creative writing for children's books

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Last updated on Aug 02, 2023

How to Write a Children’s Book Families Will Love (+Template)

Many authors' dream is to write a children's book, and to inspire young minds with heartfelt stories and playful imagination. Many assume that writing for kids is easier, but writing great children's literature is no easy feat, especially if you're brand-new to the game.

In this post, we cover everything you need to know about writing a children's book, borrowing insights from experienced children's book editors like Anna Bowles, Jennifer Rees, Cara Stevens, and others. 

How to write a children’s book in 8 steps: 

1. Start with a simple, fun idea

2. cast a relatable main character, 3. structure your plot like a fairy tale, 4. consider repetition and rhyme, 5. make the story easy to follow, 6. write with illustrations in mind, 7. work with a children’s editor, 8. get an illustrator to add some visual magic.

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The best picture books are simple stories that engage children, and show them a fun or valuable perspective. Think about Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham : the whole story premise is that the main character, Sam-I-Am, tries to convince his friend, a picky eater, to try green eggs and ham. It engages children with something relatable 一 being reluctant to try new foods 一 and it shows that perhaps it’s not so bad to give it a try.

If there’s one thing that most classic picture books have in common, it’s that they look at the world from a child’s perspective. 

Address children’s hopes and doubts

It can help to write your story with a specific child in mind — one you know personally. If you are a parent, a teacher, or have dealt with kids personally, think of them as you write your story. Connect with the way they experience life and the things they value. Remember the sorts of things that make them laugh. 

Most importantly, consider what’s compelling to them. Maybe your story can address some of their fears and doubts, or evoke their most cherished moments. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes is about a little mouse who’s concerned about all kinds of things — especially starting school. The story reflects an anxiety many children experience and provides a hopeful message that things will be okay. 

Dianne Ochiltree’s picture book It's a Firefly Night tells the story of a girl who catches fireflies in a jar on a warm summer night, but ultimately makes the decision to release them. This is an experience many kids will relate to 一 and will make them feel good as our young hero learns to care for and respect the little creatures around her. 

But before you run with your story idea, it’s important to validate its market potential.

Know which themes are selling right now

Try to assess what's working in the marketplace already, and if your book idea fits in. What are the most popular picture book themes?  

As long-time children’s book editor Brooke Vitale points out, the most popular picture book concepts haven’t massively changed over the years. “Across the board, the top-selling themes for picture books have been bedtime, farm, and ABC.” This is because they’re subjects kids can relate to: bedtime rituals, farm animals and their sounds, and learning to read.

“Also high on the list have been holidays, in particular Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, and the reason for this is because they're marketable.” By marketable, Vitale means that these sorts of picture books are ones that people could easily buy as gifts for children. 

Some smaller holidays are on the rise too, like Mother's and Father’s Day, as well as graduation celebrations. But you don’t have to tie your story too closely to the specific holiday you’re targeting 一 a Mother’s Day book can be about a mother-and-daughter relationship, or a graduation title can be an aspirational tale set around education, making the story evergreen and relevant year-round. 

There are always new themes bursting onto the scene, like empowerment or mindfulness, which you can tap into to bring fresh stories to market. For example, in The Princess and the Pizza , Mary Jane Auch subverts the classic princess story: instead of accepting her fate and marrying into another royal family, Princess Paulina becomes a self-sufficient founder of a pizza empire. And of course, this idea ingeniously combines three things that many children love: princesses, carbs, and cheese.

Once you’ve landed on a great story idea, don’t forget that you’ll need a memorable lead character.

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The most iconic children's book characters have distinct and relatable personalities. Think of Leo Lionni’s Frederick, a field mouse whose fondness for poetry and art is seen as distracting from his family’s efforts to gather supplies for winter. Or take Jim Panzee from Suzanne Lang’s Grumpy Monkey , another outsider who struggles with his “bad temper” while everyone around him is having fun 一 something many kids will relate to. 

Whether your main character is a child, robot, animal, or sentient gas cloud, what matters is that they feel real — with specific abilities and challenges.

Define their strengths and flaws

Young readers don’t want to read about perfect heroes, but rather characters they recognize. Memorable characters should come with their own fully realized strengths, weaknesses, conflicts, and motivations that make them compelling to their young readers. 

To help you create great new characters, we have some additional resources for you:

• A list of character development exercises to test your knowledge of your characters.
• A free 10-day course on developing memorable characters , taught by a successful professional editor.

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

Besides being relatable in their behavior, your main character should have their own sets of dreams and desires — and the willpower to realize them.  

Give them agency to reach their goals

If there’s a younger character in your book, it’s usually their story you should be telling. It should be about their dreams, and they should be the ones making decisions that drive the narrative forward. 

As Reedsy Children's editor Anna Bowles suggests, don’t forget who the heroes are. “A lot of beginners write about children as we adults often see them: as cute and slightly comical little beings. But what children actually want is stories where they are the heroes, driving the action, facing challenges, and making choices.”

Patrick Picklebottom and the Penny Book is the story of a young boy who goes to buy his favorite book. On the way home, his friends invite him to fly a drone, play video games, or scroll through social media — but he declines and gets home to read instead. In real life, a child might have a parent giving them advice, but in the book, it’s Patrick himself calling the shots. He buys the book, he says no to the various temptations, and he gets himself home to read it.  

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Once you’ve got a great story and some interesting characters, it’s time to consider your story structure. 

Even within the word limits of children’s books, you need to create a satisfying story arc that captivates young readers from the very start, takes them on an exciting journey, and culminates in a gratifying and memorable conclusion. One way to achieve this arc is to think of your story as a simple question and answer.

Ground your premise in a simple question

Picture book editor Cara Stevens , who in her long career has written and edited for Nickelodeon, Disney, and Sesame Street, believes that every story should begin with a dilemma and end with a resolution. “There's usually a question: Will Mr. Frumble get his hat? Why doesn't Priscilla like chocolate? Why doesn't Elmo want to go to the dentist? These questions are a vital point in diagnosing your story or giving it direction when you're not sure where it's going.”

📼 Watch the Reedsy Live in which Cara Stevens reveals the 20 questions that can help picture book authors turn their ideas into finished manuscripts.

Once you’ve identified the story-driving question, you then want the character to face some challenges and doubts. 

Add conflict to the mix

Novels are often about characters dealing with a challenge, and how they change as a result of it. Children’s books are no different. Even in the simplest of narratives, the character should grow and learn something by overcoming internal and external conflicts .  

In Richard Scarry’s Be Careful, Mr. Frumble! , the title character goes on a walk on a windy day and his hat is whisked away by the wind. Will he get it back? After chasing it through trains, trees, and the sea, he does. Despite the initial worry, he finds that he’s grateful for the fun that losing his hat brought with it. 

Or think again of Patrick Picklebottom, who just wants to read his book: his conflict is created by his friends’ requests to do other things. By the time he reaches home, he has learned to say no and prioritize what he values most.   

Whatever journey you set your characters on, it’ll have to fit within the standard picture book’s length.

Keep it under 30 pages

It’s easy to fall in love with your story and characters and find yourself overwriting as a result. Children's books have rather standard lengths, depending on their type, and it’s important to try and stick to them to ensure your book is readable for your target audience. 

The average word count for a standard picture book falls between 400 and 800, with a length of 24 or 32 pages. The page count includes the copyright and dedication page , as well as your author bio , which means your story has to be told within 30 pages or less. With so little room, you’ll have to be mindful of the number of characters you introduce and the number of plot points they will encounter.    

At this point, you have a lot of story elements cooking and a structure to mix them in. But before you do that, you’ll want to think about the secret ingredient — style. 

Picture books often feature repetition, rhythm, and rhyme. These literary devices add a musicality to books, making them a pleasure to read or listen to. Children will want to have their favorite stories read to them repeatedly, so parents will greatly appreciate it if the words fall trippingly off their tongues when doing so. 

🤔 Should your picture book rhyme? Listen to editor and children's author Tracy Gold's opinion on Reedsy Live .

Let’s have a closer look at why repetition and rhyme are so common in kids’ books.

Repetition facilitates understanding

You can use different types of repetition in picture books, such as for words, entire sentences, or sounds. You can use it to structure your story, pace it, or reinforce a certain point or concept. When executed well, it can create a nice build-up that kids can pick up and easily follow.

