Children’s Writing Web Journal - a blog about writing children's books

Children’s Writing Web Journal

From the editors of Children’s Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children’s Writers


Since 1990, Children's Book Insider has helped a
generation of children's writers find success. Let us help you!
Click here for special offer and to learn about our incredible new children's writing community!


Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-31

August 31st, 2010 by Jon

Welcome! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. We'll be updating the blog on a daily basis, with plenty of exclusive tips, articles and goodies for aspiring children's book writers. So why not subscribe now and have easy access any time you'd like!

  • Meet a wonderful wordsmith, singer & songwriter: Frank Turner http://amplify.com/u/9goz #
  • The Joys of (Slightly) Subversive Children’s Books #kidlit #kidslit #childrensbooks http://bit.ly/bXgnDR #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

The Joys of (Slightly) Subversive Children’s Books

August 30th, 2010 by Laura

Ever since Max went on a wild rumpus in 1963 in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, picture books have quietly ventured away from stories of sweet, happy, safe childhoods into more subversive territory. Sure, plenty of gentle, value inspired books still line the shelves (and some of them are quite good), but tucked between the tales of liking yourself just the way you are and comforting bedtime stories young children can journey to imaginative, exciting and sometimes scary places. Places where no grown-ups are allowed.

When I tell people that I teach children’s book writing classes, the response is often, “That’s good, because there are so many bad children’s books out there.” I used to agree, but I’ve come to learn that as long as a book has a big enough audience to justify keeping it in print, it deserves a place on the shelves. That’s because everyone’s definition of “bad” is different. Personally, I hate picture books whose sole purpose is to teach children a lesson or moral. It’s as if kids don’t deserve to be entertained, but simply preached to. The worst are books written by celebrity authors, who think because their names are household words they have the authority to tell kids how to behave. To top it off, the books almost never follow the standards of good writing editors require of their lesser-known authors. But a few publishers and a lot of adults have determined these books are “good” enough to buy. And so they exist.

My favorite books operate outside the box. They offer a new way of looking at the world; they don’t tell a child what to think but show a child how to think. They acknowledge all the emotions of childhood, from anger to pride to fear to silliness. It takes a special dedication to write this kind of book for the youngest children. These are the kids parents most want to protect, and who adults most want to control. Some adults are afraid of books that allow young readers to think like kids as opposed to grown-ups in training. And so I greatly admire the new crop of forward-thinking picture book creators. Here’s a sampling:

Big Momma Makes the World by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury (Candlewick, 2002). What if the world was created by a woman? And what if that woman brought forth the light and the dark, the sea and the sky, with a baby on her hip and the laundry piling up in the corner? Root’s Mama is a no-nonsense Earth Mother who makes the planet for her baby to crawl upon and people to swap stories with while she’s sitting on her front porch. When they got out of line, she admonishes “Better straighten up down there,” but most of the time she smiles and says, “That’s good. That’s real good.”

This book is not for every family, especially if it conflicts with religious beliefs. And that’s fine, because no book can be perfect for all children. But I love that’s it’s out there delightfully pushing boundaries for anyone who wants to read it. The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by David McKean (Harper, 2003). Lucy is sure the sounds she hears in the walls of her old house are wolves. But her family doesn’t believe her: “You know what they say…If the wolves come out of the walls, then it’s all over.” But Lucy’s right, and one night a pack of wolves clamors through the walls, forcing Lucy’s family to flee to the garden. After two nights outside the family’s had enough, and Lucy leads them to the house where they creep into the walls and watch the wolves destroy their home with a wild party. Finally the family bursts through the walls, scaring the wolves away. Life returns to normal after several days of clean-up, but then Lucy hears other sounds one night, “…exactly like an elephant trying not to sneeze.” Should she tell her family? No, they’ll find out soon enough.

This book, with its dark, surreal illustrations, is too scary for many kids. But older picture book readers who like to be spooked will love it. I appreciate that the message is not the pragmatic “Don’t let your imagination run away with you,” but rather “Sometimes, your worst fears will come true. But you’ll be able to handle it.”

Achoo! Bang! Crash! The Noisy Alphabet by Ross MacDonald (Roaring Brook Press, 2003). An alphabet book that begs to be shouted out loud, each letter is expressed through sounds that match humorous illustrations. “M” is depicted by a huge Meow! coming from a small cat, while a frightened cow runs off uttering a smaller Moo! “N” is NO! yelled by a father as his blindfolded son tries to pin the tail of a donkey on dad’s back side instead of the poster. “O” is the boy’s OH! and oops! while watching Dad yell OW… and stagger off in pain, tail firmly in place.

Little triumphs over big in this book, often at the expense of adults. Preschoolers will appreciate the physical humor that sometimes borders on naughty, as in the illustration of an exposed rear end of a lion tamer after the lion removes his clothes with a ROAR! and a RIP! The words, set in 19th Century wood type and printed on a handpress, give the art a nostalgic feel reminiscent of old circus and “Wanted” posters.

The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathmann (Putnam, 2003). A proud mother recalls the day her child (who looks to be four or five years old) saved a group of babies when they crawled away from their parents who were occupied by a pie-eating contest. The babies chased butterflies over a hill, explored a cave filled with bats, and got stuck in a tree while imitating birds. The savior wisely fed the babies a snack of blackberries and dew and let them nap in a pile before returning them to their worried parents. The black silhouette figures against a technicolor sky allow any child to imagine him or herself in the place of the brave young child in a firefighter’s hat.

While this book doesn’t shout “subversive,” when I first read it I could imagine parents gasping at the thought of a story depicting helpless babies wandering around unsupervised, or munching on berries growing in the wild. But rather than scare children, I think this book empowers them. Kids know when they’re entering the world of make-believe, and every preschooler deserves to fancy him or herself a hero once in a while.


