Mentor Monday - Considering the Picture Book

Mark Twain once said, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”  It was his way of saying that writing short is hard.  I imagine, if he were alive today, he would not be writing picture books.

Many people, new to the world of children’s writing, decide to write picture books because they think it’s easy.  After all, the stories are short and simple, and an illustrator will do half the work.  But writing a picture book—a good picture book—is hard.  Yes, there are always those who have the knack, but for most people, telling a story in five hundred words or less is difficult work.  If you are up to the task and are contemplating writing a picture book, here are a few things to consider.    

Length

A picture book is almost always 32 pages.  Several of those pages will be devoted to front matter and end papers, leaving even fewer pages for story.  Word count will range between no words at all to about 1,000 words.  300 to 500 words seems to be the average.

Audience

 The picture book’s main audience is obviously small children, but your story must also appeal to adults who will be reading the book to, or along with, the child.  If you can grab the adults, too, they will have no problem reading your story over and over and over again to the children in their lives.

Story

 Do you have one?  Is it kid friendly?  Is there a beginning, middle, and end?  A problem to solve?  Is it fun, adventurous, scary or mysterious?  If all you have is a lesson, reconsider.  Kids want, and appreciate, a good story as much as adults.  How often would you read if your choices were limited to things like eating properly, driving carefully, being a good employee, avoiding stress?  Give kids a story.  If there’s a lesson to be learned, let it be implied. 

Illustrations

 Illustrations are what make the picture book a picture book.  Even if you aren’t the illustrator, you have to consider them.  Does your story have enough illustration possibilities?  Remember, you have 32 pages to fill, and not every page will be a double page spread.  Will the possible illustrations all be different, (good) or will they all be pretty much the same?  (not so good.)  Be sure your story gives an illustrator plenty to work with.

Words

Since your word count is limited, be sure the words you use do the job.  Choose strong verbs and specific nouns.  Omit adjectives and adverbs, and most descriptions.  These are generally things an illustrator can convey in her illustrations.  And a picture book is not an easy reader.  Don’t be afraid to use big words if they are the rights words.

 Page Turns

Consider how your manuscript will be laid out in book form.  What words go on what pages?  Is there an element of surprise with each page turn?  Or a question raised before the turn?  Do the tension and suspense rise?  Does the plot move forward?   Does the mere act of turning the page bring anticipation?  Does it make the child wonder what will happen next?

 The Ending

 Does it satisfy?  Does it bring a smile, a laugh, a tear or sigh to the reader and listener?  There’s really no way to know until it gets read by others.  Consider showing it to a critique group.  Your kids, family, friends and neighbors don’t count.  They are too close to you to tell you the truth.  Find some other writers, preferably some who know more than you, to get some impartial opinions.

The journey may be hard and/or challenging, or you may discover you’re one of those people to whom this comes easily, but regardless of where you fit, ending up with a book in your hand is a thrill.  If it’s what you want to do, go for it! 

Mentor Monday: Word Count Counts

It's easy to believe that writing is all about words words words, but that is not the case. So much of publishing depends on numbers, too.

Friends are astonished when I tell them most magazines pay by the word. A smart writer knows this and works to the publishers' word count guidelines. Publishers have these guidelines because they need to make all the editorial and advertising fit. Fit is important to the bottom line. 

How words (and how many words) fit in a book is very important in children's book writing, too.

General word count guidelines on each type:

• Early Picture Books -- zero to 500 words
• Picture Books -- 1,000 to 1,200
• Early Chapter Books -- 500 - 3,000
• Chapter Books -- 20,000 - 45,000
• YA -- 40,000 - 60,000

Figure out the category where your manuscript fits, and then read other books that fit that same category. 

It's actually kind of fun. You can do this research, for minimal cost, at libraries and book stores. This is also why you have friends with kids with books (hopefully they have quality books!). 

I tend to read the story first, and then investigate. You can ask these questions, among others: What's the layout of the text and illustrations? How is the text situated on the page? Where do the page breaks occur? If there are illustrations, how do they enhance the text? How does this sound being read out loud? Is the pov first person or third? Why did the author go with this?

