If you’re familiar with my books, you know I love rhyme. I love writing in rhyme, and I love reading rhyme (good rhyme—no one likes reading the clunky stuff). I love the music, the rhythm, the sound of it. Well-written verse is just plain fun to read aloud. But not …
This past weekend I had a fabulous time presenting at the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators ‘Prairie Writer’s Day’ in Chicago on crafting an inspired picture book. We talked about what makes the picture book a unique art form, which is the interplay between words and pictures. The …
November is PiBoIdMo Month! PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) is a come-up-with-30-picture-book-ideas-in-30-days challenge. Tara Lazar is the mastermind behind PiBoIdMo. She invites writers, illustrators, and industry professionals to share inspiring posts on her blog all month long. See? I have been a contributor to PiBoIdMo since the beginning. What an honor! …
Trying to read all the picture books published in a given year is daunting. So, I confess to cheating—keeping up only with the current books in the genre I tend to write (biographies, social studies, history.) Ask me (as some teachers recently did) about great science picture books and you’ll …
The palette is the overall color theme that an illustrator chooses. We all know how the color of a room can affect our feelings. The same holds true for the picture book page. Of course, the illustrator is chosen by the art director and/or editor because their style reflects the …
When I was a freshman in high school, I took a journalism class. In it, Ron Harrell taught me how to write a feature article. “Your ending has to tie back to your beginning,” I remember him saying. “It’s like having a big, fancy bow on the top of a …
Early in September, I stopped in at my local Barnes & Noble to peruse the New Picture Books shelves. Blocking my way was a special display holding dozens of copies of Keith Richards’ Gus & Me, The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar. My first thought? Ugh, another …
I love simple picture books. I enjoy complex picture books too, but mostly I gravitate towards simply told stories and illustration. That is the kind of books I want to and try to make. It is easy to be awed by the wonderful art of the Chris Van Allsburgs, the …
Many of us are drawn to writing children’s books because we want to share some hard-won wisdom or help kids deal with a difficult situation or emotion. But how do we do that without sounding overly message-y and preachy? Try humor. Let’s take, for example, Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great (Disney-Hyperion, …
With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be a fitting time to reflect on Tony Diterlizzi’s fabulous black and white picture book “The Spider and The Fly” from Simon and Schuster, 2002. Many writers and artists dream of creating dark picture books, and Tony’s illustrations perfectly embrace this retelling of …