Interested in learning how to write a book and send it to children’s book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in writing tips Tags: children's books | easy readers | picture books
2 Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-26

August 26th, 2010 by Jon

  • Submitting to Children’s Book Publishers: 3 Steps to Avoiding Rejection Letters *http://amplify.com/u/97uf #
  • Submitting to Children’s Book Publishers: 3 Steps to Avoiding Rejection Letters http://amplify.com/u/97uf #
  • The Cheap & Easy Way To Digitize Your Vinyl - and Have It Sound Great - Rock and Roll Tribe *http://amplify.com/u/97ud #
  • The Cheap & Easy Way To Digitize Your Vinyl - and Have It Sound Great - Rock and Roll Tribe http://amplify.com/u/97ud #
  • How to Raise a Rock & Roll Kid *http://amplify.com/u/97ua #
  • How to Raise a Rock & Roll Kid http://amplify.com/u/97ua #
  • Are You Writing In The Most Efficient Way Possible? | Get Paid to Write Online *http://amplify.com/u/97u8 #
  • 11 tip-filled articles about marketing and promoting your nonfiction book *http://amplify.com/u/97u7 #
  • Are You Writing In The Most Efficient Way Possible? | Get Paid to Write Online http://amplify.com/u/97u8 #
  • 11 tip-filled articles about marketing and promoting your nonfiction book http://amplify.com/u/97u7 #
  • Turn your ebooks into physical CDs http://amplify.com/u/97u2 #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-10

August 10th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-08 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-06 - Just posted:… http://ow.ly/18v9T6 #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-09

August 9th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-07 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-05 - Just posted:… http://ow.ly/18ud3j #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-08

August 8th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-06 - Just posted: Wow - Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books t… http://ow.ly/18tybX #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-07

August 7th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-05 - Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-03 - Fightin’ Boo… http://ow.ly/18sPq2 #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-06

August 6th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Wow - Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books. http://ow.ly/18rSxA #
  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-04 - Just posted: Submitting to Children’s Book Publishers: 3 Steps t… http://ow.ly/18rSxB #
  • Google Counts 129,864,880 Books in the World http://amplify.com/u/8dux #
  • Book Trailers, as Easy as One, Two, Three http://amplify.com/u/8duu #
  • The Three-Step Guide to Getting More Blog Traffic by Writing Less http://amplify.com/u/8dup #
  • Wow - Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books. http://amplify.com/u/8dtd #
  • Find Self-Publishing Success With a Niche Market http://amplify.com/u/8dtb #
  • Free Online Writers Conference now accepting registrations http://amplify.com/u/8dt9 #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-05

August 5th, 2010 by Jon

  • Just posted: Jon’s Twitter Updates for 2010-08-03 - Fightin’ Bookworms -August’s Children’s Book Insider, the Newsle… http://ow.ly/18qXxA #

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in Uncategorized Tags: jon | tweets | twitter
No Comments »

Wow - Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books.

August 5th, 2010 by Jon

From their press release:

# Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books. Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the Company has sold 180 Kindle books. This is across Amazon.com’s entire U.S. book business and includes sales of hardcover books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.

# Amazon sold more than 3x as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 as in the first half of 2009.

# The Association of American Publishers’ latest data reports that e-book sales grew 163 percent in the month of May and 207 percent year-to-date through May. Kindle book sales in May and year-to-date through May exceeded those growth rates.

# On July 6, Hachette announced that James Patterson had sold 1.14 million e-books to date. Of those, 867,881 were Kindle books.

# Five authors–Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts–have each sold more than 500,000 Kindle books.

Stunning stuff. It’s always scary to be in the midst of an upheaval — and make no mistake, this is an upheaval — but when the dust clears, I believe we’ll be entering a great time for authors.

Full release here

Share/Save/Bookmark

Posted in business of publishing Tags: amazon | ebooks | kindle | publishing
1 Comment »
« Previous Entries
  • Subscribe Now!

     

  • Visit the Home of the Fightin’ Bookworms!  

  • Follow Jon & Laura on Twitter
    Get Instant Tips & Breaking News!

     

  • Sign Up Now For Our Free Info-Packed eZine and receive our eBook Getting Started Writing Children's Picture Books as a free gift!

    Just enter your e-mail address and click the button. (We respect your privacy: Your info is never rented, traded or sold.)



  • Categories

    • authors
    • Blog Posts of the Day
    • business of publishing
    • events
    • freebies
    • interviews
    • Uncategorized
    • videos
    • web resources
    • Write4Kids Podcast
    • writing tips
    • young adult
  • Archives

    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
  • From Write4Kids.com

    • Children’s Book Insider Newsletter
    • Children’s Book Insider newsletter
    • The CBI Clubhouse Children’s Writing Community
    • Writing Children’s Books Blog
  • Industry & Readers' Blogs

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
    • A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Patchwork of Books
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby the Librarian
    • Big A, Little a
    • Blog Catalog
    • Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market Blog
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • ShelfTalker: A Children’s Bookseller’s Blog
  • Instructional Blogs

    • Highlights Foundation Tips Page
    • Writer’s First Aid
  • Weblogs by Children's Authors

    • Anastasia Suen’s Blog
    • Carma’s Window
    • Children’s Illustration
    • Cynsations
    • Gottawrite Girl
    • Grow Wings
    • Hip Writer Mama
    • The Longstockings
  • Top Blogs


Children’s Writing Web Journal is proudly powered by WordPress
Pure WP Theme by Celestial Star
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). Wordpress Template