The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith uses repetition in a few different ways. It starts with the narrator walking down the road and spotting a donkey. The first sentence is repeated in every scene, along with the donkey sound (Hee Haw!) Then it adds a line describing the donkey 一 its appearance, mood, and music taste (a sort of donkey dad joke). But that’s not all: each scene adds a short, rhyming description of the donkey, which, as the book progresses, keeps building up into an amusing climax.  

Building the story incrementally through repetition and rhyme can be powerful. But remember, it’s not compulsory — and not all rhymes are created equal. 

Not all picture books rhyme

In recent years, many children’s book editors have advised against rhyming in your book. That’s because it’s quite difficult to rhyme well, and children's book agents are able to spot a bad or derivative rhyme from a mile away. That said, if you’re a master of the perfectly unexpected rhyme and you think your book demands them, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go for it. 

Llama Llama Red Pajama is packed with rhymes from start to finish. It’s a simple story of a cria (that’s a baby llama!) waiting for their mother to comfort them at bedtime. The story’s simplicity and very short lines are perhaps some of the reasons it works so well.   

If you’re writing in verse and rhyme, always read it aloud. Ask yourself if it feels forced, excessive, or awkward in any way, and whether the rhyme contributes to building the story. If it doesn’t sound quite right, you can always see what it’s like without the rhyming.

According to writer and editor Jennifer Rees , you can sometimes achieve even better results without forcing it. “So often, I get some really sing-songy stuff that forces the reader into a rhythm that people think is fun — but in truth, it just drags on. 

“There are so many gorgeously written picture books that do not rhyme but they just sound beautiful. Someone has really paid attention to how the lines read and how each and every single word sounds when you read it out loud.” 

There are also a few more literary choices to consider as you write your story…

Your core audience is at a crucial stage of their mental development and is currently mastering basic literacy skills. This calls for a few considerations as you write and edit your children’s book .

Start the story quickly

Even at the best of times, kids have limited attention spans. It's essential that you jumpstart the action with some sort of hook in the first few pages. This ‘hook’ could come in the form of an intriguing character or an inciting incident . 

The inciting incident of Dr. Seuss’s classic The Cat in the Hat , as you might recall, is an intriguing character. After setting up a scene with two bored siblings, Seuss introduces a mysterious cat who invites himself into their home. Is the cat good or bad? Should he stay or should he go? The reader understands that the cat brings chaos with him, and the story is set in motion. 

Once the story has started, it’s just as important to maintain a good pace. Each scene should ideally act as a little hook that builds the tempo or raises the stakes until the story's resolution.

Another important thing to consider is your choice of words. 

Use age-appropriate vocab

There are many great places to show off your bombastic grandiloquence, but a kid’s book is not one of them. Children won't be impressed by four-syllable words — they'll only be confused by them. That said, children's editor Jenny Bowman often tells her authors that, when used intentionally and sparingly, the occasional big word can be welcome. “Children are smarter than you think, and context can be a beautiful teacher.” 

To figure out the most fitting vocabulary for your story you can read other books for kids in your age group, or browse famous word sets for early readers, like the Fry and Dolch lists or the Children’s Writer Word Book , which feature the most commonly used words for children’s books depending on their age. 

It’s not just the vocabulary that needs a double-check. Also consider your characters, their behaviors, and the environments they inhabit 一 they should all be tailored to resonate with a child’s life experience. A talking eagle who’s a corporate lawyer working on a big M&A case might not be as relatable as a little mouse on her first day at school.  

To know if you’re on the right track, the best thing you can do is road-test your early drafts with their intended audience.

Ask a child what they think

Read your story out loud to children and parents in your social circle. Pay attention to how it sounds with an audience, and whether it invokes an emotional response. Kids are usually pretty honest, so their feedback will be some of the most valuable you’ll receive. 

Aim for a few rounds of reactions, and incorporate their suggestions as much as possible. Only once you have thumbs-ups from your young beta readers should you begin to think about your next step, which is to start combining your words with powerful visuals. 

In contrast to many other types of books, where words alone are sufficient to tell a story, in picture books text and illustrations complement each other to create a more immersive experience. Whether you’re planning to bring in an illustrator or pick up a pen and brush yourself, you should always be thinking of pictures when you’re drafting your manuscript

Think in terms of scenes

Think of your book like a (very) short movie. Every time you flip a page, you enter a new scene that holds the potential to surprise your young readers. To achieve this effect, consider placing your surprises strategically on the other side of page turns. 

To help you visualize the flow of your story and its pacing, try using a storyboard template to mock up your visuals and match your text to the right scenery.

Children's Book Storyboard Template

Bring your picture book to life with our 32-page planning template.

Let the visuals do the talking

When self-editing your manuscript, try to cut unnecessary sentences and let the visuals do the talking instead (by showing, instead of telling .) There’s no need to squander your precious word count describing the weather or a character’s clothes if the pictures can do the same. So instead of writing them into your manuscript, include those details in your art notes so that your illustrator will know precisely how to represent them. 

Once you’ve written and rewritten your children’s story, consider bringing on board a children’s book editor to polish it further. 

If you've gotten feedback, self-edited extensively, and still feel your children's book isn't quite there, consider hiring a professional children's editor . Their years of experience will both improve your storytelling and make sure that your book is ready for the market.

Fortunately, we have the best children's editors right here on Reedsy, many of whom have worked with major authors like Daisy Meadows (author of the Rainbow Magic series) and R.L. Stine!

Make your story sing

Work with a professional children’s book editor to take your book to the next level.

There are two types of picture book editors you may be looking for:

Developmental editors. These editors will look at your story’s backbone, from characters and settings, to the story plot and concept, and make sure it’s solid and ready for the market. They will also comment on whether you used rhyme and repetition wisely, if you need to change the time frame or point-of-view, and suggest other potential improvements.  

Copy editors. The copy editor will correct your typos, spelling, and grammar, assess your choice of words, and make comments to ensure your text is perfectly polished. 

Very often, you can find a single editor to handle both services — they’ll give your book a developmental edit, provide any notes for revising your draft, then copy-edit the manuscript once you’ve made the changes.

Read our post on children’s book costs to find out the average price for each service. If you’re self-publishing, there’s one important part of your budget you’ll want to put aside: that would be to hire a skilled illustrator to bring your words to life.  

If you want to publish your book traditionally, don’t bother looking for an illustrator. It will be handled by the company who will represent your work, as they prefer to be in charge of that. Just prepare your picture book query letter and start pitching agents. 

If instead you’re self-publishing your picture book , you’ll have to locate your very own Quentin Black. We wrote an in-depth guide on how to hire a children’s book illustrator , but one of the most important points is to determine your ideal illustration style.

Dazzle children with design

Enchant kids and their caregivers with a professionally designed book.

Identify the visual style for your book

What style best captures the mood and world of your story? Perhaps your book is for very young readers, who will enjoy bright, bold, and graphic illustrations. Perhaps you’re aiming at a slightly older audience, who’ll appreciate whimsical characters and a more muted color palette.

Each illustrator brings a distinct touch to their human characters, from intricate linework to striking realism, edgy designs to gentle human-like figures. You’ll have plenty of options to choose from, depending on what you’ve envisioned for your book. 

To find your ideal professional, gather a range of references to make sure you have ample inspiration and “mentor texts” to refer back to. Browse through your favorite kids' books, or the portfolios of some professionals, and identify what you like — and, perhaps just as importantly, anything you definitely don’t like. This post on 20 children’s book illustrators will be a helpful jumping-off point in finding visual references and the vocabulary to describe what you’re looking for.

While some artists might welcome a challenge, and enjoy trying out a new style, the best way to guarantee results that you like is to find an artist whose style already matches your vision fairly closely — rather than asking them to fit a square peg into a round hole.

And there you have it! Once you've completed these steps, you'll have a completed children's book ready for publication. Make sure to check out our guide on how to publish your children’s book for more information on how to get your story in the hands (and hearts) of your young readers.

6 responses

10/02/2019 – 10:53

Where can I listen to my target audience if the kids around me don't speak English?

↪️ Reedsy replied:

11/02/2019 – 09:08

Thanks to the internet, that's not so much of a problem anymore. Social media and online communities can make it a lot easier to find your ideal audience. Check out this post we wrote about target markets from children's books: https://blog.reedsy.com/childrens-books-target-markets/

Jeff Dearman says:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

There's also newer illustrators looking to get their foot in the door who might be willing to help for relatively cheap compared to the more establish artists the more establish artists will want a lot more $$$$ , so look around. if youre on college campus or recent grad and know some illustrators or a friend or family member who does great art. ask them . Offer like $100-300 for black and white story boards and maybe a couple colored cover designs or what not and give them full authority and ownership over the art and development of the characters. Once the work is done maybe offer them a bonus if they do good work. There's plenty of newer illustrators with extremely good talent who are looking for opportunities.

