Movement Picture Books with Rachelle Burk

We are so excited to have Rachelle Burk join us today to share information about Movement Picture Books!

Rachelle writes fiction and nonfiction for kids 2-12. She is a council member and mentor for the Rutgers One-On-One Conference, and is a freelance picture book editor. She loves to visit schools across the country with her dynamic author visit program. Find out more at: www.RachelleBurk.com. Or email: rachelleburk@gmail.com. Need writing/publishing/marketing resources? You can find pretty much everything you need on Rachelle’s award-winning kidlit resources site: www.ResourcesForChildrensWriters.com.

STOMP, WIGGLE, CLAP, AND TAP  (Callisto Kids) by Rachelle Burk, Illustrated by Alyssa De Asis. Written in perfect read-aloud rhyme, with gentle prompts and lively illustrations that will encourage kids to move and make some noise.

To be honest, writing this book was not my idea. Stop, Wiggle, Clap, and Tap: My First Book of Dance was a work-for-hire project for an educational publisher (Rockridge Press, now Callisto Kids—an imprint of Sourcebooks). They reached out and offered me the project. Writing the book was a challenge for several reasons, one being that I had never written for the toddler-age audience.

The bigger challenge was that I’m not a dancer. This probably makes me a total fraud. In fact, anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a complete klutz with a tendancy to trip or twist in ways that break and tear body parts. Yet, even though “they” say to write what you know, I don’t agree. I believe you should write what interests you. I’ve written about all kinds of things with no background in the subjects, including science, music, and bios of people I’d never heard of. You just have to be enthusiastic and willing to do the research.

My daughters, now adults, watched an insane amount of baby dance videos back during the VHS era, which tends to imprint itself on a mother’s brain forever. The outline for Stop, Wiggle, Clap, and Tap had me isolating different body parts in a progressive format… a stanza focusing on hands and fingers, the next on arms, followed by feet and toes, then legs, and finally putting them all together. Because the target audience is between the ages of one and three, I had to reach way back in my memory to remember what children of those ages can do developmentally. I wrote and then nixed several ideas for being a bit too complicated.

I also considered what most intrigues toddlers and worked those things into the little movement poems. That’s why animals appear on several pages—a flapping bird, a prancing pony, a hopping frog, a wagging dog, and an elephant swaying its trunk. This creates a additional layer of learning and adds a fun aspect to the illustrations as well.

I found myself crawling, wiggling, twirling, and doing all kinds of weird movements around my family room as I worked to develop the movements and figure out how to describe them. I couldn’t help wondering what my neighbors would think if they happened to see me though the window. 

The text needed to have a musical feel that would inspire kids to move. For this young age, the sing-song quality that rhyme adds is a big plus. For an older audience, a good rhyming text usually entails unpredictable, complex, and multi-syllable rhymes. But for a toddler book, it was better to aim for the opposite:simple, predictable, and repetitious rhymes, with a rhythm that toddlers and caregivers can easily chant and clap to. For inspiration, I read a lot of classic nursery rhymes and watched YouTube videos with simple movement songs for toddlers.  

The amazing illustrator, Alyssa De Asis did a brilliant job bringing the book to life and giving it a joyous party atmosphere. I love how, once an animal character is introduced, it sticks around in all the following illustrations, dancing along with the human characters. 

Stop, Wiggle, Clap, and Tap will soon be coming out as a board book as well.

Thanks so much for joining us, Rachelle!

You can find Rachelle at www.RachelleBurk.com, Facebook @ facebook.com/rachelleburk, X (Twitter) @Rachelleburk, or Instagram @ instagram.com/rachelleburk/.

2024 Picture Book Writing Challenge

Our 2023 Picture Book Writing Challenge was a great success! About 35 of you participated as we tried new genres, flexed our creative muscles, and grew as writers! I ended up writing nine of the ten genres, plus three other picture books. Even if none of these books ever get published, I love trying new things, challenging myself creatively, and getting stories down on paper. I 100% believe it’s worth every minute!

Who’s in for 2024? We’ve already covered the main picture book genres, so we’ll be digging a little deeper to explore some new, fascinating topics. Remember, anyone can join the challenge—and no one needs to read what you write! We’ve designed this experience to inspire you to learn and grow as a writer and creator, not to pressure you for results. 

How it Works: 

  1. Register by commenting on this blog post. 

  2. Read the blog posts posted throughout the month for inspiration: an intro to the genre, ten favorite picture books in that genre, and author blog posts.

  3. Write a picture book manuscript in the prescribed genre! 

Remember—the Picture Book Writing Challenge is designed as a personal challenge for yourself—no critiquing or sharing manuscripts is needed!

Let the World Know:

Save this image and post to your social media—let the world know you are participating! Tag me at @stefaniehohl so I can like and share your post!

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Here’s the 2024 Picture Book Writing Challenge genre list!

Can’t wait to have you join us! Happy writing!

