for small animals.

Badger’s Parting Gifts by Susan Varley

ISBN 0-688-02699-0

A gentle story about a community of animals grieving for their friend Badger and comforting each other by remembering all the things they learned from him. Varley portrays the end of the elderly badger’s life in a hopeful and happy way that children can easily understand, without preempting a parent’s role in explaining belief in an afterlife.

Mom’s Sweater by Jayde Perkin 

ISBN 978-0-8028-5544-2

Told in the first person by a girl living with the loss of her mother, the varied emotions of sadness, anger, and even jealousy play a part in her grieving process. She learns that grief may not ever go away, but life will get bigger around the grief, and she will be able to handle it.

Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved, illustrated by Charlotte Pardi 

ISBN 978-1-59270-187-2

Beautifully illustrated in watercolors, this Danish story has black-robed Death as a visitor to a household headed by an ailing grandmother. The children ply Death with coffee to try and keep him from taking their grandmother but come to realize that far from being an evil monster, “Death’s heart is as red as the most beautiful sunset and beats with a great love of life.”

The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden by Heather Smith, illustrated by Heather Wada 

ISBN 978-1-4598-2103-3

Set in Japan, this is the story of one community’s creative way to grieve together and heal after losing loved ones to a tsunami.

My Nana’s Garden by Dawn Casey, illustrated by Jessica Courtney-Tickle 

ISBN 978-1-5362-1711-1

A gentle rhyming story that uses the continuity of seasons in a garden as a metaphor for death as a part of life.

Psychological Aspects of Grief in Young Children

Children process death and handle grief differently than grownups do. Preschoolers may know the word “dead,” but they are unable to understand that death is a permanent condition. They know the person or pet is gone but expect them to come back at any minute. A loved-one’s absence is an inconsolable loss, whether they are gone forever or just went to the store.

Sometimes sadness at a loss takes a backseat to the anger that grownups around them are preoccupied or that schedules are disrupted. [As a kindergartner in November, 1963, the country may have been in mourning and glued to the broadcast of the Kennedy funeral, but I was a cranky mess because The Mickey Mouse Club had been preempted.]

Young children have a short “sadness span.” Even children old enough to understand the permanence of death cannot maintain focus on a sad event for very long. Without long years of life experience, children have a limited capacity to endure emotional pain. Pain is too painful. They deal with it in little chunks of time. They grieve a bit, then put the sad away and play a bit.

Young children also lack the vocabulary to understand or express what they’re feeling, partly because adults have a hard time talking about death and grief with children. Also high on the list of things adults would rather have a root canal procedure than talk to kids about? Sexuality and Finances.

Resources for Information about Children and Grief

Child Mind Institute: childmind.org/guide/helping-children-cope-with-grief/ and childmind.org/article/helping-children-deal-grief/

Highmark Caring Place: Highmarkcaringplace.com/cp2/grief/grievingchildren.shtml

Center for Loss & Life Transition: www.centerforloss.com

Thanks so much for joining us, Susan!

You can find Susan here:

Instagram @fernpondart

Facebook @fernpondstories

Website

Narrative Nonfiction with Julie Leung

We are so excited to have Julie Leung join us today to share information about narrative nonfiction picture books!

julie_leung_4.jpg

By day, Julie Leung is a marketing director at Random House, specializing in sci-fi/fantasy. By night, she is a children’s book author. Her debut series, Mice of the Round Table was praised as a “winning new adventure,” by Kirkus Reviews. She is also the author of Paper Son: The Story of Tyrus Wong, The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee, and more.

I first read about Tyrus Wong through his New York Times obituary. It was December 2016, and I was reckoning with the anti-immigrant policies that came with the new presidential administration. I was also looking for my next writing project after completing my middle grade series, Mice of the Round Table. 

It was the perfect time to encounter this incredible life story of a man who lived to be 106 years old -- a visual artist who made groundbreaking contributions to American animation and art, particularly through his work on the Disney classic, Bambi. He was also a man who, according to the laws of the time, immigrated to the United States illegally as a paper son. 

During the many decades that the Chinese Exclusion Act was in place, a few exceptions were made: if one were a person of high status (such as a merchant or scholar) or related to a Chinese person already living in the country. These exceptions kicked off a black market of false identification papers sold in China, where desperate immigrants would often claim blood relations to Chinese who were already in America, i.e. becoming a son or daughter to someone ‘on paper’ only. 

Tyrus and his father, bearing papers claiming to be of merchant class, arrived in San Francisco in 1919. When they were stopped at Angel Island Immigration Station, 10-year-old Tyrus was separated from his father and detained for over a month. When you watch video interviews where Tyrus recounts that experience, you can see how that trauma still haunts him. 