You can also go to places like the New England film board and or other boards or even reddit and put out a post saying you're looking for an illustrator interested in getting material for their portfolio and offer them the ability to develop the characters etc. and such and offer lke a couple hundred bucks for sketches/character storyboards. - also state you'll put them into a writers' contract and split any royalties once the time comes if the book is susccessfl and write out an agreement you both sign. and agree to.

Penelope Smith says:

24/08/2019 – 04:32

Writing a children's book does seem like it could be tricky. I liked that you pointed out that you should look at that an illustrator past work. Also, it seems like a good thing to consider asking them to draw a sample page for the book. After all, you would want to check they draw in a style you like.

Sjsingh says:

20/11/2019 – 14:04

"pug"book writer Sharma is said a sardaarni, she is not a "Kaur", Kaur can be said as sardaarni. And what a mockery she has done for tying pug, real sardaarni never can dare to do that. Pug is very respectful in Sikhs and many other cast too, and she has made it joke, she has done very wrong to the sentiments and feelings of many Indians. And you have any humanity you should Apologize for this heart breaking act , Publisher has done not less than you. Have you ever thought , write a book on tying a saari or lungi in same style and illustration used in "pug"?

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How to Write a Children’s Book in 12 Steps (From an Editor)

As a children’s book editor, I’ve helped hundreds of authors write, edit and publish their children’s book.

Anyone can sit down and dash out a children’s book, and with a little help and guidance, yours can be good enough to earn the attention of thousands of children.

And nothing beats the feeling of holding your printed book in your hands and reading it to a child for the first time.  Follow these 12 steps and you’ll get there in no time.

In this article you’ll learn:

• How to generate a concept that works
• How to create a main character that children love
• How to write the right length
• How to structure the plot
• How to work with an illustrator
• How to revise
• How to publish

I also help authors with:

• Publishing their children’s book (with Bookfox Press)
• Editing their children’s book (big picture feedback, not just correcting commas)

Lastly, you can read this whole post and get a decent understanding of how to write a children’s book, but if you want the full, in-depth experience with even more information, videos, PDFs, quizzes, and exercises, you can take my 30-video course on how to write a children’s book:

Online Course: “Two Weeks To Your Best Children’s Book.”

Okay, buckle up and get ready! These are the 12 steps to writing a children’s book.

1. Find Your Best Idea

You probably have an idea already, but you should work on refining it. Here’s how:

• Google “children’s book” and a phrase that describes your book.
• Once you’ve found books that are similar, look at the summary of those books.
• Figure out how your book is different than the published ones.

This might seem commonsense to check what’s already out there before putting all your time and energy into a book, but so many authors don’t do it! This is just basic research that you can do in 2 minutes that will give you a sense of competing books.

When I lead most authors through this process, they discover that their idea has already been written about. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing — actually, it’s proof that children want to read about their topic!

The trick is to have one twist for your story that makes it different. If it’s a story about bullying, perhaps your book tells the story from the point of view of the bully! Or if it’s a story about a dog, make this dog a stray or blind in one eye.

Maybe your story is different because you have a surprise at the end, or maybe it’s different because it’s for an older or younger age group, or your character has a magical guide like a fairy or elf to lead them through their journey. Just add one twist that distinguishes it from other books.

2. Build the Character

I edit hundreds of children’s books every year, and the best books have unique characters. They are quirky in some way. They have a funny habit. They look strange. They talk differently than everyone else.

But when I see a book where the main character is indistinguishable from every child, that worries me. You don’t want a character who stands in for every child, you want a main character that feels REAL.

My advice would be to go through a Character Questionnaire and figure out how much you know about your character:

• What does your main character desire?
• What is their best/worst habit?
• Are they an extrovert or introvert?
• How do they speak differently than everyone else? (cute sayings, repeated phrase/word, dialect, high/low volume)
• Do they doubt themselves or do they have too much bravery?
• Do they have any pets? (or does your animal character have human owners)
• What makes your main character feel happy?
• Do they have any secrets?
• What would this character do that would be very out of character?
• What is one thing this character loves that most people dislike?

Now score yourself on how many you knew right away:

8 – 10

Congrats! Your character feels like a real person to you!

6 – 7

Pretty good! You have thought deeply about your character.

5 and below

Take a few more character questionnaires before you start writing.

If you’d like more questions, I have an expanded version of this questionnaire in my  course . 

I also have another post on the 10 steps to writing a memorable character .

3. Find the Right Length

What’s the right word count for your book?

This is probably the most common question I get asked, and it’s also the one that most writers get wrong.

Ultimately, you need to figure out what age range you’re writing for, and then write within that word count.

Most writers are writing picture books for ages 3 – 7 — that’s the most common category. If that’s you, then shoot for 750 words. That’s the sweet spot.

If you write a picture book more than 1,000 words, you’re sunk . You absolutely have to keep it under 1,000 words. It’s the most unyielding rule in the entire industry. Seriously, take out all the red pens and slash away until you’ve whittled it down.

4. Start It Quickly

Many unpublished children’s books fail to grab the child’s attention (and parent’s attention!), and that’s because they start too slow. If your story is about a child joining a circus, they should join on the first or second page. 

Don’t give backstory about this child’s life. Don’t set the scene or tell us what season it is.

Just have the circus come into town, and as soon as possible, have the child become a clown or tightrope walker or lion tamer. 

You have such a short space to tell your story that you can’t waste any time. The pacing of children’s stories generally moves lickety-split, so don’t write at a tortoise pace. 

For instance, look at the picture book “ HippoSPOTamus .” When do you think the hippo discovers the red spot on her bottom?

Yep, it’s on the first page.

And that event launches the entire story.

Start your book that quickly.

5. Create A Problem

Every character has a problem. It could be a mystery, it could be a person, it could be a crisis of confidence. That problem is what they will struggle with for the entire book.

The majority of the book will be obstacles the main character has to hurdle before they can solve their problem.

Here are the main mistakes beginning writers make with their character’s Main Problem:

• The character solves the problem too easily . Make your character really struggle and fail. Ideally, the main character should fail at least three times before solving this problem, and perhaps fail as many times as five (if you’re writing for older children). 
• There are not a series of obstacles . On the character’s way to solving the problem, the main character should run up against a whole bunch of obstacles. Don’t have him defeat a single obstacle and then voila, problem is solved. To build a rocket ship to fly to space, the main character should lose some parts, his mother should call him for dinner, his friend should tell him it won’t work, it should rain, etc. 
• The character doesn’t care enough about solving the problem . This has to be a HUGE problem for the child — they have to feel like it’s a matter of life and death, even if the actual problem is only a missing button. As long as the child feels like it’s a huge problem, the reader will feel like it’s a huge problem. 

6. Use Repetition

Children love repetition! Parents love repetition! Publishers love repetition!

Everybody loves repetition! (check out my post on  17 fantastic examples of repetition in literature).

If you’re not repeating something in your children’s book, it’s not going to be a great children’s book.

I mean, all of Dr. Seuss is basically built on repetition (and he’s pretty much the godfather of children’s books).

Here are three types of repetition that you can use:

• Repetition of a word or phrase on a page
• Repetition of a word or phrase across the entire book
• Repetition of the story structure

Any book that rhymes is using repetition of similar words, and I would argue that story structure repetition is even more important than language repetition. 

Click on the image below to learn more about my children’s book course:

7. Write for Illustrator s

One of the main jobs of the writer is to set up the illustrator for success. (and you can hire an illustrator from the SCBWI illustrator gallery )

But so many writers aren’t thinking about what kind of material they’re giving to the illustrator.

If you have a book that takes place inside a house between two characters, the illustrator is going to struggle to draw visually interesting images.

A good illustrator can radically improve your book, but they’re also working with what you give them. So give them more:

• Choose fun buildings for your setting (put it in a greenhouse rather than a school)
• Think of funny-looking main characters (a lemur is much more fun to draw than a dog)
• Get out in the open rather than being inside (wheat fields are more entertaining than a bedroom).