I've started to keep a three ring binder holding the notes I take on books I've read. Those notes include word counts.

You don't have to tally every word yourself. It's easy enough to find this information at Renaissance Learning, where you can also find other statistics about a wide range of children's titles.  They've done a bang-up job providing great info: Interest Level, Book Level, Genre, and Word Count. You can search by Author, Title, or ISBN.

Each book's page list awards, and also state lists and reading lists the book has made. 

(Interest level is based like this:  LG = Lower Grades (K-3); MG = Middle Grades (4-8); MG+ = Middle Grades Plus (6 and up); and UG = Upper Grades (9-12).  )

It's a pretty cool place for statistics.

It's easy to tell yourself it's okay to go over suggested word count limits -- books that don't follow these guidelines still get printed. But that's a rare exception. Except for very compelling reasons, you should talk yourself out of exceeding word count guidelines.

Writing to word count (or imposing your own minimal word count) helps you eliminate those words not pulling their weight. An editor will appreciate your tightly and skillfully written piece. When editors appreciate your work, this usually figures very big for your bottom line.

 

 

Mentor Monday: Why It Works

Don and Audrey Wood have created some of my all-time favorite picture books. Their 1986 Caldecott Honor Book King Bidgood's in the Bathtub is, in my opinion, close to picture book perfection. I've been reading this story to my students for 20+ years and it never fails to delight. It has all the elements necessary to capture and keep a preschooler's attention.

Visually, it's stunning. The costumes are lavishly detailed, and the medieval setting rings completely true. The characters' facial expressions and body language leave no doubt as to what's going on in the story. It could almost be a wordless picture book, but I wouldn't lose one syllable of text.

Audrey Wood knows how to tell a story that preschoolers want to hear. She knows that this young audience needs a storyline that can be summed up in one short sentence, like this: King Bidgood's in the bathtub and he won't get out. The scene is set for the hapless little page, who has to haul the water and mop up the mess. He looks to the adults in the book for help. "King Bidgood's in the bathtub and he won't get out! Oh, who knows what to do?"

The queen, duke, knight and the rest of the king's court are all sure they can coax Bidgood out of the tub, but of course they can't. They can't because Audrey Wood knows Rule Number One of picture book writing. If you're going to have a child hero, that child hero must solve his or her own problem. So the page is left to deal with Bidgood, who proves that it really is good to be king as he battles with his toys in the tub, eats lunch in the tub, fishes in the tub, and holds a masquerade ball in the tub.

Finally, with the king's court dripping wet and calling for help, the page takes matters into his own capable hands and pulls the plug. The problem is solved by the child hero, and the king is left fleeing the draining tub wrapped in a towel that reveals just a hint of royal behind.

Do Don and Audrey Wood know their audience, or what?

Mentor Monday: Know Your Reader

Several months ago, I wrote a Mentor Monday entry recommending that you read as much as you can within your genre. For me, that's picture books. I've read literally thousands of them during my almost 30 years of teaching preschool. Part of knowing your genre, is knowing your readers. What do they think makes for a good read? How do they process information? What do they find funny? How do they articulate their thoughts?

To that end, I'm having book discussions with my students at least once a week. My students range in age from 3 years 0 months to 5 years 2 months, and I mix the ages in my classes. I'm blogging at The Picture Book Project, and thought all of you children's writers might find it interesting to read beyond the professional reviews and find out what children really think about the books we write for them. (The numbers before each child's name indicates the child's age in years and months.) Enjoy!

Let's Get Started!

The first three books we're reading at Hogarth this year are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? written by Bill Martin, Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle. In our class discussions following the readings, we looked at Carle's illustrations and noted that the endpapers of the Bear books were illustrated with stripe patterns, and the endpapers of the Caterpillar book was illustrated with a dot pattern. References to stripes or dots within the children's comments relate back to that discussion.

In order to get the book discussion ball rolling, I asked each child to pick his or her favorite from among these books and talk about what made that book so appealing. If this didn't prompt a big response, I followed up with questions specific to their favorite book. If they picked either Bear book, I asked which animal depicted in the book was their favorite. If they picked the Caterpillar book, I asked which food they'd eat first if they were a hungry caterpillar.