I wanted more people to know about Tyrus Wong’s legacy and this little-taught history around the Chinese Exclusion Act and the ‘paper son’ phenomenon. I wanted to convey how immigrants, wanted or not, make huge contributions to this country. How could I encapsulate all this in a nonfiction picture book? 


Step 1: I drafted an initial outline of the manuscript based on the obituary alone, establishing the key beats in Tyrus’s life I thought would be important. 

Step 2: I began my research in earnest. I read as many articles as I could find and watched numerous interviews with Tyrus on YouTube. My agent helped me source this fantastic documentary called Tyrus directed by Pamela Tom. I also found a retrospective art book published by the Walt Disney Foundation. Both proved to be instrumental. 

Step 3: After I fleshed out the manuscript with these researched details, I began to look for places to infuse poetic impact. From the beginning, I always knew I wanted to end the book with old man Tyrus flying his kite, facing the same ocean he crossed as a child. But other moments came to the forefront at this research stage -- when I read about how Tyrus would work as a janitor at his art school, I added a moment where he imagines that his mop is a paint brush. 

The motif of paper surfaced insistently: paper as Tyrus’ medium for his art, the newspapers his father used to teach him calligraphy, the fact that he was a paper son. I thought about my own parents who immigrated from a similar village just 40 miles away from where Tyrus’s family lived. 

Becoming an immigrant is rewriting one’s own fate—throwing out what has been written for you and determining your own story on a new page of paper. 

And thus, my refrain of “life in America could be like a blank paper” where Tyrus could leave his “mark” came to be. 

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Step 4: At this point, my agent and I felt that the manuscript was in good shape to go on submission. It eventually landed at Random House Children’s, in the capable hands of Anne Schwartz, where she helped me streamline and clarify certain concepts so that children could grasp them more easily. I also reached out to the Wong family at this time who provided additional insights and most importantly to me, their blessing on the project. 

Step 5: A final round of fact-checks and copy edits later, and my words went to the brilliant illustrator Chris Sasaki. How did he manage to take that 1,500 word manuscript and transform it into pure visual poetry? You’ll have to ask him! 

Thanks for joining us, Julie!

You can find more information about Julie and her books on both Twitter and Instagram @jleungbooks.

Narrative Nonfiction with Samantha Smith

We are so excited to have Samantha Smith join us today to share information about narrative nonfiction picture books!

Sam Smith is a freelance commercial writer and children’s book author. Her first picture book, CATE’S MAGIC GARDEN, celebrates the power of positivity. It was published by Two Hoots Press in 2017. Sam has served on the SCBWI PA WEST Leadership Team, participates in two writing critique groups, and loves the challenge of “saying it with flair.” She lives with her husband and their two sons in Fred Rogers’s neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Telling it With Flair: The Art of Narrative Nonfiction (for Kids)
When I first started as a copywriter in the advertising world, I was told to “say it square, then say it with flair.” These words have proven tremendously helpful over the years when I’m trying to bring a phrase to life. First, I state the facts. Then, I add the flourish.

I like to think of narrative nonfiction as a similar mix of art and science—a blend that brings nonfiction stories to life. We’ve been lucky in the last ten or so years to have seen an explosion in this genre, as kid lit embraces history, science and other more technical topics from the nonfiction realm with creativity and kid-friendly language, curiosity, and focus. It’s journalism that jumps off the page. 

How Do You Make this Magic?
The secret behind narrative nonfiction is that it takes expository nonfiction one step further by telling a nonfiction story using fiction techniques, like different POVs, interesting dialogue, plot and character development, dramatic tensions, foreshadowing, and colorful language, including similes and metaphors. It’s done in a narrative fashion—first this happened, then that, then that. Also known as creative nonfiction or literary nonfiction, it is still always 100% true.

Many times this means walking in someone’s shoes, like a real character from history that moves through the story. Narrative nonfiction writers need to do double duty to pull this off, since it requires extensive research to first get the story right—and extensive creativity to tell it thoughtfully and make it more interesting. This is all done to put you in the story, dear reader. And it is a wonderful strategy that elevates the experience for all of us!

How Long are the Stories?
Typically, narrative nonfiction stories fall within the average ranges of word counts, although as you might imagine, they tend to land on the heavier side, since they’re covering a lot of ground. For pre-K through 2nd grade, narrative nonfiction picture books can weigh in between 400-900 words. As the topics get more sophisticated and the language follows, grades 3-8 may see books with 900-1,300 words.