Inside locations like a school limit illustrators:

While illustrators have much more freedom with fun outside possibilities:

Remember, a publisher isn’t only evaluating your book on the words alone. They’re thinking about the combination between your words and an illustrator’s pictures. And if you don’t provide a solid half with the words, they’re going to say no. 

And if you’re self-publishing, good visuals are much more fun for the child!

Also, if you’re exhausted by trying to find an illustrator that you can trust, and is affordable, let Bookfox Press do all the legwork for you. We have trusted illustrators that we’ve worked with before, and who do incredible work.

8. End the Story Quickly

Once the main problem of the story is resolved (the cat is found, the bully says he’s sorry, the two girls become friends again), you only have a page or two to finish the book.

Since the story is done, there’s no longer any tension for the reader, which means they don’t have an incentive to keep reading. So do them a favor and end the book as quickly as possible. 

Basically, you want to provide a satisfying conclusion and wrap up all the storylines. 

One of my favorite tricks for an ending is a technique that stand-up comedians call a “Call Back.” This is when they reference a joke from earlier in their set to finish out their routine.

You can use this in children’s books by referencing something in the first 5 or 6 pages of the book. For instance, if the main character was so focused on a purple lollipop that they wandered away and got lost, then after she was found the final page of the book might say: “and from then on she only licked red lollipops!”

9. Choose Your Title

Now you may say: why are we figuring out the title after we do all the writing? Good question.

The truth is that many writers don’t know the essence of their story until after they write the book. So you can have a temporary title, but just know that you’ll probably revise it after you finish.

And revising is fine! Everybody revises. Don’t be afraid to change your title multiple times until you hit the exact right one.

Also, the title is the number one marketing tool of your book. Most readers decide whether or not to pick up your book from the title alone. That means choosing a title might be the most important thing you do (although it’s probably a tie with choosing an illustrator).

• Don’t Title: “Amy’s Adventure with Poppies.”
• Do Title: “The Mouse in the Meadow.”
• Don’t: “The Vast Library.” (Boring)
• Don’t: “The Library Hunt.” (This is better. “Hunt” is a good word, and the combo with library is intriguing.)
• Do: “How to Live Forever.” (This is the actual title, and it’s great. This is the name of the book the boy is searching for, and it lets the reader know there will be some deep topics discussed.)
• Don’t: “Johnny’s Wonderful Day.”
• Do: “Captain Johnny Defeats Dr. Doom.” (Captain Johnny makes it more playful, we have the active verb of “defeat” and Dr. Doom uses alliteration.)
• Don’t: “The Bird in the Window.”
• Do: “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” (What places?)
• Do: “Olivia Saves the Circus.” (How? We want to know.)
• Do: “How to Catch an Elephant.” (Tell me more!)
• Google “Children’s Book [Your Title]” .You want to see if the title is already taken (or if there is a title that is too close). Now say your perfect title is already used. Can you still use that title? Well, yes. People can’t copyright titles. But you’ll have a hard time distinguishing your book from that book, so it’s not always the best idea.
• Test Your Title with Children and Adults . It’s important to see how children react to your title. Are they excited? Do they seem bored? But remember that children aren’t the ones buying books — parents are. So make sure to bounce it off some adults as well and get their reaction. 

10. A Revision Strategy

Most unpublished picture books are far too wordy.

In fact, if you talk to publishers and agents, they will say that children’s books being too long is one of the main things that makes them reject a book.

Here is a revision technique that will fix that problem . Make every single word, every single phrase, every single sentence “Walk the Plank.”

In other words, you highlight it and hover over the delete button (this is the “walking the plank” moment) and ask yourself: if I cut this, will the story no longer make sense?

If the story will still make sense, then PUSH that phrase/sentence off the plank and delete it.

If the story will not make sense, then that word or phrase or sentence gets a reprieve (at least in this round of editing!).

In general, the shorter your children’s book, the better chance that publishers/agents will like it and the better chance you’ll have of pleasing children and parents (not to mention shorter books are cheaper to illustrate — and illustration is expensive!).

11. Find an Editor

Once you’ve written your book, you really need to get an expert’s opinion to help you improve it. An editor will be the best investment in your book. After all, I know you love what you’ve written, but there are so many tricks and techniques to writing that can improve the experience of the reader.

There are two different types of children’s book editors.

• First, there are developmental editors (also called content editors). These editors help you improve the story concept, the plot, the characters, the pacing, the dialogue, and whatever else needs to be improved. They look at the big picture and help you revise your book (this is what I do!).
• After you use a developmental editor, then you would need a copy editor . This is the editor who fixes all the formatting, grammar, spelling, verb tenses, style, and all the other small details. They make your book look professional.

Sometimes you’ll find an editor who can do both, but you can’t do both at the same time — you have to make all the big picture revisions before you start tinkering with all the small details.

Here is a handy checklist when looking for an editor.

• Your editor should be someone who has been in the industry for a while.
• Your editor should have examples of published children’s books that they’ve edited.
• Your editor should have testimonials from satisfied writers.
• Your editor should be a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators).

The cost of editors vary widely, but if you’re not paying at least $400 – $600, you’re probably getting an amateur without a lot of experience in the industry. And you don’t want a beginner messing around with your book.

If you’d like to hire me as an editor, check out my children’s book editing page .

12. Find an Illustrator

This is the most important step of the post-writing process.

An illustrator will be the most expensive step of publishing a children’s book, but also the most essential for a successful book. The more you spend on this step, the better your book will look. I mentioned the SCBWI illustrator gallery above, but I also wanted to recommend Fiverr as an inexpensive place to hire an illustrator. 

If neither of those work out, check out the website Children’s Illustrators or for another option, Illustration X .

When you’re considering an illustrator, this is what you should ask for:

• To see examples of previous work (do you like their style?)
• To see a copy of the contract (do they keep the rights or do you?)
• How long it will take (look at the graphic below for average times)
• Whether they also do layout, type, and book design (otherwise you need to hire a book designer afterwards)

Make sure you’re really in love with the illustrator’s style, and that it matches your vision for what you want the book to look like.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

You can’t just throw words up on an illustration and expect them to look good. It’s essential to have a happy marriage between text and image. You want to think about:

• The font . This is incredibly important. I see a lot of self-published children’s books that selected the wrong font, and it’s glaringly obvious. You need an illustrator to help you choose exactly the right font to match the illustrations.
• The size of the font . This is important as well. It should be consistent across the whole book and should pair well with the size of objects in the illustration.
• The placement of the words . If you put the words in the wrong place on the image, you basically ruin the entire illustration. It needs to be carefully balanced and follow good composition guidelines like the rule of thirds. Ideally, the words should enhance the illustration rather than detract from it.
• Page breaks . What words should go on which pages? This is something you need to discuss with your illustrator before they begin. They need to have a say in this — don’t just tell them how you want the pages to be broken up. For instance, they might have the idea to have a two-page spread without any words at all, or to separate a single sentence across several pages, or to have one page with a few sentences on it and the next page with just a short phrase for emphasis. This is the number one mistake I see beginning writers/illustrators make: they have the same amount of text on every single page (usually a single sentence). 

So either hire the illustrator to do book design, or hire a book designer. But just don’t choose the fonts and placements and font size on your own — get a book designer to help you .

If you want to learn more about how to work with an illustrator, check out my post, “ 12 Tips on Working with a Children’s Book Illustrator .”

Common Questions

Q: should i copyright my book.

There are differing opinions on this, but in general I would say NO. You don’t have to worry about someone stealing your book. If you go the traditional publishing route, the publisher will copyright it for you. If you go the self-publishing route, you already own the material the instant you wrote it, so getting copyright only gives you added protection.

If you need more advice on this, read my post, “ Should You Copyright Your Children’s Book .”

Now if you’re going to chew your nails down to the nub worrying about this, then set your mind at ease. If you live in America, go to the U.S. Copyright Office website and you can register for under a hundred bucks. I walk you through the steps on how to do this in my children’s book course .

Q: Do I need illustrations before sending my book to editors, publishers, and agents?

This is a hard and fast NO.

Editors want to work with the language alone, so unless your book requires the illustrations to make sense, you don’t want to send the illustrations. Even then, you can easily put the illustration explanation in brackets [like so].

Publishers always always always hire their own illustrators, so save yourself the money and submit the text alone. This is because choosing an illustrator is a marketing decision (that they need to make, not you) and because a good illustrator can cost $20,000. You probably don’t have that kind of money lying around.