Chronological Picture Books with Joyce Hesselberth

We are so excited to have Joyce Hesselberth join us today to share information about Chronological Picture Books!

Joyce Hesselberth is a writer and illustrator based in Baltimore. She studied graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University and later earned her master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University. Her children’s books have been published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, HarperCollins, and Chronicle Books. Her book Mapping Sam won a special mention award in the Bologna Ragazzi non-fiction category and was also named one of New York Public Library’s Best Books. Her most recent book, When Molly Ate the Stars was published by Chronicle Books in Fall 2022. Her illustrations have also appeared in magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, and many others. She and her husband David Plunkert co-founded their studio Spur Design in 1995. Joyce also teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art.

When you start really studying picture books, chronological books are everywhere, right? Something happens, which leads to something else, which leads to something else, and so on until the end. Picture books naturally lend themselves to this type of storytelling. In longer formats, you have more flexibility to explore flashbacks or tell the story in some other non-linear format. Technically, you can do that in picture books, but because of the short format, picture books need to be succinct. And that’s where chronological order can really help out.

Sometimes the chronology is the main point of the story, but sometimes the chronology is more of a tool that ties the story together. I find myself using this tool more and more often as I write. I’m going to talk about two ways to approach chronological stories: event-based and time-based.

Mapping Sam is a narrative non-fiction picture book that I wrote and illustrated. It is a book about maps. But the story is told as an event-based chronological tale: a cat sneaks out of the house at night and wanders around the neighborhood, visiting key sites along the way, before returning home to fall asleep in the kids’ bedroom. The story of a cat roaming the neighborhood is the way to thread the things I’m actually talking about – different types of maps – together. When I first started writing this story, I had a bunch of types of maps I could talk about, but there wasn’t enough to hold it together. But then I thought about telling it by exploring where a cat goes at night and – aha!– I had a story. Most importantly, I had a solid beginning, middle, and end. It also gave me an excuse to draw lots of cats, which was a big plus!

I used a time-based chronological structure in my book Pitter Pattern. Here, the main topic is patterns in nature, sports, music, etc. In this picture book, we follow a girl named Lu through the days of the week. Each day, there are new patterns to find. While I was writing this book, I had a bunch of types of patterns that I thought were interesting, but without some sort of structure, it felt like a list. And while there are certainly books that use a list approach, I always am more excited by having more of a narrative. I think the person who used this type of chronological structure the best was Eric Carle in the classic picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle walks us through the days of the week and ends his story with the transformation into a beautiful butterfly.

You could write a story around hours, months, seasons, or any time-based construct. Of course, there still needs to be some sort of satisfying end to the story. For Pitter Pattern, I had already established that the days of the week were a pattern too, so looping back to Sunday and repeating the opening line “Pitter, pitter, pat! Pitter, pitter, pat! Pitter, pitter, pat!” made the story feel like it came full circle.

So think about chronology as the structure to hang your story on. What events are happening while your story unfolds? Whether your main character is counting down the days until a big event, or setting out on an exciting journey, chronological storytelling is there to keep your reader entertained along the way.

Thanks so much for joining us, Joyce!

You can find Joyce on Instagram: @hesselberth or her website: https://www.joycehesselberth.com/

Global Historical Fiction Picture Books with Meg Wiviott

We are so excited to have Meg Wiviott join us today to share information about Global Historical Fiction Picture Books.

Meg Wiviott is the author of PAPER HEARTS, a young adult novel-in-verse based on a true story of friendship and survival in Auschwitz. PAPER HEARTS made the 2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and the Amelia Bloomer lists. It was also a Cybils Poetry Finalist and a 2015 Nerdy Poetry and Novel in Verse Winner. Meg is also the author of the award winning picture book, BENNO AND THE NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS, which tells the story of Kristallnacht through the eyes of a cat. She holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

I got the idea for BENNO while attending an SCBWI NJ conference many, many years ago when an extremely well known and respected publisher was asked, “What’s the one project you’d like to see come across your desk?” The publisher responded, “A picture book on Kristallnacht.” Those of us in the room who knew what Kristallnacht was gasped. It was a small gasp, there weren’t many of us.

I blinked. I stared. I blinked again. A picture book on Kristallnacht? How do you do that? How do you write a story on what is essentially the beginning of the Holocaust for young children? The wheels started turning.

It took me years—YEARS—to figure out how to do it (and quite frankly, I still don’t know how I actually did it because I haven’t been able to do it again). The idea stayed in the back of my mind and every once in a while, I pulled it out and played with it. I did tons of research. I read about Hitler and Goebbles, the Nuremberg laws and the expulsion of the Polish Jews. I read about Ernst vom Rath and Herschel Grynszpan. (Note that none of those things are mentioned in the book).But I had to know everything before I could make sense of how to write it. It is my philosophy that it’s not what we tell our children, but how we tell them. This story had to be honest.