What does Narrative Nonfiction Look Like on the Page?
Lucky for us, the world is teeming with great examples of narrative nonfiction, and here are a few noteworthy examples to tuck into:

Finding Winnie
Billed as “the true story of the world’s most famous bear,” Finding Winnie takes us to the story behind the story of Winnie-the-Pooh. This historically accurate tale was written by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. With illustrations echoing the soft pastels of Winnie-the-Pooh, the story unwinds much like a poetic Pooh story, “the train rolled right through dinner and over the sunset and around ten o’ clock and into a nap and out the next day….” It has a running dialogue with a young boy, who listens to his mom tell how a veterinarian from Winnipeg named Harry Colebourn rescued a bear cub “Winnie” on his way to war. 

Winnie became a navigator and the Mascot of the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade as they trained in England during WWI. When he went to the front lines, Colebourn took her to the London Zoo to keep her safe, which is where she met a boy named Christopher Robin Milne. This might be sounding more familiar now. Christopher’s father was Alan Alexander Milne, who wrote the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. And the little boy in the picture book story? The great-great-grandson of the veterinarian. A happy surprise for him! This story showcases old photos and keepsakes, too, and it’s a moving tribute to the bear and the enduring stories she inspired. It brings history alive.

Sergeant Reckless
Another war-time tale, Sergeant Reckless is “the true story of the little horse who became a hero.” This engaging and strikingly illustrated book was written by the award-winning team of author Patricia McCormick and illustrator Iacopo Bruno. Set during the Korean War, it depicts the real life acts of bravery by a starving horse that U.S. Marines took in as a packhorse. They trained “Sergeant Reckless” to transport heavy ammunition through treacherous conditions for the critical Battle of Outpost Vegas. 

This lovable horse will win your heart with her ravenous appetite and equally big will to help. For her efforts, she becomes the only animal to hold military rank and receive two Purple Hearts. Through careful characterization, plot building, foreshadowing, and a fun mix of vintage-y and comic book-inspired illustrations, her story bounds off the page. Photos of the real Sergeant Reckless bring a satisfying full circle ending to her incredible life.

There are so many more excellent examples of narrative nonfiction! Check out Eye of the Storm by Amy Cherrix, which turns science into an adventure—or Grand Canyon by Jason Chin, which makes you, the Grand Canyon, and the life inhabiting it the main characters in a trip through the Grand Canyon and through time.

The possibilities for narrative nonfiction in kid lit are endless. There are also some great recommendations for K-6 readers on this Pinterest page by Ellen Mackey.

Trying Your Hand at Narrative Nonfiction
After experiencing these books, you might be moved to write some narrative nonfiction yourself. There are two great ways to approach a new genre, and the first is writing about what lights your fire. Does the topic of endangered animals make you want to send a missive to your senator? Are you really passionate about the history of your beloved vacation town? When it comes to writing, passion can tell the most amazing stories. And if you don’t have something in mind already, the second method would be to do your homework. There are always gaps in subjects, and certainly there are spots you can fill. This wide world is waiting for its stories to be told.

So what are you waiting for? Grab some narrative nonfiction or start your own. These stories, first told square and then with flair, are elevated versions of our history, scientific tales and more. They are one layer nonfiction, one layer creativity. 100% truth. Tell yours.

Thank you for joining us, Sam!

You can find Sam www.smithofwords.com, www.catesmagicgarden.com, or on twitter at @samsmithofwords.

Metafictive Picture Books and the Process of Writing Them with Claudia Rueda

We are so excited to have Claudia Rueda join us today to share information about metafictive picture books!

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Claudia Rueda is a Colombian author and a New York Times Bestseller illustrator of over thirty picture books. Rueda's books have been published in the United States, Mexico, and Spain and have been translated into fifteen different languages for Asia and Europe. She’s a 2016 Hans Christian Andersen and Astrid Lindgren Awards nominee. Claudia went to Law and Art school and worked as a political cartoonist in Colombia. She then studied Children’s Book Illustration at UC Berkeley. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, and she’s the 2009 recipient of the Billie M. Levy research grant awarded by the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. Claudia is a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia MFA program in Creative Writing.

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Stories we tell reflect the cultural environment of the times. The 20th century began with a remarkable spirit of innovation, and picture books followed that path. Peter Newell’s inventive Slant Book (1910) is a great example of experimentation and probably the first to draw attention to the picture book as an object. The self-referentiality his book introduces is part of what we now call metafiction.

The reader interacts with the book

Metafictive is the option we give the reader to interact with the book or to take part in the story. We can find early samples of the former in Dorothy Kunhardt’s bestseller Pat the Bunny (1940). The book is an invitation to lift and touch in order to “feel” the same things as the characters—a picture book idea that inspired hundreds more.