Now what if you’re the illustrator? Well, then you DO want to send the illustrations. But if you get a rejection, it could either be because of the story or because of your illustrations, and sometimes you won’t know what the weak link is.

In general, though, agents are looking to represent illustrator/writers much more often than they’re looking to represent writers alone. That’s because children’s book illustrators earn A LOT more money than children’s book writers (sorry, that’s just the way it is).

Q: Should I ask for a non-disclosure agreement? (NDA)

If you want to you can, but you have a better chance of a bear eating you than someone stealing your book.

Plus, if they steal it, you can easily sue them and take all the profits and more, so there isn’t much motivation for someone to steal your book.

The truth is that writers worry about this far more often than it actually happens. My advice would be to put all your energy toward creating the best children’s book you can create, and if you have a great book, the agent/publisher/editor will want to work with you, not steal from you.

Q: Will you be my literary agent?

No, I’m an editor, and the role of an editor and literary agent are very different. An editor’s job is to help you make your children’s book the best it can be. The role of a literary agent is to play matchmaker and find a publisher who wants your book.

However, if you sign up for my children’s book email list (via a pop-up on this page or at the bottom) I will send you a list of children’s book agents. Also, here’s another list of agents .

Q: Will you help me find a publisher?

That’s mainly the role of a literary agent, but I do have a list on Bookfox of 30 publishers who will accept submissions without a literary agent.

And if you hire me for editing , sometimes I’ll be able to recommend a few publishers where your book might be a fit, but it’s not like a handshake deal. Publishers get a large number of submissions and they have to take on the books they know they can sell.

Q: How many submissions will an agent or publisher get in a year?

A beginning agent might get 2,000 – 3,000 submissions in a year, while an established agent might receive 3,000 – 8,000 submissions.

Publishers who accept submissions get anywhere from between 2,000 submissions to 15,000 submissions, although almost all publishers who start getting too many submissions stop accepting submissions (because it costs too much to hire people to wade through all those submissions).

I don’t mean to discourage you, but just help you make an informed decision about whether you should self-publish or seek a traditional publisher. It’s really tough to land an agent or a publisher, and it can take a lot of time and work.

What’s wonderful about self-publishing is that within a week you can be holding your book in your hands.

Q: Should I self publish or seek a traditional publisher?

So for self-publishing, there’s lots of upsides : there’s no wait time, and you get complete control of the project (such as cover art and illustration), and there’s not that much of a cost if you do it all yourself.

But … you have to do all the marketing yourself, and you don’t have anyone to guide you through the process, and you don’t have the reputation of being published by a traditional publisher. You should do self-publishing if you’re a real go-getter and you think you can get the word out there about your book.

For traditional publishing, there are also many upsides: you would get an advance (money is nice!), they would handle all the proofreading, ISBN, illustrations, cover art, etc, and they would give you some guidance with how to do the marketing and promotion.

But … it can be very, very hard to get an acceptance from an agent or from a publisher. Sometimes you have to send the story out for a year or two, submitting to a hundred outlets or more. Go this route if you have a lot of patience and you want the book to reach a wider audience.

Read my post on “How to Self Publish a Board Book” if you want more info on that.

Did you want more advice on how to write a children’s book?

So let’s review the 12 main points:

• Find Your Best Idea
• Develop Your Main Character
• Write the Right Length
• Start the Story Quickly
• Figure out the Main Problem
• Use Repetition
• Write for Illustrations
• End the Story Quickly
• Choose Your Title
• A Revision Strategy: Walk the Plank
• How to Find an Editor
• How to Find an Illustrator

Please leave a comment below if this material was helpful and if you have any other questions.

Also, please check out my:

• Children’s book course — “Two Weeks To Your Best Children’s Book”
• Children’s book editing — let me help you with your book.
• Children’s book Publishing: Bookfox Press

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352 comments

This is a good article

Brilliant article. So much I never knew

The best article I’ve found on the internet on writing for children. Superb job!

This article is fantastic. Straight to the point and very clear. Thank you

I found the article to be full of good information, it gave me a lot of insight into writing a children’s book.

I searched Google on how to write a children’s book and this is by far the best information…Really helpful

Hello,I wrote a children’s book that will be a series. It’s a killer name and character.I need help and guidance cause I wrote a short story too and need a editor.

Thank you for the time you have taken to write this article. It is very informative and has given me some great tips for starting out.

The most profesional of all the articles i have read! Thank you!

Thank you…this helps me tremendously

This article has been very helpful.

Thank you for this article,it is very detailed and comprehensive .It gives a very structured insight on how a story becomes a book. The story behind the story.

Thank you a great article. I will try self publish Amazon, I have written this children’s book/true story and will illustrate as I’m a graphic designer… I can only try

Thank you. It was absolutely illuminating!

I am writing the first book of a series. Do you have any tips for this particular genre? Ie. Franklin the Turtle, Clifford, the Big Red Dog.

Wow! THANK YOU for writing this. I have always wanted to try writing children’s books. Now I know where to start. Thanks again, this is incredible.

This was so helpful for me. I am very interested in writing a children’s book. Thank you for the advice.

Professional advice for free. I am inspire, thank you for helping me structure my thoughts into something worth daring to start.

This article is so interesting and really helpful. I have a question though…. I’d like to write a book,my grandchildren are my inspiration for this!. Is it possible/usual etc to write a series of books for children to read at age 4 but grow with them til around age 10, so each book in the series is for the next age group, if that makes sense. thanks Clare

Great article I! Very helpful!!.. I have subscribed to your email list.

I agree. You gave me lots of things to think about from many different perspectives as I embark upon this adventure. Thank you so much!

Great article

Quite a good article for the beginners.

So incredibly helpful!! Thank you for your insight.

Great insight on the book writing process, from start to finish. Thank you.

Very helpful and well organized! Thank you for your insight on the writing process!

Amazing article! I’m in the process of editing my 4th draft; after that, I will be looking to hire an editor and illustrator. Thanks for writing this !

This was soo insightful and inspiring. Great guidance for my book writing

Oh, come on. Good article? No. It’s a GREAT article!

One of a kind that has quality and depth to it. This is advice borne from experience. I’ve written quite a few books for kids and this is the best breakdown of the picture book creation process I’ve seen in a long time.

Very generous too.

So sit down, get a cup of tea, and read this through – many times. Until it sinks in.

Then do what it says. (Essentially: Quality children’s books only get written when you, the author, have something worthwhile to say. And when you say it in a way that engages, inspires and entertains young readers.)

I agree -very generous, thank you!

Thank you. I have been hired to illustrate a book which is very challenging. I am also anxious to start my own. My ideas have been brewing and now it’s time to make them a reality. Your advice is great. I’ve been studying hundreds of children’s book illustrations. Some are incredible works of art! That’s the goal.

Thank you for this great info that makes me excited to get started. Im only at the idea stage so along way to go but I am excited!

Thanks for your good comments which was very helpful specially for anyone who is a begginer in this field.

This article is a godsend!

Yes, great article, inspirational and also a call to action…just what’s needed. Now, back to work people! 🙂

Thank you for this post. I am an author and illustrator who has published a kids book. And there is a lot of time consuming work involved. Word choice and the correct placement of illustrations is so important it’s not even funny.

I think that many people believe that children’s books are easier to write, because they’re for children but they’re not . Like you’ve shared, they should be written according to age group. And they have to be very engaging because they’re heavily illustrated and if the cover’s no good, no sale.

This is truly a great article to read and I was really hooked. Joslyn, I agree with you that if the cover and word choice are no good then it is a no sale. As a Librarian when selecting books to purchase for the library, it is compulsory to select covers which are eye catching. Additionally, children are excited when they see attractive illustrations with fantastic colour schemes, intriguing characters and unique settings. I am about to write my first children’s story book and I hope to draw from my experiences from spending 5 years living in Japan.

Thanks for sharing and best wishes.

Wonderful article! Extremely informative (I even took pen and paper notes) and it covers components I had no idea about nor would have even considered (first time writer here). Thank you for the point blank honesty and clear, detailed guidelines!

Wow! This was an amazing read. I’m so happy that I stumbled upon it because I learned so much! Thank you for being so thorough and transparent!

Great article thanks for sharing this info. Structure stuff is really interesting

Thank you so much. This article is very useful and informative. 🙂

This was very helpful. I have just written my first children’s book and found this article really insightful for what I need to do. Thank you

Goal: Have my HS kids write, edit, illustrate, publish a book in 180 days! Any further suggestions about pacing, clumping tasks, etc. would be greatly valued!