When I had a reasonably presentable draft (there were many, many unpresentable versions prior to this one) I took it to my critique group. Like any good critique group, they read my work seriously and then as gently and kindly was possible told me it was boring. They explained that draft lacked a story arc, tension, and a character with whom the reader could identify. They were right. It was missing everything a good story needs.

One person suggested I tell the story from the point of view of a child. This was something I really did not want to do! I did not want to tell it from the pov of a non-Jewish child for several reasons, foremost because I did not want to get inside of the head of that non-Jewish parent. I refused to have any character spew antisemitic sentiments. Nor did I want to tell the story from the pov of a Jewish child because, quite frankly, the story is scary. I decided instead to write what I know…

Me around 6 years old with my first kitten named Lucky.

Cats. I know cats. I have had several in my life. The inspiration for Benno came from a cat I met when my husband and I were newly married and lived in an apartment. The super allowed a stray cat named Hobo to live in the basement of the building. He was a big, gray cat. He looked like the kind of cat who would roll a pack of cigarettes up in his t-shirt sleeve. Everyone in the building knew him. Everyone loved him.

Once I had Benno the rest of the characters fell into place. The facts are still there, but Benno adds the heart that was missing from previous versions.

Thirteen years on and BENNO AND THE NIGHT OF BROKEN GLASS is still in print! I am immensely proud.

My most recent cat, Slide (who we had until he reached the ripe old age of 17).

Thanks so much for joining us, Meg!

You can find Meg on her website https://megwiviott.com/, Instagram @megwiviott_writer, or Facebook @ Meg Wiviott- Author. 

Expository “Extras” with Katy S. Duffield

We are so excited to have Katy S. Duffield join us today to share information about Expository Nonfiction Picture Books!

I LOVE a good story. You know the feeling—falling headfirst into a good book with an enticing beginning, a flowing middle, and an oh-so-right ending—only to come out hours later asking: what time is it? Narrative storytelling (whether fiction or nonfiction) has a compelling “pull,” because it typically has conflict, a distinct story arc, and a satisfying ending.

But storytelling wasn’t a good fit for my topic when I was writing my nonfiction picture book, Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals (illustrated by the amazing Mike Orodán). If I’d wanted to write about one particular animal using a certain wildlife crossing, I could have written in a story-oriented narrative style. But what I most wanted was to feature a variety of fascinating crossings along with the wide range of animals that use them, so instead of narrative nonfiction, I knew expository fiction was the way to go.

(*for more about expository and narrative nonfiction, nonfiction structure types, and everything kidlit nonfiction, visit author Melissa Stewart’s website http://www.melissa-stewart.com).

But without “story,” I needed to come up with other ways to pull readers in. I asked myself: How can I write about wildlife crossings in an engaging way? So, I did what I often do—I dove headfirst into the books on my bookshelf. The expository nonfiction books I adore have all kinds of yummy—what I call “extras”—spare text, lyrical language, refrains, and a big dose of heart. These would be the elements that would make my manuscript sing!

Spare Text

The main text of the first manuscript that my editor saw was around 400 words (the book also includes layered text on each spread to expand on what is shown in the main text). Pretty spare, right? But my super-sharp editor had her super-sharp revision scissors at the ready. I’ll admit, I hesitated at first. I’d worked hard on my beginning “set-up” and on my evocative descriptions, but I pruned them even more. And…my editor was right. The final main text clocked in around 250 words and felt much “tighter” overall. Here’s a “before” and “after” example:

Original text:

The roar of the tide calls—a massive wave of red crabs floods the forest floor,

then scuttles up, up and OVER a specially-created crab bridge toward the ocean.

Final text as it appears in the book:

Refrain

Luckily (thankfully!), the refrain I used throughout the book: “Over. Under. Across. Through.” came to me quite early in the process. I wanted the piece to feel “active,” and since the text focuses on the animals’ movement throughout the crossings, using prepositions that denote movement seemed to be an interesting and appropriate choice. As a bonus, the refrain, (along with a focus on poetic word choice) added a lyrical element to the text.

Heart

I knew that the endangered animal topic would have a strong heartstring tug of its own, but I also wanted to highlight the people who care so much about these animals and how they go about helping them. My first attempt was okay, but I felt it needed more, so I kept working on it to find the just-right approach.

Original:

Animal-loving superheroes, don their capes, pick up their pencils, set their minds to Figure. It. Out.

And they come up with ideas, answers—

—Ideas and answers that will help save the world’s animals.

The following is a look at the revised text which has been reworded and tightened and, which now includes the “Over. Under” refrain. The addition of “opening their minds and their hearts” also allowed me to use a version of that phrasing on the final page which helped the text come full circle (bonus!):

For me, studying the elements of books I love can help me see my manuscript in news ways. So, if you’re working on a piece of expository nonfiction, don’t fret that you don’t have a built-in story. Instead, take a look at some of the expository nonfiction books that you love and see what “extras” you can find to enhance your work-in-progress.