The reader takes part in the story

The other form of interactivity–taking part in the story–came with the 21st century. The digital revolution changed the way we read, and co-authorship became the new normal. Children got used to fiction reacting to any gesture of their fingers over a glass surface.

As a picture book author, I was aware of the impact that screen entertainment could have on children’s reading habits. I wasn’t to compete with that, but I set out to find ways to increase children’s engagement with books and develop their awareness. I wanted to create a story where the readers would believe they were interacting to change the story. It was a challenge for me and also a playful thing to do. 


The reader as a character 

The first interactive picture book I created was a retelling of The Three Little Pigs. What if there were a hole in the middle of a page which asked the reader to blow for something to happen? What if the reader plays the role of the Wolf and huffs and puffs into the hole to blow the pigs’ houses? And that’s how Huff & Puff  (Abrams, 2012) came to life. The readers become characters in the story, and their actions move the story forward.

In Huff & Puff, the reader plays the part of the wolf by blowing into a real hole on the page

In Huff & Puff, the reader plays the part of the wolf by blowing into a real hole on the page

The reader as co-author

Next, I wanted to create an original story that would ask the reader for help. Perhaps inspired by Pat the Bunny, I had a bunny as the main character. How could the reader help Bunny? The first gesture that came to my mind was shaking the book for something to happen! What if Bunny wants to go skiing, but there is no snow? If you shake the book, snow will fall on the next page. And if you tilt the book, Bunny will go downhill. In Bunny Slopes (Chronicle, 2016), the reader is co-authoring the story.

In Bunny Slopes, when the reader shakes the book, snow appears, and the story changes

In Bunny Slopes, when the reader shakes the book, snow appears, and the story changes

The book was very well-received, so I was invited to create two more Bunny books. The first one was already in my sketchbook: the reader would help Bunny reach for apples hanging from a tree (Hungry Bunny, Chronicle, 2018). Later, I thought about another Bunny experience that would require the reader's action—providing the wind for a sailing trip!  (Bunny Overboard, Chronicle 2020).

In Bunny Overboard, the reader blows the wind for the sails and rocks the book for the waves to get bigger

In Bunny Overboard, the reader blows the wind for the sails and rocks the book for the waves to get bigger

It’s been a challenging and interesting journey. I believe we can explore much more into the creation of metafictive books. It all begins with curiosity and experimentation. 

Thanks for joining us, Claudia! You can find more information about Claudia and her books on her social media links below:

www.claudiarueda.com

Instagram: @claudiarueda

Metafictional Picture Books with Mandy Yokim

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We are so excited to have Mandy Yokim join us today to share information about metafictional picture books!

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.

Hi, blog reader! How are you feeling today? Give two thumbs up if you’ve had your coffee, and you’re fully awake. Awesome! I see you. Now, give just one thumbs up if you’re perpetually tired, but hey, you’re still here reading this post. Ahh, I see lots of you need a nice, long nap. Welcome to all of you, and thanks for taking the time to read my post here on Stef’s blog.

That paragraph above is an example of meta fiction. You weren’t just reading it, you were aware that you were the reader and that I, the author, was aware of you reading it. While the meta fiction genre can take various forms, the key characteristic is this awareness of itself that is different from a more straightforward story.

I’m sure you’ve seen a movie or a play where the actor talks directly to you, the viewer. That’s known as “breaking the 4th wall,” which simply means that the barrier between the audience and the viewer is broken so that everyone is aware it’s a performance, not real life. Same concept for meta fiction picture books, and just like with movies, some people like this shared awareness, and, frankly, others do not. On one hand, it can be unexpected and fun to engage with books this way; on the other hand, it can feel disruptive, contrived, or confusing if you are taken out of a story when you just want to be immersed in the, well, fictional story of it all.  

The first time I read the book Press Here by Hervé Tullet with my kids, I was blown away by how fun it was. This book is a classic example of meta fiction, where readers respond to directions in the book (for example, “Press the yellow dot on the cover and embark on a magical journey!”) that make them feel they are controlling how the story is progressing.





 

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson is another classic. This book is meta fiction in a different way than Press Here because the main character, instead of the reader, influences how the story progresses by drawing his adventures with— yep, you guessed it—a purple crayon.







 

Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett is another of my all-time favorite meta fiction books. It had me and my kids laughing out loud as we turned the pages. The author, Mac Barnett, and the book’s illustrator, Adam Rex, get into a funny disagreement about how the book should be written and illustrated, which plays out on each page as the story moves along. Bonus lessons for readers: learning the value of good collaboration and learning about the actual process of creating a picture book.