EARLY KINDERGARTEN RESPONSES

4.8 Keegan: My favorite was Polar Bear. I liked the front cover. My favorite animal was the peacock because of his spots, and I never seen a peacock.

5.2 John: I liked them all because I liked when the zoo keeper came to feed the walrus in Polar Bear and because all of the kids were dressing up like animals. I like Brown Bear because the class was looking at the teacher and the teacher was looking at the fish and looking at the kids. I like The Very Hungry Caterpillar because of Monday, Tuesday and all of that stuff when they flipped over and there kept being more and more food. The Caterpillar one is my very favorite. I liked the way Eric Carle did the end papers. One had dots and one had stripes facing up and one had stripes going sideways.

4.10 Daniel: I liked the Caterpillar one best because it had the folds in the paper. I liked it when the caterpillar was a baby and I liked the part where it was a butterfly. It was really pretty.

4.3 Brady K.: I liked Brown Bear best because I liked the stripes on the end. My favorite animal was the purple cat because he's purple!

4.5 Sophie: I liked Brown Bear best because the teacher was reading the book about animals to the kids. My favorite animal was the purple cat because of the purple. I like purple.

(Note: Neither Brady nor Sophie heard the other one's purple cat preference. Mack in PK also referred to the purple cat. Obviously, this is a very appealing illustration.)

PREKINDERGARTEN RESPONSES

4.2 Kaitlyn: I liked the Caterpillar because it was super hungry and he ate too much and he had a stomach ache. If I was a hungry caterpillar I'd eat the apple first.

3.6 Eva: I liked the Caterpillar best because it ate a leaf up and then had a tummy ache, that's why. I liked the part where the caterpillar ate up all the food. If I was a hungry caterpillar I'd eat a leaf first.

3.8 Mack: I liked Brown Bear best because it had the kitten. It was purple. I liked that one. And she was licking her elbow. Meow! Meow! Meow! I can do the sound of her. That made me laugh.

3.7 Emelyn: I liked the Caterpillar because it was silly when you said the moon was an egg!


3.11 Acadia: I liked the Caterpillar because I got it at home and it's my favorite book. I like the colors of the circles. If I was a hungry caterpillar I'd eat the pickle.

 Even More Eric

We continued exploring Eric Carle's books today when we read The Grouchy Ladybug. Once again, I asked the children to pick their favorite Eric Carle book from among those we've read thus far.

EARLY KINDERGARTEN RESPONSES

4.5 Leah: I loved The Very Hungry Caterpillar so much! I liked the food part best. I loved that. That was so silly. If I was a hungry caterpillar I would just eat three plums so I wouldn't get a tummy ache.

4.9 Brooke N.: I liked The Grouchy Ladybug because there were a lot of people who were big, but she said they were not big enough, but they were big enough. I liked the rhinoceros part because he was trying to eat him but he was too big.

4.2 Bella: I liked The Grouchy Ladybug because of the pictures with the little pages and the big pages. I liked all the clocks because the hungry ladybug did all of that. [Points at clocks.] I liked the elephant best because I saw one at the zoo.

4.0 Arthur: I liked all of these books. My favorite was The Grouchy Ladybug because he keeps saying, "You're not big enough!" I liked that it did it like this. [Indicates the differently sized pages.] My favorite animal was the whale because it slapped the tail on the ladybug and the ladybug said, "Ah-h-h-h-h!" And then he put his tail back and that was my favorite part.

4.7 Hayden: I liked Brown, Bear, Brown Bear best. I liked the goldfish because it's yellow because I love yellow. I liked the duck because I love yellow a lot, because the ducky is gold and the goldfish is gold.

4.11 Brooke B.: I liked The Grouchy Ladybug because when he said, "No, you're not too big!" I liked the hyena best because it reminds me of Izzy. She really likes hyenas and she's my best friend.