Happy writing!

Thanks so much for joining us, Katy!

You can find Katy on her website at www.katyduffield.com or on instagram @katysduff.

Creating Expository Nonfiction Picture Books that Sing with Melissa Stewart

We are so excited to have Melissa Stewart join us today to share information about Expository Nonfiction Picture Books!

Melissa Stewart has written more than 200 science-themed nonfiction books for children, including the Sibert Medal Honoree Summertime Sleepers: Animals that Estivate, illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen, and her upcoming title Whale Fall:Exploring an Ocean-floor Ecosystem. She maintains the award-winning blog Celebrate Nonfiction , and her highly-regarded website features a rich array of nonfiction reading and writing resources.

Most children’s book agents and editors chose to careers in publishing because they’re naturally drawn to stories and storytelling. And because they receive many, many more submissions than they can possibly accept, they’re taught to select manuscripts they fall in love with. So it’s no surprise that, when it comes to nonfiction, they’ve traditionally tended to favor submissions with a narrative writing style.

But many children think differently. These budding scientists, engineers, computer programmers, accountants, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and more are drawn to expository nonfiction —text that explains, describes, or informs in a clear, accessible way. This is also the kind of nonfiction teachers focus on during informational writing units, so increasingly, publishers are looking for engaging, innovative manuscripts with an expository writing style. As a result, editors and agents are becoming interested in expository nonfiction picture books and, in the last few years, there’s been a uptick in the number being acquired and published.

For many writers, the most challenging thing about writing expository nonfiction is text structure. While nearly all fiction and narrative nonfiction has a chronological sequence structure, as I explain in this series of articles published in School Library Journal, expository nonfiction can have just about any text structure you can think of.

If I’m lucky, I know the text structure of a book before I start writing, but often it takes years of experimenting. This interactive timeline describes my 4-year journey in search of the perfect text structure for my book Can an Aardvark Bark?

As Lydia Lukidis explains superbly in this Storystorm blog post , another important element of an expository nonfiction picture book is “the hook.” The information has to be presented in a way that makes kids care. It’s all about fueling their natural curiosity.

Beyond that, elements like strong voice and rich language make editors and agents sit up and pay attention. You can find informative video mini-lessons on these topics here. While they’re intended for teachers, they’re just the kind of information children’s book creators can benefit from, too.

And finally, I’d like to recommend the anthology Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-winning Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing, which I edited. It includes inspiring and informative essays from all your favorite nonfiction authors talking about their creative process.

Good luck with your expository nonfiction picture book manuscript!

Thanks so much for joining us, Melissa!

To see more of Melissa’s work, you can visit her website at www.melissa-stewart.com or visit her on instagram @melissastewartscience.

Social Emotional Learning Picture Books with Gabi Snyder

We are so excited to have Gabi Snyder join us today to share information about Social Emotional Learning Picture Books!

Gabi (rhymes with “baby”) Snyder’s short bio:

Gabi Snyder is a fan of the unexpected. Her love of dogs, counting, and unusual modes of transportation inspired her debut picture book, TWO DOGS ON A TRIKE, illustrated by Robin Rosenthal and published by Abrams Appleseed (May 2020). Her second picture book, LISTEN, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, came out in July 2021 from Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books. And her latest picture book, COUNT ON US! CLIMATE ACTIVISTS FROM ONE TO A BILLION, illustrated by Sarah Walsh, hit bookshelves in September 2022!

Gabi studied psychology at the University of Washington and creative writing at The University of Texas. When she’s not writing, she loves taking nature walks, visiting Little Free Libraries, and baking sweet treats. She lives in Oregon with her family. Learn more at gabisnyder.com.

What is SEL?

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines social and emotional learning (SEL) as “an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”

I also really like how author Danielle Davis describes SEL picture books as those “that in some way touch on a child’s relationships—with themselves: their identities, feelings, behaviors—as well as their relationships with others. That’s the essence of social-emotional learning or social-emotional development, how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the wider community.” Check out her post featuring 20 recommended SEL books, including LISTEN! https://thispicturebooklife.com/20-social-emotional-picture-books/

My accidental entry into SEL books

My second picture book, LISTEN, has often been described as a SEL book. But when I drafted LISTEN back in 2018, I don’t think I’d heard of SEL. So I didn’t set out to write a SEL book. What I did set out to write was a book that I could’ve used as a child, a book I still need as an adult. 

I wanted to explore the benefits of listening. I also wanted to capture the sense that the world can sometimes be so filled with noise – both literal and figurative – that it can be overwhelming, and it can be challenging to focus on what’s really important.  

