Writing Children's Books For Dummies. Peter Economy

as can It’s Not the Stork: A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends, by Robie H. Harris, illustrated by Michael Emberley (Candlewick).

      American Girl Publications has a few great entries that deal with puberty, such as The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls, by Valorie Lee Schaefer, and Help! The Absolutely Indispensable Guide to Life for Girls, by Nancy Holyoke (both Pleasant Company Publications). Or try From Boys to Men: All About Adolescence and You, by Michael Gurian and Brian Floca (Price Stern Sloan).

      Educational books for children aren’t limited to sex education. The environment is on everyone’s minds these days (refer to Figure 3-16), so kids want to explore the subject that everyone is talking about. You can write an educational book about any topic imaginable. You just need an interest in a topic and a zest for making facts as interesting and fun as possible so that you don’t lose your reader’s attention.

      

New writers often make the mistake of belittling the intelligence of their audience by talking down to them or preaching at them. No matter what you aim to teach your readers, make sure you keep the tone fun and the material interesting. You have to convey what you, as an author, think or expect through the information you relate and not through expressed opinions.

The publisher Treasure Bay developed a category in leveled reading called the We Both Read series (developed for the educational market but available in the mass market). In these books (shown in Figure 3-17), one page contains more elevated language for the parent to read aloud while the opposite page gives the child appropriate-leveled language to read themselves. With titles in both fiction and nonfiction, these books encourage both learning to read and parent-child interaction. We think the series provides a pretty remarkable way for parents and kids to bond over reading and books.

      Reprinted courtesy of Treasure Bay, Inc.

FIGURE 3-17: The We Both Read series.

      Religion

      Religion as a genre includes stories related to the Bible, biblical characters, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and any other religious affiliation and its attendant holidays, characters, or tenets. This genre permeates nearly every format of books — from board books to Bible story compilations for the middle grades. Religious diversity is also covered in school curricula, so textbooks often include excerpts from titles focusing on these issues — an added source of revenue for authors.

      Books that fall into this genre include Maria Shriver’s What’s Heaven? (Golden Books Adult Publishing) and Bryn Barnard’s The Genius of Islam (Knopf Books for Young Readers).

      Aspirational and inspirational

The dictionary definition of aspirational involves having a desire to achieve a high level of success. In a child’s world, it means hoping that you can figure out how to do something or focusing on what you want to do when you grow up. Children always aspire to achieve different things in their lives. Some want to figure out how to ride a bicycle. Others want to play a sport like a favorite sports star, or emulate a certain celebrity or social media influencer. Whatever you look forward to doing is aspirational. Figure 3-18 shows a title that delves into how creativity is something we can all aspire to.

      From When Pencil Met the Markers by Karen Kilpatrick and Luis O. Ramos, Jr.; illustrated by German Blanco. Copyright © 2020 by German Blanco, Karen Kilpatrick, and Luis O. Ramos Jr. Reprinted by permission of Imprint, a part of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

      FIGURE 3-18: When Pencil Met the Markers, an aspirational story.

Inspirational books are usually those that have a message about how someone got to be great at something. A rescued dog who saves a child from a fire, a detective who investigates and solves crimes, a person who leads a movement — these are all inspirational topics. They inspire children to do great things in their own lives. Biographies and memoirs can often fall in the inspirational genre. Even books about religion can be inspirational. Children generally are moved by stories about people who stand out and make an impact (such as the book about women’s rights in Japan, shown in Figure 3-19).

      From No Steps Behind. Text copyright © 2020 Jeff Gottesfeld. Illustrations copyright © 2020 Shiella Witanto. Reprinted by permission.

      FIGURE 3-19: No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan, an inspiring story.

      Diversity

The genre that focuses on diversity (formerly referred to as multicultural in publishing) can really pull in a child audience. Publishers want writers who have been traditionally marginalized or whose culture, background, race, or sexual orientation gives them insight into issues of diversity in a unique way. Referred to as #ownvoices in publishing, publishers want to bring the voices of writers from all over the world who’ve had experiences that make them the ideal spokesperson for an issue, such as the picture book and middle-grade book about diversity shown in Figure 3-20.

      

You may be tempted to write about a culture that’s not your own. But the controversy over the adult novel American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummings (Flatiron Books), demonstrates that writers can sometimes face a backlash and be accused of cultural appropriation, even if they’re not writing an educational book. In Cummings’ book, a New York Times bestseller, she wrote about a Latinx woman who has to flee Acapulco to make her way to North America. Cummings was severely criticized over the fact that she’s not a Latinx writer, so she wasn’t writing about experiences she herself had. Is this fair? The glowing reviews her book received across the board, and the fact that Oprah chose her for her book club, did not douse the fire.

      a) From book covers/jackets published by Abrams Books/Magination Press/American Psychological Association. Used by permission of Harry N. Abrams, New York. All rights reserved. May Your Life Be Deliciosa text © 2021 Michael Genhart. Illustrations © 2021 Loris Lora. b) Cady and the Bear Necklace cover reprinted by permission of the author. © 2019 Ann Dallman.

      FIGURE 3-20: Dealing with diversity.

If you choose to write about cultures not your own (call it cultural appreciation), keep in mind that people of that culture might get offended if you don’t get it exactly right. So research your heart out and get a sensitivity reader (someone who checks the sensitive issues in the book, which we talk about in Chapter 7) in that culture or field to make sure that your book rings true.

      Family issues