5.2 John: I liked The Grouchy Ladybug because the nice ladybug offered, but the ladybug said, "Hey, you! You want to fight?" But she said, "Aw, you're not big enough!" And I liked it because it had when the ladybug said to the tail on the whale, "Hey you! You want to fight?" And the tail gave her a big slap. And I liked it because it had the house and the lighthouse. And I liked it because when the ladybug met the wasp and he showed it his big stinger. And I liked when that animal [points to stag beetle] showed him his big claws. And I liked when the mantis wanted to fight and he said, "If you insist." And I liked the bird because I knew it was going to eat the ladybug. I liked the lobster because he opened his claws and I knew he was going to snap him in his claws. And I liked the skunk because he lifted his tail and I knew he was going to release a stinky smell at the ladybug. And I liked that the snake was going to eat the squirrel and the ladybug for his breakfast. And I liked the hyena because he laughed and he was going to eat him. And I liked the gorilla because he was beating his chest and he was going to punch him. And I liked the rhinoceros because he was lowering his horn and he was going to run into him and then he said, "Oh, you're not big enough!" And I liked the elephant and he was showing his tusk and his trunk a long way out. And I liked the whale because he said nothing and I thought that the ladybug was going to run into the water going up out of the whale. And when he said, "Hey, you! You want to fight?" and the flipper said nothing. And when he asked the fin to fight the fin said nothing. And I liked when the ladybug spoke to the whale's tail and said, "Hey, you! You want to fight?" and the tail gave him a big slap and he was flying over where he started and he got to eat some aphids. And then I liked it because the ladybug said, "You're welcome." And I liked that the leaf said, "Thank you!" And I liked the fireflies were dancing around the moon and I liked the moon and I liked the stars. And I liked the green grass at the beginning and at the end. I think Eric Carle wrote nice books. I think he does his art in not a fast way, but in a slow way. I like that art best.

PREKINDERGARTEN RESPONSES

4.5 Christel: I liked The Grouchy Ladybug because he said, "You're not big enough!" I liked when the whale flipped the Grouchy Ladybug into the sky. And I liked this part when the lobster tried to bite him. And the skunk looked like he was going to spray. And the snake looked like he was going to eat the ladybug. And I liked this one [hyena] when he looked like he was going to bite the ladybug. And I liked the gorilla! [Christel then turns to the last double-page spread in which the ladybugs share the remaining aphids.] This is my favorite part because he let him share the bugs! And I'm all done!

3.4 Camryn: I liked The Very Hungry Caterpillar because it's my favorite. I have some caterpillars in my yard. Their backs go up and down. [Points to caterpillar on cover.] I like his back. I love his ears, too! [Points to caterpillar's antennae.] If I was a hungry caterpillar I would eat the cake and ice cream first.

3.8 Mack: I have caterpillars in my yard, you know. My mom found one and she was very colorful and she had a red head and she was so soft and she had little antlers sticking out and she had the legs that she could climb.

4.2 Kaitlyn: I liked the Ladybug book and the Caterpillar book. [The rest of Kaitlyn's commentary relates to the Ladybug book.] I liked the nice one and the grouchy one, because the grouchy one said, "Hey! You want to fight?" The nice one said, "Why don't we share?" And they didn't share. I liked that one [sparrow] because he thinked the bird was too big, but it was too small, but it was really big. That one [elephant] was definitely big. He talked to that one [whale's fin] but it wouldn't talk. I liked that it ended up back where he started.

4.0 Arthur: [Popping into the conversation.] Why did they put the clocks on the ladybug book?

Miss Murphy: Eric Carle used the clocks to take us through the whole day with the ladybug. The clocks let us see what time the ladybug met up with each animal.

3.8 Mack: I really like the Polar Bear book because the polar bear saw the lion. All the kids dressed up like the animals. I like Eric Carle's drawing about the ladybug. I like the caterpillar one because I like his green eyes. I like his legs. This one isn't attached.

CPG Children Weigh In On Eric Carle

In addition to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the CPG children read Eric Carle's "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth and My Tool Belt. The children reacted to their favorites as follows.

4.3 Julianna: I liked the Sloth. I liked it when he was boring. And I liked it when he was hanging upside down. And I liked this [indicates picture] with the monkey and tortoise.

4.8 Ryan:  I liked the Caterpillar best. I liked it because he ate so much food and he was green and that was my favorite color. Mom would like the red and she would say, "Ryan! I have that book!" And that's why I like it.