In addition, I wrote the book at a time when I was taking a great deal of inspiration and solace from getting outside for walks and paying attention to the sights, sounds, and sensations on those walks. I was also finding that the practice of mindfulness was helping me focus and feel less overwhelmed – a feeling I was especially prone to as a child and still occasionally struggle with as an adult. So I think the text for LISTEN grew from an exploration of the benefits of listening coupled with the practice of mindfulness. In other words, my SEL book was the book I needed as a child.

So in considering how to write an engaging SEL book, ask yourself what book your child self need that didn’t exist? Can you write that book now? It might help to consider childhood memories with strong emotions attached. What emotional memories from your childhood had to do with SEL theme? Consider how you saw your relationship with yourself, with others, or with the world around you. Did you, for instance, find certain expectations about who you should be or how you should behave didn’t match your true sense of self?  Were you a girl who was discouraged from exploring her sporty side? Or maybe, like me, there was a way in which the world was sometimes hard to navigate because it felt like “too much” of something. Or maybe you felt like “too much” for your world?  

And, of course, anytime you set out to write a particular type of book, it’s helpful to read a slew of books in that genre. A few of my favorite SEL books…

JENNY MEI IS SAD

Written and illustrated by: Tracy Subisak

Themes/Topics: sadness, friendship, listening, making space for feelings

First two spreads: 

My friend Jenny Mei is sad.

But you might not be able to tell. 

TWO SPECKLED EGGS

Written and illustrated by: Jennifer K. Mann

Themes/Topics: friendship, cliques, outsiders, being different/unique

First spread: 

Ginger’s birthday party was in two weeks, and she wanted to invite all the girls in her class...

except Lyla Browning.

JULIAN IS A MERMAID

Written and illustrated by: Jessica Love

Themes/topics: individuality; embracing differences; self-love; unconditional love; mermaids; parades; gender fluidity/nonconformity

First spread:

This is a boy named Julián. And this is his abuela. And those are some mermaids.

Julián LOVES mermaids.

Happy reading and happy SEL writing!

Thanks so much for joining us, Gabi!

Connect with Gabi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/gabi_snyder_writer/) or visit her website (https://gabisnyder.com/). 

2023 Picture Book Writing Challenge!

Our 2022 Picture Book Writing Challenge was a great success! About 30 of you participated as we created, struggled, and succeeded together! I loved stretching myself and hearing about your experiences as you reached and grew as writers. Twelve months and ten genres later—we did it! 

Who’s in for 2023? December was a welcome breather, but I’m excited for a new challenge and more new genres to try! Invite your friends, tell your family members—the more, the merrier! Remember, you don’t have to be a published writer or even an aspiring writer to join in—everyone can learn when we practice thinking outside our personal boxes. If you were on the fence last year, hop off! You can do this!

How it Works: Register by commenting on this blog post. On the first day of the month, I’ll share a guest blog post with information about that month’s picture book genre. Later in the month, I’ll share a guest post from an author who writes that type of picture book. Challenge yourself by writing a picture book manuscript in the prescribed genre! Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect! No one else even has to see it! The point is to have fun and grow as a writer. (The Picture Book Writing Challenge is designed as a personal challenge for yourself, as no critiquing or sharing manuscripts is involved.)

Outcome: By the end of the year, you’ll have 10 new picture book manuscripts! Not only that, but you will grow creatively and have fun along the way!

Here’s the list:

I hope you join us! Happy writing!

Consider the Humble Board Book By Susan Claus

We are so excited to have Susan Claus join us today to share information about Children’s Board Books!

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.

Before the 1940’s, “books for children” meant “books for children who had learned to read”. Publishers pushed out a few books for parents to buy around the holidays, but most of the publishing was aimed at the public library market, and for schools. Librarians, back in the day, were staunch prescriptionists (“We’ll TELL you what’s good for you”), defenders of children’s fragile souls, making sure that nothing harsh, ugly, or silly contaminated the blank pages of their unformed minds. Publishers didn’t see the children’s book market as lucrative.

The post-war baby-boom suddenly delivered to the publishing industry a huge wave of children and parents eager to buy interesting books. Educators at New York’s Bank Street School did an end-run around the gate keeping librarians and produced books about the everyday experience of children, the harsh, the ugly, and the silly included. Books that were fun and engaging. And marketable! Publishers took note, and enlisted an army of writers and illustrators to produce wonderful picture books. But still, these books were targeted at children who could read.

Pre-1940, a baby might be given a cloth book; two cotton rectangles, sewn down the middle, to play with. Cloth books were toys, not brain fodder. Babies and toddlers were viewed as human dumplings, tiny barbarians bent on the destruction of any books that came into their pudgy hands, and, until they could talk, not given credit for having much going on “upstairs”.

The arrival of Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt in 1940 changed the thinking about baby books. Pat the Bunny had sturdy, doubled pages that were hard to tear. Each spread had simple words, a simple drawing, and a texture,  piece of cloth, or hole in the page that related to the image. Parents and the babies on their laps encountered the pages together, and parents could see their babies engaging those pages in ways that proved the “wheels” were turning. Parents began to demand books that fed babies’ minds, and publishers were quick to deliver.

