13 The Society of Children ’ s Books & Illustration Lovers – Newsletter # 1 – August 2013
known illustrators , hoping to introduce the author to the illustrator ’ s established audience )
� Lovable , identifiable characters . Kids read picture books to see other kids ( or kid-friendly characters ) accomplish big things . The typical “ try 3 times and then succeed ” type of picture book requires the protagonist to fix their own problem , because what we want to tell children is that though they may be small , they can be independent / fix their problems in their own ways .
� A strong / unique concept . A picture book needs to be layered enough that it makes sense as a fully illustrated book , instead of an easy reader or a short story . The layers come from the internal / emotional problem and the external / physical problem working together , so that when the character is actively working towards one goal , they are unwittingly working towards the other as well . The art also has to give us an additional layer to the story , not just show us renderings of the text .
� Rhyme that ’ s well-written / necessary . If it ’ s a rhyming text , the rhyme has to flow smoothly and each line has to further the plot . Sometimes authors are tempted to throw in a line just because it rhymes with “ dog ” or whatever the previous line is ( i . e . “ At school today there was a dog / he did not bring himself a log .”) Some concepts do make more sense in rhyme than in prose . For example , if you ’ re writing a book about a jazz musician , then you can use rhyme to imitate the rhythm of music for your reader .
� Interactivity . Some books are more interactive when they ’ re read to a child . Mo Willem ’ s Pigeon series is very successful because the child reader is given a task — “ Don ’ t let the pigeon drive the bus .” Then , the pigeon comes in and begs and pleads to be allowed to drive . The child then repeats “ Nooooo !” with each questioning from the pigeon , thus becoming a participant in the story .
� Re-readability . Because picture books have to be read to the child by the parent and children tend to want the same book read to them over and over again , they have to be something that a parent is going to want to read over 100 times . Part of rereadability is the visual interest in the illustrations , which is why an illustrator will put a small visual subplot ( such as the ant slowing stealing food at the picnic ) for readers to notice perhaps on the their second or third reading . The other part of re-readability comes from some of the elements above — either a refrain , or humor , or word play .
Take a look at your works-in-progress . Do your picture books have some of these factors ?
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