3.9 Brady D.: I liked the Sloth because him was keep staying right there and because the animals kept coming back and forth. I liked this one best. [Points to Yellow-Spotted River Turtle on the back end papers.]

3.7 Maeve: I liked the Sloth book because of the night. [I asked Maeve which animal was her favorite, and she pointed to the anteater and the caiman. When I asked why, she pointed to the caiman's teeth and said, "Claws!]


3.10 Aiden R.:  I like the Caterpillar because it itches. Polar bears would like that story. If I was a hungry caterpillar I'd eat the watermelon and the cupcake and the candy and the lollipop and the pickle and the cheese and the cake.

4.3 Teagan:  I like Brown Bear best because I saw a bird and a bunny and a dog in there. My favorite animal was the purple cat.

3.6 Aria:  I liked My Apron because I do. I liked the pages. [Indicates end papers.]  I liked this one. [Indicates page with Aunt Elizabeth making an apron for young Eric Carle.] Her making an apron for her. I liked this one. [Indicates page with the house with the incomplete roof.]

This is just a small excerpt. If you're interested in continuing to research your reader, head over to The Picture Book Project.

Mentor Monday: So Many Books, So Little Time

Last Monday, Diane talked about the critical role reading plays in writing development. If you're not doing some professional reading every single day, you're not doing enough professional reading. If you're strapped for time, a good place to start your professional reading is where you started in the first place -- with picture books. You can explore all the elements of what makes a good story, and you'll do it in the time it takes to read 32 short pages. Less than that, really, if you consider several of those pages are taken up with front and back matter.

I ran across a list of the Top 10 Children's Books of 2008 at the Time/CNN website. It was compiled by Amy Lennard Goehner and is made up entirely of picture books. (That fact is a reminder that when civilians hear the term "children's books," they automatically think picture books, which is probably why Goehner limited her list to picture books. A quick Google search found that Goehner actually edited several sports-themed books for middle graders for Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, so she is very much aware that children's literature isn't confined to picture books. Which is neither here nor there. Unless you, as a writer, think only picture books when you think children's books. If that's the case, you might still be a civilian.)

Anyway, I thought you could add these books to the reading lists you're compiling. Not because I necessarily think they're the best books of 2008, but because these books make a good starting point for your list of books to read with a hypercritical eye. Goehner does a good job defending her choices, and it will be interesting to see if you agree with her after reading the books for yourself.

1. The Pencil by Allan Ahlberg and Bruce Ingman
   
2. Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell
3. Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
4. Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton
5. Oodles of Animals by Lois Ehlert
6. Too Many Toys by David Shannon
7. The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
8. Alphabet by Matthew Van Fleet
9. Help Me. Mr. Mutt by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
10. The Umbrella Queen by Shirin Yim Bridges and Taeeun Yoo
    

Make it a goal to read 100 picture books in the month of August, including the 10 from Goehner's list. After, write up your own top 10 list, just to discover what appeals to you personally. Read another 100 in September, then revise the list. Which titles stayed on your list? Which got bumped? Do this each month through December, and you'll have read 500 picture books, which is a good start.

If you're looking for more lists, you'll find a Top 100 Picture Book list at the School Library Journal website. You can also check these out from the National Education Association: Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children compiled in 2007 and Kids' Top 100 Books for Children compiled in 1999. The teachers' list would make for a great discussion (or argument) starter at your next critique group meeting!

NOTE: Why did I include a picture of Duck and Goose by Tad Hills when it's not among the top 10 in any of the lists I've cited? Because it's on my Top 10 Picture Book List, along with these beauties by Audrey and Don Wood.

Mentor Monday: Picture Book Dummy

I hadn't really considered myself a picture book writer, but at one Write Sisters critique session, I suddenly found myself -- with the strong encouragement of the Sisters -- with a possible PB manuscript.

One of the best pieces of advice on how to turn it into a publishable piece was from Kathy Deady. She suggested I make a dummy to get a feel for how my manuscript might appear in a published book.