Books with cardboard pages, that were hard to tear, and fine to chew on, gave babies and toddlers books of their own. Most were simple concept books; word books, opposites, counting books and ABCDeries. A few had simple, linear stories.

Researchers in the 1980s began to study brain development in children in new ways, courtesy of technology like magnetic imaging, and proved that babies’ brains were not just little unformed blobs, but full of billions of busy neurons firing and making connections. Other researchers studied how babies process vision, and discovered that the gentle pastel colors that traditionally surrounded them were actually hard for babies to see.

Publishers responded with board books designed to stimulate babies’ brains with bold black and white images, and colorful pages with sharp contrast.

The early brain development research also showed how very interested babies were in looking at faces, so board books with photographs of babies soon crowded bookstore shelves.

Most board books were created by publishers in-house, with writers and illustrators uncredited. But the explosion of board book publishing caught the attention of author illustrators like Rosemary Wells and Sandra Boynton, who pushed the small publishing niche into a full-fledged genre.

As the demand for board books expanded, publishers looked to their back lists and began to repackage picture book classics in board book format.

Board books as a genre continues to expand. In the past few years, writers and illustrators have developed cheeky high-concept one-word-per-page board book “retellings” of literary classics like Moby Dick and Jane Eyre.           

Biographies were once a school-library exclusive, but board book biographies of Freida Kahlo and Coco Chanel can now be found in many strollers, along with “baby’s first book of physics”.

Babies & toddlers now have hundreds of sturdy, high-quality board books to handle and enjoy. But beyond enjoyment, having books they can handle sets them up to be successful future readers. They develop print awareness, print motivation, small motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and a visual vocabulary.

Hooray for the humble board book!

PS: Want to take a gander at some fresh new board books? Try this list from Book Riot.

Thanks so much for joining us, Susan!

You can find Susan on Instagram @fernpondart, on Facebook @fernpondstories, or on her Website!

Picture Books with Refrains with Stella Partheniou Grasso

We are so excited to have Stella Partheniou Grasso join us today to share information about Picture Books with Refrains!

Stella Partheniou Grasso has been working in the Canadian children’s publishing industry since 2003. She is the author of six picture books including Five Busy Beavers and Take Me Out to the Ice Rink, both published by Scholastic Canada Ltd. Her jokes have been featured in the bestselling Laugh Out Loud Canadian Jokes. Stella loves connecting with listeners to celebrate the themes of community spirit and teamwork found in her books. She is a member of Storytelling Toronto who enjoys sharing stories from Ancient Greek mythology, and folktales from Cyprus and the Mediterranean Basin. Stella is also a member of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers). Feel free to visit her online at www.stellapartheniougrasso.com.

Come share a story with Stella Partheniou Grasso!

Writing a Story with a Refrain

What pops into your when you hear Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chin?

Repeated phrases, or refrains, catch a listener’s ear. They can make a story memorable. One simple line like, “Not by the hair on our chinny-chin-chin,” evokes not just one scene in a story but a pattern in a storyline. Storytellers have known about the power of repeated phrases for millennia. Whether you’re writing poetry or prose, fiction or nonfiction, including a refrain is a great tool in your writing toolbox.

Refrains engage readers and listeners because we start anticipating when they’ll appear again. Young kids will often “read along” with the refrain. This comic by SpaceboyCantLOL plays on our impulse to repeat familiar refrains.

Refrains act as a touchpoint for the audience helping to set the stage for action, or, reinforcing a point in the story. What’s changed since we last heard the phrase? What’s stayed the same? Sometimes the meaning of the refrain changes even though the words stay the same.

Setting the stage for action

With Five Busy Beavers (illustrated by Christine Battuz), I wanted to celebrate the wetland ecosystem that beavers engineer and feature the animals that call the wetlands home. The story follows a colony of beavers who are damming up a river. They cut down logs, create channels to ferry the logs to the pond, use mud to secure the logs in place and then maintain the dam.

I knew I wanted a light and bouncy refrain to countdown from five beavers to one. I decided to use the refrain to introduce the wetland animals that depend on the beavers to create their habitat.

The bouncy, memorable refrain gives readers a bit of breathing space between the technical non-fiction action sequences, which are written in a more complex meter. The refrain introduces a wetland neighbor and interrupts the rhythm of the beavers’ work both in the narrative and in the rhyme scheme. Yet, despite the interruptions, the work still goes on.

The refrain in Five Busy Beavers, “Along came an [animal] who wanted to play,” prompts readers to anticipate an action, “And one little beaver [travelled] away.”

Recapping events/reinforcing a concept

Take Me Out to the Ice Rink (illustrated by Chris Jones) is is a hockey adaptation of the classic song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which has a chorus that is so popular that the original verses are all but forgotten. The refrain comes in the first two lines of the chorus, “Take me out to the ice rink/Take me out to the game. . .”