 

Are you still with me, reader? Are you intrigued by this meta fiction genre? (If your answer is no, then just skip this next sentence.) Here’s a comprehensive list of many more meta fiction books to explore.

While the popularity of meta fiction books may come and go, if you find yourself inspired by writing projects that are more “off the beaten path” or creative in a different way than most books, then perhaps give meta fiction a try. As always, I recommend reading tons of books in the genre to get a feel for it and to see what’s already been done. Then sit down, get out your purple crayon (or your laptop, if you’re more traditional) and start creating!

You can find Mandy on Facebook, on twitter @MFYokim, or instagram @mandyyokim

Thank you for joining us, Mandy!

Circular Stories with Dan Yaccarino

We are so excited to have Dan Yaccarino join us today to share information about writing circular picture books!

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Children the world over know Dan Yaccarino's children's books and award-winning animated series. In addition to his own stories, Dan's bold, stylized illustrations add wit and energy to the work of such distinguished authors as Margaret Wise Brown, Jack Prelutsky, and Kevin Henkes.

He's also the creator and producer of several animated series based on his books, Doug Unplugs (AppleTV), Oswald (Nickelodeon), Willa's Wild Life (NBC and Qubo), as well as the character designer behind The Backyardigans (Nickelodeon). Animation Magazine hails him as "an American original."

Dan's internationally recognized art style has earned him a large following in Japan, exhibits in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Bologna, and a visit to the White House. He is also a contributing children's book reviewer for the New York Times.

Dan's books have been translated into many languages, and in addition to animated series, his work has inspired toys, ebooks, children's musicals, and video adaptations.

His work has been recognized with a host of prestigious awards, including the Bologna Ragazzi, The New York Times 10 Best Illustrated, ALA Notable, and the Parents’ Choice Award. Over 2.5 million of his books have been sold to date.

Stand back far enough, and you’ll see the repeating pattern of life.

I believe we mostly perceive time as linear, which is reflected over and over in stories with a beginning, middle, and an end, but I feel that it’s a short-term way to look at it. Occasionally when I create a story, I’ll take the long view, which is that time is cyclical. 

According to the tenets of Hinduism and Buddhism, time doesn’t end. It’s only recently that we as humans perceived time as linear, but we know it really doesn’t stop there. It begins all over again. And again. And again. And again.

Classics like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are great examples of circular stories. They end as they begin. I love that! I get a feeling of satisfaction when the story renews itself and the reader turns back to the first page to continue to experience the story.

In my autobiographical picture book, All the Way to America- the Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel, not only did the text in the beginning mirror the text at the end, but the cyclical nature of the story is mirrored visually as well, which is evident in the first and last images. However, as the book moves from generation to generation, the theme remains the same, “Work hard, enjoy life, and love your family.”

My picture book, I am a Story, is a journey through time examining the different ways stories are told. It begins with a clan of prehistoric humans gathered around a fire in rapt attention as one of them tells a story. Then we move through history, from cave paintings, hieroglyphics, and illuminated manuscripts, to printed books and digital devices, then finally to a contemporary family gathered around a campfire in rapt attention as the father tells a story. Full circle.

I would suggest the next time you’re conceiving a story, stand back far enough and you’ll see the repeating pattern of life (see what I did there?).

Thanks for joining us, Dan! You can find more information about Dan and his books on his social media links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dan-Yaccarino-44891347589/?fref=ts

Instagram: danyaccarino

Twitter: DanYaccarino1

‘Round and ‘Round We Go: Circle Stories with Meghan Voss

We are so excited to have Meghan Voss join us today to share information about writing circular picture books!

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Meghan Voss is a lifelong lover of stories. A writer and a teacher with degrees in English and Secondary Education, she loves to both share her favorite stories and tell her own. She taught middle and high school English for close to a decade, completed the National Writing Project, and has written literature modules and web copy for award-winning academic companies & websites. Her own creative work has been published in literary and local magazines. She attends writing conferences regularly and enjoys exercising her writing (and photography) chops on her social media accounts. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her baking pies or adventuring with her husband and kids in the Montana mountains she calls home.

Find her on Instagram (@meghanvosstudio) and Facebook (Meghan Voss Studio)!

I’ve never been good at hula-hooping. Every time I step into that plastic circle, the question burns at the back of my head—Will it stay up, or will the blasted hoop clatter to the floor in seconds? The question itself creates enough tension to inspire me to pick the hoop off the floor and shove it into motion.