I took printing paper and folded it into what I thought was the requisite number of pages -- 32 (turns out that''s not exactly true -- I should have done more research!). After that, I printed out a couple copies of my text and started cutting it into bits that I pasted onto the bottom of the pages.

Of course, my little experiment was nothing like how the Sail Away, Little Boat (Carolrhoda Books 2006) eventually turned out. That is okay, however. It helped me start thinking the way a picture book illustrator might.

Among illustrators, there is a debate about how artists (and writers) should think about laying out a PB. One good discussion is here at Drawn: The Illustration and Cartooning Blog. It's one of my favorite go-to blogs for so many reasons. The page I'm sending you to is a discussion of an original post by illustrator Bob Staake


This is Staake's version:

His version isn't necessarily correct, and neither is the version suggested by Drawn reader Michael Johnson. This only shows that it pays to know that there is more than one way publishers lay out picture books.

It's also useful to understand the way illustrators work. Another recommended resource is Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz. Harold Underdown at The Purple Crayon has this to say about the book:

"It's not over-praising this book to say that there's no other book like it, and that it's an unmatched resource for anyone involved with children's book illustration. I've had a copy for several years, and I learn something every time I open it. Of course, I'm an editor, but the illustrators I know tell me the same. That may explain why no other book has come along to replace it, in spite of the fact that one section is mostly out of date."

Some websites will suggest to aspiring PB writers that they submit their PB manuscripts in the form of a dummy. The Write Sisters do not submit their own manuscripts in that format. We submit PB manuscripts in simple manuscript form -- usually just a few pages long, with notes to the illustrator as to how the author 'pictures' the final manuscript.

If you'd like to have fun with dummies and book binding in general, there's a good video at Break.com.

Mentor Monday: Why It Works -- Reading Critically

If you want your writing to sing like Pavarotti, you have to read what you write. I'm not talking about proofreading what you've written, I'm talking about reading within your chosen genre. I've been teaching preschool and accumulating picture books for the last 29 years. Even though I have close to a thousand picture books in my personal collection, I still hit the library or bookstore a few times a month just to read picture books. I'm always on the lookout for books to add to my collection, which doubles as my preschool's library. When Rain Falls written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Constance R. Bergum is my latest purchase.

I initially picked this book up to examine for two reasons. I'm always looking for good read-alouds for story time, and I knew the picture on the cover would speak to my little students. The subject matter, too, would be great for a rainy day story time. Right off the bat I had a visually appealing book with a terrific subject.

The story started in the end papers, with an illustration of a girl and boy in a pastoral setting flying a kite, oblivious to the storm approaching from behind. A page turn to the title page found the children turning to face the storm. The next page turn pictured the children fleeing, holding the kite umbrella-like and laughing as they raced for shelter. Before even reading a word, I was drawn into the story.

The actual text started, "Inside clouds, water droplets budge and bump, crash and clump. The drops grow larger and larger, heavier and heavier until they fall to the earth." Fantastic! I had a science lesson wrapped in a lushly-illustrated story. I read through the rest of the book to see if it was teachy-preachy, which would have been the kiss of death for me. It wasn't, but I did have one little problem, which I'll talk about later. It didn't keep me from buying the book, however. Little problem aside, I knew I had a keeper.

The real test of this book still lay ahead. Would it pass muster with my students? I'm a pretty good judge of what my students will and will not like, and I was sure they'd give this the thumbs up. I must say I was surprised when I read it to them. They didn't like it. They loved it. I read it in all 3 classes I teach, and without exception it was a huge hit. It took looking at it through my students' eyes for me to realize exactly how appealing this book is to preschoolers.

My students range in age from young 3s to almost 6, and that book caught the attention of every last child. Why? Number one, the subject matter is familiar. Children have a frame of reference for rain. Extend that frame of reference to give them an aha moment, and you've got a winner. The aha moment here is that there are animals out there sheltering from the storm. People aren't the only ones who want to get out of the rain. Melissa took something familiar and gave her young readers something new to think about.

Number two, it gives jumping off places for discussion and further exploration. It takes us up into a beehive and down inside an ants' nest. We're left wondering if a spider's carefully built web will survive the storm.

Number three, it creates delicious tension. At one point, a raindrop knocks a ladybug off a flower. "The insect bounces into the air and then tumbles to the ground."