The change in rhythm between the verses and the chorus serves as a natural break between the three periods of a hockey game. In my adaptation, I use it to give the audience an auditory signal that the point of view is changing from third person to first person. With a refrain written in the first person the reader is drawn into the story in a personal way each time it is repeated. The verses describe the action happening in the scene; the chorus reinforces the emotional investment by providing the characters’ reactions to those events, whether it’s the players getting ready to play the game or the spectators recapping the game play of the previous period and forecasting what might happen next. Chris Jones’s illustrations help guide the reader through the voice change.

Exploring meanings

George Shannon’s One Family, illustrated by Blanca Gómez explores the idea of family through a counting book with each spread ending in the refrain, “One family.”

The seemingly simple text coupled with the warm illustrations of different family configurations help readers redefine what it means to be a family in a very accessible way. Shannon and Gómez have found a way of exploring an abstract issue like diversity in a concrete way for young readers and listeners by the simple repetition of two words that are illustrated in a multitude of ways. Regardless of how the family is depicted on the page each family celebrates the love and the bonds of kinship.

Shannon, George, and Blanca Gómez. 2022. One family.

Writing stories with a refrain can be a lot of fun. Refrains help create a familiar structure to build your story around. Whether you use them to develop a pattern of action, reinforce a theme, or explore different facets of a single concept, they will definitely make your story memorable for readers and listeners alike.      

Books that use a refrain to reinforce a concept

Never Let You Go by Patricia Storms is a family favourite with a reassuring message for children and grownups alike. The refrain of the caregiver’s reassuring promise provides security as the young penguin takes risks and explores the world around them. As a parent I appreciate the reminder that even though it can be hard to do, sometimes we need to let go of our little ones. But it’s ok because they’ll also never let go of us either.   

In Yuvi’s Candy Tree by Lesley Simpson, illustrated by Janice Lee Porter, the grandmother’s refrain provides hope as a refugee family embarks on a difficult and dangerous journey from Ethiopia to Israel. It serves to remind them of the rewards waiting for them if they can just endure their current hardship. Yuvi doesn’t fully understand what her grandmother means when she first says it, but, as the journey continues and Yuvi faces one adversity after another, her grandmother’s words soon begin to make sense and provide comfort.

In a world of instant gratification waiting can be one of the hardest skills we need to learn. The refrain in While We Wait by Judy Ann Sadler, illustrated by Élodie Duhameau captures that restlessness. As the grandmother patiently uses the waiting time constructively the young boy’s impatience keeps him from living in the moment and enjoying the time he’s sharing with her. Only after the waiting is over does he realize that there was a purpose to what he and his grandmother were doing. 

  

Books that use a refrain to anticipate an action

The refrain in Jeremiah and Mrs. Ming by Sharon Jennings, illustrated by Mirelle Levert, is a common scenario in any family’s bedtime routine as Jeremiah makes one excuse after another about why he can’t go to sleep. Pretty soon readers brace themselves for giggles when they hear Jeremiah tells Mrs. Ming that he can’t fall asleep as they wait to hear the outlandish reason that he’s still awake. 

Many of Robert Munsch’s stories make great readalouds because they started out as oral stories that he then adapted for print books. Alligator Baby, illustrated by Michael Martchenko is no exception. Repetition plays a key role in the story as Kristen’s expectant parents accidentally go to the zoo instead of the hospital and come home with the wrong baby. Kids love “reading along” with the refrain using the illustrations as prompts. It’s a great blend of text and art to help readers anticipate what’s coming next.

Baby Goes to Market by Atinuke, illustrated by Angela Brooksbank also uses a refrain to set the stage for adorable antics. This time the setting is a vibrant outdoor market where baby charms the vendors and receives delicious treats to eat. This is a beautiful example of combining a familiar refrain with a new twist each time to explore similarities and differences from one scene to the next.

Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman is another family favourite. My mom and kids still quote the refrain 20 years later. The refrain has a lot going for it, the rhythm, the rhyme, the emotion. Parents and kids each act out their roles in the refrain with the parent exasperated by the mess and the kids promising to clean up later. The refrain reins in the kids’ silliness and gives the reader a breather before ramping up to even more imaginative adventures in the next verses. 

Nonfiction books that use a refrain

Refrains can also help provide structure to nonfiction texts. Carol Matas uses a refrain as an organizing structure in Who’s Looking? How Animals See the World, illustrated by Cornelia Li. The refrain sets the stage for exploring the world through the eyes of a different animal. Li’s illustrations do a great job of contrasting our way of looking at the world with the way animals perceive it while Matas’s refrain invites the reader to put themselves in the animal’s place and see the world in a different way. 