In like fashion, circle stories begin with a question. There’s a problem to be solved, a challenge to overcome, a question that needs answering. And that burning question lends tension to the entire story. Take Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. That burning question exists from the very first line—If you give a mouse a cookie… what happens next?? The question inspires children (and adults) to flip the page and keep reading. In Mo Willems’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, readers are forced to ask themselves, will this pigeon get to drive the bus? And in Cynthea Liu’s Bike On, Bear!, Bear’s ineptitude on a bike prompts the question, will Bear ever learn to ride?


That’s the beauty of circle stories. The question drives the story as the tension rises and crests. When I set that hula hoop flying, it has nowhere to go but round and round my waist, my patootie, my legs, and/or my ankles. Similarly, circle stories circle ‘round and ‘round the question, often in a cause & effect structure. If I shift my hip that way, then the hoop will…but if I bend my knee like so, it will…and so on. 

In this way, circle story plots wrap around and around the question, building in intensity as the story progresses. The cookie leads the mouse to keep asking for more and more linked things, with more and more disastrous consequences. The pigeon refuses to give up his quest to drive the bus, becoming more and more agitated with every page. Bear’s frustration rises higher and higher—

—until finally, the hoop clatters to the ground, right back where it began. Only this time, the question’s been answered— yes, this was the time I rocked that hoop round and round my waist until I finally collapsed, or no, once again, it rattled around my thighs and plunked straight down to my ankles. Either way, the hula hoop is back where it began, the question has been answered, and I’m different (sweatier, at least) for it. 

Let’s circle back to our examples (see what I did there?): In If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the story ends where it began—the mouse asks again for a cookie—but now, he’s in a chaotic heap with a boy who’s become a friend (they’ve changed). In Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, the bus driver returns, just as he’d left on the first page, and asks the inevitable question—did you let the pigeon drive the bus? To which there is now a concrete answer (and let’s face it—some relief (we’ve changed)— that pigeon was relentless!). And in Bike On, Bear!, despite his ultimate success at riding a bike, we’re reminded in the last line that, well, Bear also has issues with swimming—a twist that circles us back to his initial struggle and reminds us that yes, indeed, Bear did ride a bike after all (he’s changed). 

So ‘round and ‘round we go. A circle story begins with a question, circles around that question, and ends where it began—albeit changed for the effort.

I’ve never been good at hula-hooping— and yet, I keep picking the dang things back up. 

So will your readers. 

Other Circle Stories include:

I Am a Story by Dan Yaccarino

Secrets I Know by Kallie George

There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins

You Matter by Christian Robinson

Bob, Not Bob! By Liz Garton Scanlan

Thanks for joining us, Meghan!

You can follow Meghan on Instagram @meghanvosstudio or Facebook at Meghan Voss Studio.

Why I Love Lyrical Picture Books with Pat Zietlow Miller

We are so excited to have Pat Zietlow Miller join us today to share information about writing lyrical picture books!

Pat Zietlow Miller knew she wanted to be a writer ever since her seventh-grade English teacher read her paper about square-dancing skirts out loud in class and said: “This is the first time anything a student has written has given me chills.” 

Pat started out as a newspaper reporter. Then, she joined an insurance company – and then another – and edited their newsletters and magazines.

Now, Pat focuses on writing picture books. She's sold 23 books – including the New York Times bestselling Be Kind and the Golden Kite winning Sophie’s Squash – and is always working on more.

Her two upcoming books are Be Strong, a follow-up to Be Kind, coming Aug. 10, and What Can You Do with a Rock? coming Oct. 12. 

First, let me be clear. I love all types of picture books. 

To me, one of the coolest aspects of picture books is how many ways there are to structure a 32- or 40-page book to tell an effective, engaging story. Picture books can be a cumulative story, a story told in dialogue, a story with contrasting views, a stream-of-consciousness story, a series of poems that tell a story, or a classic story featuring a main character with a problem to solve.

But, if you sit me down with a stack of picture books and ask me to choose my absolute favorites, it’s likely a lot of them would be lyrical picture books. Those are also the sort of books I find myself writing lately.

So … what IS a lyrical picture book? 

To me, lyrical picture books are picture books that focus on:

  1. The beauty of the language.

  2. The strength of feeling that language evokes.

Let’s break these focuses down.

Beautiful language.

Words are my favorite thing to play with (except maybe kittens). When I write picture books, I spend so much time arranging them and changing them until they are in just the right order. 

A truly lyrical picture book is one where the words are arranged to such perfection that you could read the text out loud, without even thinking about what the words mean, and still be struck by the beauty of the sound. Lyrical language has a poetic feel and rhythm – whether it rhymes or not.