That prompted one of my 4-year old boys to shout, "Did he die?!" He was completely invested in that ladybug.

Which brings me to point number four. It gives the reader something to care about. The children wanted to know what the author wanted to tell them.

Like I said earlier, I only had one problem with the book. As the story unfolds, the reader moves through what appears to be the kite-flying children's world. We start out in their neighborhood where the kids take shelter in a house while the reader moves to the forest, which felt like an extension of the neighborhood. We see squirrels, chickadees, hawks, deer, and foxes, then it's on to a field filled with wildflowers and backyard-type insects. Nothing too exotic here. From there we head over to a wetland with cattails, turtles, whirligig beetles, sparrows and ducks. We could practically walk back to the neighborhood from here.

The next page turn finds us in the desert. Whoa! I've been taken completely out of the story. Where the heck did that rattlesnake come from, to say nothing of the cactus, tarantula, elf owl and spadefoot toad. How did we get geographically so far removed from the kite-flying kids? I understand that Melissa is showing rain in a variety of habitats, but trying to cram as many habitats as possible into one story felt a tad forced. Those kite-flying kids anchor the story in one place, and I found the move to the desert jarring and unnecessary.

It didn't bother my students in the least, probably because they have a limited geographical frame of reference. Or maybe because they're still at an age where magical thinking is the norm (Santa, the tooth fairy, etc.) that moving from mallards to tarantulas was no big deal. It also didn't bother the editor at Peachtree, so it's quite possible it's just a "thing" for me.

That said, it's still a fantastic book and a great example of top-notch creative nonfiction. In fact, it would make a terrific read in the Northeast today where the rain seems to be a permanent resident.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of mine yesterday. She teaches kindergarten and reads at least 2 or 3 picture books every day to her lucky students. Because she's teaching in a very inclusive private school, she has been able to work any and all holidays into the curriculum. Until this year.

Apparently, one of her students is afraid of witches. His mother has insisted that no books featuring a witch character be read to the class. There'll be no Piggie Pie! in that classroom this year. Margie Palatini's Gritch the Witch is going to have to find some other group of kids to delight. That's too bad. Gritch just may have helped that child deal with his witch issues.

I know this mother is well-intentioned, but I don't believe she is doing her little one any favors by screening out the witches. I think that we give our personal demons great power when we close our eyes, cover our ears, and run screaming from them. Face your fears, I say!

In my opinion, when we over-validate a child's fearful reaction, we are telling that child s/he needs to be afraid. S/he needs to be very afraid. That mother could easily turn the fear switch "off" and empower her son. All she needs is a lap and a few thoughtfully chosen picture books. She could start with Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona, and follow up with Julia Donaldson's Room on the Broom. Even though it doesn't feature a witch, I'd recommend reading Linda Williams's The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. Talk about facing your fears! That old woman is chased through the darkening woods by clomping shoes, wiggling pants, a shaking shirt, two clapping white gloves, one nodding black hat, and a pumpkin head. They scared the hell out of her, but she dealt with it. "I am not afraid of you!" With those simple yet powerful words she took control of the fearsome pumpkin head and his disembodied accessories. She directed them to assemble themselves into a scarecrow in her garden. What a completely satisfying ending!

Unless this mother rethinks her approach, this little guy is doomed to live in fear. He'll never get to that satisfying ending, because he isn't allowed to read the book. It has been placed out of his reach.

Now that's scary.

The Power of the Picture Book

I consider 3, 4 and 5-year old children to be "my people." I've spent thousands of hours observing and interacting with them in my classroom at the Hogarth School these last 29 years. They are a source of endless fun, fascination and inspiration for my writing. In fact, the lines between my teaching life and my writing life are so blurred as to be almost nonexistent. My teaching informs my writing, and my writing informs my teaching.

Today was a great day for this teaching writer. It was the first Show-and-Tell day of the school year. Here at Hogarth we call it "Sharing Day," and I'm always curious to see what comes through the door, especially the books. Each month, I can count on at least one or two books being in the treasure trove.