In We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac the author shares the story of the complicated relationship between Indigenous people and the settlers who have colonized North America. She tempers a fairly dense history with a one-sentence refrain that changes the entire mood of the book from one of oppression, systemic racism and genocide to one of resilience, pride and hopefulness for the future. It makes sense that the author chose that one sentence to be the title of the book because that one sentence embodies how people reclaim their history, celebrate their strengths and continue to keep their traditions alive.

Thanks so much for joining us, Stella!

You can find Stella on her website at www.stellapartheniougrasso.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/stella.p.grasso, and Twitter @Stella_P_Grasso.

Historical Fiction Picture Books with Kristy Dempsey

We are so excited to have Kristy Dempsey join us today to share information about Historical Fiction Picture Books!

Kristy Dempsey is the manager of marketing content and creative development at The Lumistella Company, a global children’s entertainment brand. She is also the author of numerous picture books, including Papa Put a Man on the Moon (Dial), a Bank Street Best Book and a Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine Best Book, and Superhero Instruction Manual (Knopf), an ILA/CBC Children's Choice selection and Southern Book Prize nominee. Her titles have received starred reviews in Kirkus, Booklist, and School Library Journal, and A Dance Like Starlight was named a JLG selection, ALA Notable Book, Bank Street Best Book, CCBC 2015 Choice, and the winner of the 2015 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text.

As a child, I was fascinated by the 1969 moon landing. Though it happened just before my birth, the replay of television clips through the years and the drama of a nation watching the events unfold inspired my imagination. Imagine my surprise when I later learned that the humble community of Slater, SC that my mother grew up in played a part in this amazing accomplishment. 

Community Building in the Slater, SC Mill Village

In the early 1960s, when textile production began moving overseas, the small textile mill in Slater faced a crisis. Cotton production was waning, and the mill that the community relied on for jobs was at risk. But when JFK announced that the US would land a man on the moon within the next decade, thousands of manufacturing plants across the US received contracts to produce the “nuts and bolts” it would take to put men on the moon. Eventually the mill in Slater received one of those contracts, to produce a fiberglass textile that would become one layer in the astronauts’ spacesuits.

Samples of spacesuit fabric layers at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

I’ve always been drawn to historical events, particularly human stories of those events, the “as seen through their eyes” perspectives of individuals who were there in the moment, and even more specifically, the perspectives of children who experienced those moments. That perspective informed my approach to my 2015 picture book A Dance Like Starlight. 

So as I began to uncover my own family’s relationship to the 1969 moon landing, I searched for a way to write Papa Put a Man on the Moon through the eyes of a child. 

Every member of my family on my mother’s side, and even my own father, had worked in this textile mill in the 1960s. The community was small, and the large majority of its residents worked at the mill. I wanted to highlight how this small community had contributed to the moon landing (in essence telling the story of the over 400,000 workers across the nation who contributed in some way) through the eyes of a child who was proud of her parents’ role. But my biggest difficulty in telling this story was my need, in some sense, to remove my own connection to it. Though my mother did grow up in this community, by the time of the moon landing, she was an adult. 

My mother, as a child in her home in the mill village, and as an adult in 1966

I used my mother’s relationship with her father as a base and imagined my mother younger. The details surrounding the events are accurate, but the characters themselves are composites. Even so, I still struggled to remove all the specifics I wanted to include about my own family. 

From an early draft of Papa Put a Man on the Moon

My papa did have honey bees and they were a huge part of my own childhood memories. But this detail, though it brought Papa to life and informed the relationship between father and daughter, did not point toward the central focus of the book, the moon landing and Papa’s contribution to it, along with the pride Marthanne felt. So, that detail got cut.

Opening page of Papa Put a Man on the Moon

The decision of which details to include, and which to leave out, must always be connected to the central aim of the book. There were three things I wanted to establish in this story:

  1. Marthanne’s pride in her father and her community

  2. Papa’s humble dedication to his job and his family

  3. The idea that big achievements are made up of thousands of small, sometimes seemingly insignificant, contributions

I felt like those three things best reflected the historical aspect of this story and honored the truth, even as some of the details were fictionalized.

In regards to truth in details in historical fiction, there is a funnel of truth through which to sift your details:

One of the details in the book actually ended up being sifted through this probability filter in the illustration stage. 

This scene outside of the A&H Supermarket in Slater, SC was originally depicted as a scene outside of a church, but while a conversation between races after church might have been “possible,” given the segregation among churches at the time, it wasn’t plausible, and certainly not probable. It was much more likely any conversations between races would have taken place at the supermarket or at the Mill Hill Community Center where residents of both races came together to play sports. 

While I would never change the details of the historical event, and I require evidence for those details, historical fiction sometimes uses invented dialogue and context. I use the probability filter to help ensure that any context I create remains true to history and resonates in its details.

Thanks so much for joining us, Kristy!

You can find Kristy on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/kddempsey/, Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/kristydempsey/, and Twitter @ https://twitter.com/kristydempsey

She also recently recorded a podcast on the Voyager podcast. You can hear more about her career and writing process here!