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I had a lot of fun working and reworking the words in one of my books, Remarkably You, a rhyming ode to celebrating all the qualities that make people special. I’m not saying I reached perfection, but one of my favorite parts is:

Like maybe you’re funny. Or bookish. Or fast.
Or maybe you’re always decidedly last.
Perhaps you like counting. Or drawing all day.
Or finding invisible dragons to slay.
You have your own spirit, unparalleled flair.
So rock what you’ve got – every day, everywhere.


Two books that are lyrical in entirely different ways are Blue on Blue by Dianne White and Beth Krommes and My Cold Plum, Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood by Tameka Fryer Brown and Shane W. Evans. Both are an absolute joy to read aloud due to their lovely language.

Strength of feeling. 

Lyrical books can have a traditional plot, but sometimes, they’re more about an emotion – encouraging the reader to think about or feel something. And the emotion that’s generated – whether it’s hope, laughter, nostalgia, or love – is what makes readers come back to the book again and again.

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For example, I wrote When You Are Brave as a pep talk to myself when I faced a setback. The message of needing to have faith and persevere drove the story instead of a particular plot. I also didn’t name any characters, and talked directly to the reader, saying:

Sometimes, when everything around you seems scary, you have to be brave …

Eliza Wheeler, the supremely talented artist who illustrated the book, added a plot about a child moving to a new house, but that’s only shown in the art and never mentioned in the text. I wanted the text to be universal, so anyone of any age needing bravery in any situation could relate.

Two recent books that evoke feelings well are Watercress by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin and A House that Once Was by Julie Fogliano and Lane Smith. Watercress is based on a childhood memory of Wang’s and is told in beautifully crafted prose. House is fictional and told in moving rhyme. But both make the reader feel.

So, if you want to write a lyrical picture book, find an emotion that tugs at your heart. Then, play with language till you’ve evoked it in the most beautiful possible way.

Thanks for joining us, Pat!

You can follow Pat on Twitter at @PatZMiller or visit www.patzietlowmiller.com

Writing Lyrical Picture Books with Lisa Wheeler

We are so excited to have Lisa Wheeler join us today to share information about writing lyrical picture books!

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Lisa Wheeler is the award-winning author of over 50 children’s books including Someone Builds the Dream, People Don't Bite People, and the popular Dino-Sports series. Lisa's book, The Christmas Boot, was the 2017 SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner for Picture Book Text. Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum was the 2017 Michigan Reads! One Book, One State Children’s Book Program recipient. Her awards include The Michigan Mitten, Texas Bluebonnet, and the Theodore Geisel Honor given by the American Library Association. Lisa shares her Michigan home with some terrific characters--one husband, one dog, and an assortment of anthropomorphic characters. Check out Lisa’s website at: www.lisawheelerbooks.com

Even as a child, I had the uncanny ability to memorize silly rhymes. Jump-rope songs, goofy commercial jingles, hand-clap games on the playground. . .I loved them all. I can still recite many of my favorites. (Number 9 Cutie is a song from Sesame Street which my dad asked me to sing often. He still calls me his Number 9 Cutie!) So it's no surprise that I was drawn to writing picture books in rhyme. I feel that my job as an author who writes rhyming lyrical books is to make it look easy. But it's not.

While all rhyming books should be lyrical, all lyrical books are not in rhyme. So having an ear for meter and flow is an important skill for any picture book writing. It helps with timing. If you don't have an ear for rhyme, prose might be a better choice. If you really want to write in rhyme, try taking classes. Years ago, I joined a poetry group to strengthen my meter.

If you are writing a book in prose, read it aloud. Listen to the cadence. Does it match the mood of the piece? For instance, if you are writing about a river that is slow moving, make sure your sentences aren't short and clipped. Use lines that feel as if they are floating and flowing along like the river. 

If you choose to rhyme for your story, make sure that you have more than just rhyming end lines. Meter is the basis of all good rhyme. Study the masters--Maryann Hoberman, Margaret Mahy and Dr. Seuss are all good choices for meter. I also have to mention my old friend Mother Goose. Mary Had a Little Lamb has perfect meter.

In my lyrical book, A Hug is for Holding Me, I explored the idea of "things that hold other things" and compared them to hugs. I chose a an ABCB meter right from the first draft. But the book went through many revisions along the way. When my editor at Abrams bought it, I had sold her my third draft. While she saw the promise of what could be, we went through twelve more drafts and over a year of revisions before the aha! moment arrived. In the course of all that time and those many revisions, the book had wonderfully changed. While I always had nature scenes throughout, they were originally interspersed with other types of 'holds'--buckets, sheds, and mittens to name a few.

When my editor wanted to keep it all about nature, it felt perfect for the book. Then, when she suggested we cut the text in half, the magic happened. The sweet lyrical text became a loving ode to nature and the relationship between a caregiver and child. Lisk Feng 's art fleshed out the story and made the book into a perfect package.