Today 3-year old Arthur brought in one of those search-for-the-hidden pictures books in the Where's Waldo vein, except it tied in with the Disney movie Cars. 4-year old Hayden brought in When I'm Big by Sam McBratney, which I read to the class. They liked it just fine, but were more interested in finding pictures of Lightning McQueen in the Cars book. (How do you compete with Disney and the mass merchandising of Cars?)

The thing that really caught my eye was a globe. Mounted in a highly polished stainless steel (I think) base, the different countries were fashioned from mother-of-pearl, jade, and God knows what other kinds of stone. It was fantastic. One of a kind. I asked Brady, the 3-year old who brought it in, to tell us about it. He immediately spun the globe and found South Korea. "That's where I was born!" He searched out another spot and planted his little 3-year old finger. "That's New Zealand!" I'm not sure what special meaning New Zealand holds for him, but I hope to find out. Another 3-year old, Dev, had shared a dohl drum from India, so we searched out India on the beautiful globe.

I asked Brady if he'd like to tell us anything else before we moved onto the picture John was going to share, and he immediately gave the globe a final spin. Without even having to hunt for it, he jabbed his finger onto Spain. "This is where Ferdinand lives!"

I was flabbergasted. Ferdinand! One of my favorite picture book characters of all time! The fact that this barely 3-year old boy could find Ferdinand's home on the globe speaks to the power of the picture book. (And the power of involved, loving parents.) This little guy connected so strongly with Munro Leaf's classic story of peace and the strength of the individual, that when he was learning about important places in the world, he wanted to learn where Ferdinand lives.

I'll be reading The Story of Ferdinand to my students tomorrow. I can't wait. I really need to thank Brady.

Picture Books for Grownups

I have a theory that writers are either born to be novelists or poets. Novelists like details. Lots of 'em. Poets like to find just the right word. Novelists write novellas, chapter books, and sagas composed of multiple texts. Poets write odes, poems, and...picture books!

The Sistahs will tell you that I've often repeated that I just don't "get" picture books. They are a mystery to me. I feel that they require a kind of magic that I just don't possess. How, I wonder, can a person tell an entire, perfect story in a mere 32 pages? I've tried but somehow my need to include detail after detail soon has me dividing my manuscript into chapters.

But I do hold a certain fondness for certain picture books. I especially like the kind that is written on two levels. Snowflake Bentley is one example. The regular text tells the fascinating story of a man so obsessed with the beauty of individual snowflakes that he works his whole life to find a way to photograph them. Sidebars provide more "adult" commentary and additional facts.

I remember, as a child, reading certain novels over again. Picture books--not so much. Once I learned to read on my own, I was desperate for thick books that would take me away for hours at a time. Rereading a novel not only brought me back to a favorite place but the second and third readings always opened my mind just a bit more. I relished favorite descriptions and didn't jump over the challenging words to get to the end. I knew the end. Now I could savor the journey. Double-layered picture books make me feel the same way.

Recently my daughter gave me a picture book that challenged me

in this way. She gave it to me because it was a Caldecott winner and she knows I like to collect award-winning children's books. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis, is a picture book but as I read it I felt it was not really for children as much as for the 'tween to adult reader. As an artist, Sis has the advantage of designing his pages and his story exactly as he wants. The result is a book that may be difficult for today's children to understand, at first, but will resonate with those of us who grew up learning how to stock a bomb shelter.

Sis includes photos, cartoon-like drawings, as well as excerpts from his childhood journal. Some of the entries show a typical childhood: "I built a scooter that collapsed when my sister, Hana, was riding it downhill. she hates me!" Other entries show what it was like to grow up in a Communist country: "We are all encouraged to get a pen pal in the Soviet Union. I've chosen Volodja in Leningrad. Our letters are graded." And, "We are told that if we see our parents doing wrong, we should report them."

Even as a child artist, Sis is told what he should draw and paint:"After drawing whatever he wanted to at home, he drew what he was told to at school. He drew tanks. He drew wars."

There is a happy ending, of course, because this is a picture book, after all: "On November 9, 1989, the wall fell." I think of the adults, like me, who read this book, and remember. More importantly, I think of the immigrant children who may read this story and have hope.