Absolutely fabulous article! Thank you!

Very helpful!!!! I’m starting with trying to self-publish a book my 10 year old granddaughter wrote, but after reading this and with your kind of help I may get inspired! Thank you!

I’m so glad I found your website! Thank you for this in depth post!

Lots of great info. Thanks! It really covers fiction well, but would love to see more info on writing (fun) non-fiction for kids.

very helpful

Great article. Although I have published 20 picture books, I still picked up many pointers. Thank you for your generosity. Beryl

Absolutely helpful, informative and I appreciate it.

Amazing Concept, Its very helpful for us.

This is amazingly beautiful, an article.

Thank you for sharing!

This is amazing information. I have thought about writing children’s books for years. Maybe it’s time I actually do something.

Hi, very good article, had a lot of information I never thought about before. I’m interested in writing my own children’s book but I’m 20 years old and probably won’t be able to afford agents, editors and publishers. Do you k ow how much these cost as most publishing websites don’t include costs. Also is there writing grants you can apply for? Thank you Clare

So agents are free up front (they only take 15% of whatever you make).

Publishers are also free — both traditional publishers (they pay you) and self publishing (it’s free on Amazon, and other companies that require money are kinda scammy).

If you want to get an agent or a publisher, though, your book has to be good, which is why you should save up for an editor.

Hi, I wondered what the format is for the video course. Is it in DVD or access to on line videos? Thanks, Ellen C.

Hi Ellen, the videos are all online. I don’t offer DVD access. Hope that works for you!

Excellent article, thank you

Thank you for the information. Much appreciated.

Very helpful indeed, almost finished my first childrens, was interesting to know how illustrations receive more money than writers, I’m doing both. Thank you. Dont have a website yet.

Excellent article. I am sure–without a doubt–your content will be helpful to a lot of writers. Thank you for being brave enough to share your wisdom.

This is a great article one that I need to be able to start writing a book intended for children. Thank you for sharing it.

I am getting ready to get the ball rolling on my first children’s book. I was amazed at all the things in this article that I hadn’t even thought about! What if your husband or son, who are fantastic artists in their own right, want to be your illustrators? Does that fall under editors wanting to promote illustrators/writers?

Sometimes they’ll take on a team of an illustrator/writer. You can always try.

Thank you for this article- very helpful. I’m wondering if it’s appropriate to attempt to self-publish while submitting to publishers and agents? Would a publisher not want to touch a project that is already being marketed in some other way?

Hi Benjamin, So once you self-publish, no publisher wants to touch it. It’s either/or — you can’t do both.

Excellent article and so generous that I just signed up for your video series which was reasonably priced. I’m a best selling author but my first time at a children’s book. I’m confident I will learn from you and may call on you for editing.

Thanks, Linda! Glad it was helpful and I know you’ll love the course, which includes so much more material beyond this little brief post. 🙂

Let me know when you’re ready for me to edit your book!

I am a big fan of your book, Solutionaries: You Are the Answer. Hence, I am reading John Fox’s article. I teach students with Autism and aspire to publish an educational book to create a positive impact in schools, at home, and in the community– one book at a time. Thank you for your beautiful mind. You’re an inspiration!

Sincerely, Flor G.

This article was so helpful. I’m based in Canada and I’ve just written my first children’s book…I’m definitely at the editing stage but I’m considering the traditional publishing option. I would love to work with a Canadian publisher. Can you recommend?

Hi Cindy, I don’t have a list of Canadian children’s book publishers specifically, but I do have a list of 30 publishers looking for unagented submissions.

I would love your opinion on writing an educational children’s book. Would all the same principles talked about in this article (which was WONDERFUL, by the way) apply? Thanks!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I would think almost all of them would apply, absolutely.

There are some additional considerations with an educational book — is the teaching too heavy handed, what about the balance between fun/learning, is there a moral in addition to the learning — stuff like that.

And you definitely have to nail down the age range for a book like this, and target it to exactly what they’re learning in school.

Hello John,

Do you think it is possible to get published in a traditional way in the US for someone who is not a citizen and lives elsewhere?

Thank you so much!

Yes! Definitely possible. But some of the time it’s better to look in your own country first.

Very helpful article. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I have written four books, but never a children’s book.

Great article, I’m going to read it again and again as it covers many helpful points, thank-you!

Hi. I am an author using Amazon/Kindle. I have 11 books in different Editions. https://www.Tom-the-Atom.com is my web site and amazon.com/author/tom-the-atom.com my author’s page. Looking for a publisher on-demand to publish my book in hardcover and thicker pages. Also looking for an agency that helps to promote my books, If you offer such services please contact me. My books are copyrighted, have a Serial number registered at the Library of Congress ISSM and an ISBN number given by Amazon. The Series is Non-Fiction Science Books for Children: parents, baby to 12 years old.

Hi , I am a daughter of Holocaust survivor and my father wrote a book about it. I would like to write a children’s book based on my father’s memoirs. My father saved my cousin from a ghetto, she was only 4 years old so there is a story to tell that might appeal. I need some guidance before starting this project … can you help?

Great article, thank you! I’m at the very beginning (thinking about it!) stages of writing a children’s book and this article has given me much perspective!

Great content and well articulated. Thank you for bringing it all together.

What an awesome article! I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a children’s book for years (I’ve had a title in my head for far too long) but never had the courage to attempt it – you’ve inspired me. Can I just ask, once a book is written, approximately how long does it take to go through the editing/illustrating/publishing? I know there’s a lot of variables, I’m just wondering if you could give me a ball-park figure?

A lot longer than you would think. If you’re referring to traditional publishing, it can be a year and a half. Self publishing can be much quicker.

I was thinking around a year, so I wasn’t too far off. Thank you so much for the excellent information you’ve provided here.

This was very helpful! I plan on printing it out so I can go back over it in depth. What are your thoughts about Amazon’s e-book publishing? Also your input on using Fiver?

Fiverr can be a great source for cheap illustrators.

Amazon’s book publishing is great, but only publishes soft cover books. If you want hardcover, you need Ingram Spark.

Wow! Thank you so much for writing this article, it’s honestly helped me see writing in a different form. There are so many articles out there that only enhance the fact of beginning, middle and end, but you have literally dot pointed how it works and how each individual piece should be written, you have really done an amazing job at dissecting children’s books into a more understandable format! Now off to writing!

Extremely helpful! I’m illustrating my grand daughter’s book for children. It’s not that easy. But with your guidance I think we can make it work.

This article is an absolute godsend for my UK Year 8 Creative Writing club. There is a wealth of good advice, generously given. Thank you so much.

Thank you for this post, it’s very insightful and informative! I’m more determined to start my book after reading this.

This was very very very helpful as I am a beginner in writing children’s stories! Looking forward to enrolling for your courses! Thank you very much!

Hi Faith, Great, glad this was so helpful!

The course includes a ton of information that I didn’t have time to mention here, so I hope you enjoy it.

Wow. Thank you so much. So helpful for me. Thank you again and again and again. Now I know why I always think I’m not ready to go beyond thinking and writing the first draft. I need to know more, but honestly it’s the best article I ever read about writing. Thankssss. God bless you.

Great information, thank you. But you do assume that every children’s book is going to be a fictional story. What about if it’s an educational book in some way? No need to answer, just something to think on. All the same, there was a lot I could still take from this.

Who says educational books have to be nonfiction? Fiction can teach quite a lot. And if they are nonfiction, you still need a structure for them, even if it’s not a narrative structure.

Great article, thank you!

Extremely helpful information! As a self published author who also started a publishing company, I can attest to the time, talent and treasure required to be successful in this arena. Thank You!

Wow this information was so helpful! I’ve been wanting to write a book geared towards medically fragile children. This article gave me the reassurance I needed to stop doubting myself and just get started! Thank you

It’s very informative and useful. Thank you for sharing! I’m on my way to the first children book with self-publishing. Been trying to offer it to publisher some last few months, but still no news yet. So, I’ll try self-publish this time. Thank you!

Thank you for all your hard work to keep us informed. I’m a French author for children and would like to sell my books in US. My publisher thought we could work with Amazon but they do not print landscape books. Any tips? You can see my work at https://marinaanca.wixsite.com/ancamarina

Try Ingramspark.