This book taught me that less can be more.  A perfect lesson for anyone writing picture books.

Thanks so much for joining us, Lisa!

You can find more about Lisa on her website on the following:

Instagram: @littlelisais6

FB: Lisa Wheeler Children's Books

Twitter:  @LisaWheelerBook

Writing Lyrical Picture Books with Michelle Vatulla

We are so excited to have Michelle Vatulla join us today to share information about writing lyrical picture books!

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Michelle  was born in Boston but spent most of her life in Erie, PA. After she received her Bachelor degree from Miami University of Ohio, she ventured back to Boston for her Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Northeastern University. Michelle currently lives in the beautiful rolling hills of North Pittsburgh with her Finnish husband, two golden retrievers, and two beautiful boys who are her true inspiration for writing.

Michelle’s debut picture book, THE STALKING SEAGULLS, was released by MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing on April 20, 2021. Michelle is part of the Western Pennsylvania SCBWI leadership team as their New Member and Critique Group Coordinator. She is also a proud member of the Twitter group #Newin19. Michelle is represented by T.J. Kirsch from JCH Literary. She is open for interviews and virtual visits.

What do we think of when we hear the word lyrical? Most of us probably think of music, hence the name “lyric.”  But how does that transform into picture book writing? Is it all about the language and how that language allows the reader to create a vivid world inside their mind? YES!

The words you choose when you write a lyrical picture book need to be vivid and “alive” in order to paint an internal image in the reader's mind. The more descriptive, the better. Great writing devices such as similes, metaphors, personification, and onomatopoeia help with imagery. The more action shown, the easier it is for the reader to make a connection with the story.

Using lyrical language follows one of the most important “rules” in picture book writing: show, don’t tell. According to reedsyblog, “show, don’t tell” is a writing technique in which story and characters are related through sensory details and actions, rather than exposition. It fosters a style of writing that’s more immersive for the reader, allowing them to “be in the room” with the characters.

Thus, showing is about using description and action to help the reader experience the story. Telling is when the author summarizes or uses exposition to simply tell the reader what is happening.

Now you would think that lyrical picture books are all rhyming, but they are a mix of prose rhyming stories and poetry. For example, Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon is a perfect example of a lyrical writing style in prose. In her story, to make the reader know that her Pa is tall and the girl is little, she writes,  “Pa made a long shadow, but mine was short and round.” She also allows the reader to relate to coldness by saying, “I could feel the cold, as if someone’s icy hand was palm-down on my back. And my nose and the tops of my cheeks felt cold and hot at the same time.”

Language is vital to get the reader actively involved in a lyrical story. Having the right rhythm allows the reader to enjoy the patterns of the language and enjoy reading the book aloud over and over. Julia Donaldson has created beautiful, heart-warming stories for years, using perfect rhyme and meter coupled with descriptive language. In her story, The Snail and the Whale, Ms. Donaldson uses vivid verb choices to describe a scene with water: “These are the waves that arched and crashed, That foamed and frolicked and sprayed and splashed The tiny snail On the tail of the whale.”

Lyrical picture books can also relay emotional or sentimental lessons. Some great examples of beautiful lyrical picture books are by Pat Zietlow Miller.  Her books When you are Brave and Be Kind allow readers to relate to everyday situations and solutions to tough day-to-day issues.

This type of genre can be so fun to write! I love writing in rhyme, so when I find the perfect cadence to a manuscript, it’s exhilarating, and, of course, so fun to read out loud. Do not be fooled by the wonderful lyrical/rhyming picture books out there. Writing a story that has perfect rhyme and meter, along with a great arc and satisfying ending, is very difficult to accomplish. Rhyming books can also be a hard sell to agents and publishers, especially if they are not considered “perfect.” 

Lyrical stories that are read to us as children often stay with us throughout our lifetime. We then read them to our own children. Here are some examples of lyrical picture books, old and new, that will certainly withstand the test of time and will be enjoyed for generations to come.

SOMEONE BUILDS THE DREAM by Lisa Wheeler

REMARKABLY YOU by Pat Zietlow Miller 

OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW by Kate Messner

OWL MOON by Jane Yolen

IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE by Julie Fogliano

AND THEN IT’S SPRING by Julie Fogliano 

GERALDINE  by Elizabeth Lilly

STERLING, BEST DOG EVER by Aidan Cassie

THE LITTLE ISLAND by Margaret Wise Brown

https://www.childrensbookacademy.com/blogfish/its-all-about-lyrical-language-in-picture-books


Thanks so much for joining us, Michelle!

You can find Michelle on Twitter @Mmvattula.