Hi, I’ve just read your great post and I have a question. You have stressed how important an illustrator is and while I am not a professional illustrator I am an artist and really want to illustrate the book myself with a unique multi media technique. What are your thoughts on this. Thanks, Wendy

Well, you can give it a shot. Worst the publisher can say is no.

Could I be my own illustrator or do I have to hire an illustrator? I have many ideas for the art in my book and I have a specific style I want.

If you’re good enough, yes, you can be your own illustrator.

Thank you very much 🙂

Thank you for a thorough article. I am an English learner and my dream is to publish an educational book. I am sure you can help me achieve that dream. As per the article, I would need an editor/quality illustrator/publisher, but I am financially incapable to do so. Which one should I invest the most in? Any technical strategy on this? Also: – how many times can I resubmit my work to a publisher or self-publish the same book (after multiple no’s)? – If I submit my book to a publisher and not hear from them for over 2 years, can I self-publish instead or it will be revoked? – Say I received the manuscript from you with your corrections, is there any additional charge for resubmitting the revision?

You’re welcome for the article! Publishers don’t cost anything — you can self publish for free. Split your money between an editor and an illustrator. Find a cheap illustrator on Fiverr .

You can only submit to a publisher once. After they have passed, don’t send it again. (not answering means they don’t want it).

If you haven’t heard from them in 3 months, consider it a NO.

So when I edit, I give you a lot to revise and a lot to think about. But if you did want to revise and resubmit, I’d charge a discounted rate for another round.

Great Information there. I am from Kenya. I love children’s books and my 7 year old son loves to read. I have been having so many ideas about children’s books. Your article has really enlightened me. Thanks for sharing

This is the best information on writing children’s books that I’ve come across thus far. I am researching tips/ideas and am at the very start of my journey. Thank you so much, I really appreciate these awesome nuggets!

Hi LaTanya, great, glad you liked it! If you want a lot more information like this, my course doesn’t overlap with the information here and you get a lot more.

I’ve written a chapter book about 11-year-old characters. It’s almost 70,000 words. Is this too long?

Hi Lori, 11-year-old characters are MG (middle grade), while this length is more appropriate for YA (Young Adult), ages 13 – 18.

Ideally, a book for this age would be more like 40k to 50k.

I really appreciate this article.

Amazing article! So informative, helpful and easy to understand for first time writers. Thank you for taking time to write, this article and for providing comprehensive information without charge. I will definitely look to use your editing services and course when ready. Thanks again. 🙂

Great guidance and more than enough information to start a successful children’s book! Love you for this!

I have an idea for a children’s book series. Do you indicate that a series is the intent when you submit your work to potential publishers?

Thank you for all the great information!

Yes, I’d recommend that you include that information up front and if possible tell them you have the next two books written (if these are short picture books).

I am based in the UK – I am assuming I can still sign up for the course as the content will be transferable to those writing outside the USA? Thanks

Hi Kirstin, Yes, the content will work worldwide. There are only one or two videos that have US specific elements, but you can easily find the agents/agencies that are appropriate in the UK.

This is a fantastic post! Thank you so much!

Great article. Very informative and answers a lot of my questions. One element I’m still confused on is exactly who types the manuscript into the book? I have an illustrator who has done a lovely job of illustrating my idea. I’ve also hired a book designer who will create the fixed layout book for me to upload to distributors. I thought I was ready to send the book to them at this time but now I’m confused again. Should I ask the illustrator to insert the manuscript or does the book designer do this? I’ve written and published novels without illustrations in the past but a children’s picture book is an entirely new experience. Let’s get technical, please. (re the website – its a work in progress)

It depends on the agreement you have with illustrator or book designer. Most of the time illustrators will do it; it’s more rare for book designers to do it.

I was wondering, in general, what tense works best for a children’s picture book, Past or Present?

When in doubt, always use past tense.

You need a very good justification for using present tense.

This is such a helpful and realistic step-by-step article. I really learned a lot when reading it, so I know your course would be amazing. Looks like the next step after reading this is to take the course! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Yes, I hope you enjoy it! I made sure the course doesn’t just repeat this article — it provides a lot of info and techniques that I didn’t mention at all here.

This is absolutely an amazing article . It gave me a lot to think about . I love the step by step explanation, especially since I have never written a book before.

¡Bravo! Thank you for writing this organized, to the point, article. I learned a lot about working with my creative side and how to make a dream a reality. ¡Gracias!

Wow! Very insightful article and information provided. Thank you

The article is very, very helpful! I”m writing my first children’s book so i really needed this to help me get started.

For the 3-7 category (750 words), how many words should go on a page?

That’s a conversation you have with your illustrator. There’s no hard and fast rule. Sometimes no words at all. Sometimes a paragraph. Sometimes one word or a phrase.

It all depends on the vision your illustrator has for the pacing and images of the book.

This is absolutely a wonderful article . Thanks for sharing.

This is brilliant! The way you support your points by specific examples is eye-opening! Thank you so much! Love from Sarajevo!

I want to write a true story about my daughters dog and how the dog helped her with depression. However the dog’s name is Polly but we call her Popo. So is my title of “Popo saves the day” or “Better call Popo” going to be a huge red flag because Popo can mean police officer. Some site say it is derogatory but others say not. Its a catchy name.

I took notes for every paragraph I read. This article was very helpful to me and I can’t wait to finally begin my journey.

Great article. Very informative. I am an artist and I just completed my first children’s book. I am editing and doing the illustration work now, in watercolor. I don’t have the funds to go the expensive route, so I will probably self publish. Are there better methods or sources for self publishing.

Put it in a PDF and upload to Amazon. It’s free.

And let me know if I can help with editing before that point.

Excellent article. I appreciate it so much. I’m so glad I found it.

After reading valuable advice from this article, I wrote my first book https://amzn.to/2zovXxJ , the book is in a scientific version for children, but considering the beginning of my adventure, I am happy. It’s great that you share your knowledge.Thank you

Hi and thank you for this information! I hope this isn’t a repeat question but can you tell me if it’s best to have my book edited and then sent to a literary agent or can you go straight to a literary agent? I’m noticing all the publishers I’m looking at won’t accept unrepresented work, so it seems I have to use an agent. Would that be right?

The reason why authors get editing is because it’s extremely challenging to get a literary agent. You’re competing against hundreds of other writers for a single slot, and you want to make sure that your book is the best it can be.

Most big publishers only accept books from agents; small publishers accept work directly. Both are extremely competitive.

This is a very good and timely article. It will go a long way in helping me do my semester project work in the University.

My friends and I are all kids, and we’re in a club together writing books. I shared one of the images in your article with them (the main plot guide) and it’s been very beneficial to all of our novels. Thank you so much for writing this!

Excellent article! I was wondering if there is any sort of common understanding of the publishing industry regarding the particularities of the book for each age group. I’m finding it rather difficult to define an age group the book aim to reach. How precise should I be, and how should the language adapt? Should I try to use words and expressions already knew by the children, or can I catch their attention by using a few new words?

Most of the time authors use language the children know, but some authors want to stretch their vocabulary by pushing it. Either is acceptable, though it’s probably harder to pull off the high diction level vocabulary.

It’s not just about language, though. It’s about length, about the intensity of conflict, about the type of problem, and the complexity of the plot. So it’s more like art than science to figure out your age range.

Hi, great article, I just have a question I’m writing children’s book for my school project and it must be completely done by august, printing, writing, everything and I’m on the writing stage. Since its a school project, do I need to publish it and have an editor and everything, from what I know, I can just make my book by myself completely and print it out because its nothing fancy and I don’t plan on having it sold on markets and things. How long do you think this whole process will take? and how long does it take to get a book printed, I don’t need a lot of copies, just around 1-5 maybe. This article was a great read but I don’t which of these tips apply in my case because Im writing a simple children’s book for a school project.

Hi Miya, for a project like this that you don’t intend to sell widely, you probably don’t need to hire an editor. You can make your book yourself, and if you put it into a PDF and upload it to Amazon, then you can buy a few print copies from them.

Great help and advice I’m a grandma writing my first book, or trying to, so i found this information very helpful. Wish me luck, thinking going to need it!! … thanks again for all the info

I am also a grandma attempting to write my first book. Thank you for this information. It is helping me greatly. Please be in prayer for me as I follow God’s lead in His wisdom and guidance as I write this book. Thanks!!

Super helpful information – thanks for your generosity!

Loved this article. Well written and inspiring

Thank you so much! This was very helpful and informative.

Very helpful article. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I wrote my first book on kids

This is great advice for beginners like me. It’s the first link I clicked on when I googled ‘how to write and illustrate a children’s picture book 2020’ so you must be doing something right! Thank you so much 🙂

Hey, thanks a ton for sharing this amazing guide on the ways to write the books for the children. One of my friends has just started writing children’s books and I believe this post will be of great help to him.

This has proven extremely useful. The content is well-written and easy to follow. Thank you !

This article was awesome, very informative, I loved it. I’m ready to get started writing my book right now. Thank you so much.

Thanks, this is very well-written! Writing for children involves a lot of considerations: consider what children like; what they would feel; how they would read your book; and more.

Thanks for the great article, it really helped me focus on my idea

Excellent advice, and great that you are sharing it!

really a good article for beginners. Looking forward to finishing my first book and then will start the struggle to find a publisher. Thanks

Hi there, I’m wondering what the best format is to submit a childrens book to an editor is? How should it be laid out? In word? In powerpoint? Would love to get your input! Thanks 🙂

Word would be best. Keep it simple.

i love this. I’m a kid and i want to be a writer. i have written my first book and i need an editor so it can be published. I love this article so so so so so much

Hi, great article. Can you please provide advice/ tips on bilingual books?

Thanks for the article. It was really helpful. Is it possible to self publish first and then publish again with other publishers? I wanted to write a book based on a personal story and give as a gift, but I thought the story also has potential. I would like to do own illustration and design, and it sounded like self publishing will give more flexibility.

No, once you self publish you can’t publish with a publisher, unless you sell a gazillion copies and they come knocking.

Thank you for this comprehensive discussions. I learned a lot from it.

Great article.

One of my friends was recently seeking a new genre for writing and considered writing books for children, I am sure this article will surely help him in writing the best book fore children will surely share it with him.

Great article, very interesting and useful.

Just starting to write a children’s book. This was great article! Since this is my first time writing a children’s book I am trying to establish a timeline checklist. Please let me know if you have any advice or suggestions.

I just finished writing a children’s book and am now going through the process of assisted self-publishing, and wow I really wish that I read all of this beforehand. This information was so spot on and extremely helpful. I will be using this as a starting point/guide for my next children’s book. Thank you! #Mr.MoneyAdventures

Informative and insightful. Thanks.

Very helpful and valuable tips. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Grateful for the tips! Absolutely helpful for this African writer!

Thanks to the developer of this amazing guide. I’ve got just what I need to get started in my writing.

Very good material and most enlightening. Thank you for this journey to writing a great and exciting children’s book.

Thank you! really helpful!

Excellent post! Everyone can write a book, but not everyone can produce an amazing one. Whether fiction or non-fiction, it always takes knowledge, experience, passion, and attitude to create praiseworthy literature.

To the point. Relevant information and lots of it! I found it very helpful, thanks.

I have been writing children’s stories I call them bed time stories but I am in a country where they don’t take children’s stories as much important and I have never published any though I have written a number of them, I have no editor, no publisher so am just sitting with my stories though they may be good for children to read them and I would love to be part in children’s happiness all over the world, what should I do

Great info! Thank you so much!

Hi my daughter wrote a book 2 years ago, she is 12 years old now, she want to publish but she doesn’t know how to do? Please tell me what we do next?

I would recommend hiring an illustrator and then with the PDF they give you with the text included, uploading that to Amazon and self publishing. Self publishing is the best option for children who write children’s books.

Thanks so much for the information . I shall work do my best.

Plenty of info thanks a lot.

Great article with practical solutions that might otherwise be unclear even after an assessment. I was able to adjust my story and bring new ideas to it. Thank you

Thank you for putting your dedicated time into writing this article. I have written many books in the past but struggle to finish them because the starting is so long, but now I know to shorten things up a bit. Thanks!!!

The best interesting website I’ve visited in decade. Liked all the interactive content and ideas. Hopefully can make it for my son and daughter with all the share and knowledge you gave John. My best wishes to you and your family. Kind regards from Bali.

Such an insightful article. Thankyou 🙂

Great article, it’s very helpful. Thank you so much.

Amazing article! So helpful. Thankyou!

I found this information really helpful

when was this published?

Hello, I’m seeking an editor in Atlanta for my book. Do you have any recommendations? Your article gives a lot of insight.

I enjoyed reading the article above (Children books ), which explains everything in detail; the writing is fascinating and convincing. Thank you, and good luck with the upcoming items. Thanks, and Keep it up!

I found this site very informative and I have to say there seems to be a lot of work to getting your children’s book accepted and published. I find the tips on this site very helpful to the bigger picture of have a children’s book published and being successful. Before finding this site I thought long and hard about illustration as my book is based on a true story about a pet and his loving owner. I believe the the steps pointed out sound very good and if followed throughly I think anyone’s children’s could be very successful.

Hello, Let me start of by saying I’ve never written a book in my life, My inspiration for this children’s book is my granddaughter her name is Melanie Milagros, she is a true miracle, she was born at 15.9 oz and wasn’t expected to survive. But like a miracle she is now 5 yrs. old and going to school. My fiction book is about her and how she helped animals like rabbits, birds etc. with fairy, magic glitter, from helping a baby bird fly with its family, a bunny rabbit find friends, stuff like that. So the Story about Little Mighty Milagros and a sidekick a Lady Bug. Hmm? Still haven’t finalized that part. Again, I’ve never done anything like this. I don’t know how to find someone to make a cartoon of Melanie for the book.

Good article

FANTASTIC article! Thank you so much for this. I’m a filmmaker writing my first children’s book but I know nil about children’s publishing, so your article is amazing for me. Your generosity is MUCH appreciated.

great article & very useful

I loved all the tips you have shared, you are right when you said How to Write a Children’s Book in 12 Steps . This article was informative that I can’t wait for your next blog.

This is an awesome informative site! thank you so much!

Great article !!

My husband and I really appreciated this article. It has been such an overwhelming experience trying to navigate certain topics and we found ourselves all over the place with what to do first and last. This article has put us on the right track of what we want to accomplish with our children’s books. Wish us luck. Maybe we will update our success or lack thereof, in about 1-2 years.

I appreciate your spelling out the major steps necessary and the payment chart for illustrators. Very concise and direct. Thank you!

Your post is very interesting. Books pick their writers; the demonstration of creation isn’t a totally rational and conscious one. Thank you for sharing your blog.

Hi, Now that I know you are an editor, I would like your assistance. Please contact me by email. Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to write this article for so many aspiring writers! I thought your 12 steps were great and to the point. Hopefully I will be able to put them to use!

It’s great to learn that you should use energy when naming a children’s book. My wife is wanting to write a children’s book and she was wondering how she could effectively name the book once she’s finished. I’ll be sure to tell her to add energy to the title.

I came across your blog and thanks for being spot on. I am a publisher and also a children’s book author/illustrator. I decided to go against the norm and keep my books as picture books even though they were meant to be Chapter Books. They are all around 3k words but I opted for keeping them as PB because I was highlighting the differences between all the characters and I thought visuals were essential. Many agents and publishers didn’t like this. You are 100% correct when it comes to word count and structure. I didn’t start out wanting to be a children’s book author nor illustrator, I was just trying to fill a void in children’s lit. Children need to see themselves in the characters they read about! Anyhow, good advice! And, may the muse be with all your readers!

I recently retired from my teaching positions and I have a lot of experiences I can use in my stories. I want my stories to help students with disabilities accept their uniqueness as a strength and not something to be ashamed of. I have always been interested in writing children’s books and after reading this blog, it has given me more insight on steps to take to master this writing process. Thanks goes to you J. Fox!

Great advice, thank you! I’m writing and illustrating my first children’s book and have minimal knowledge on any of it. I assumed it was the editor that did the word placement and font, (not the illustrator?) and now I feel very nervous and overwhelmed lol. So, let me back up a little and begin by asking… What’s the best way to scan my illustrations? Or is it better to hire a professional photographer?

I’m not sure. Most illustrators work on computers, and so already have a PDF file.

I think a scan would be better than a photograph.

Ok, Thanks for replying!

I’m really glad that I came across this article. I recently decided that I want to write a children’s book about children who may have a parent, sibling or family member with a chronic pain condition. I was inspired by my own chronic pain condition, connective tissue disorder and possibly arthritis as well. I found this article very helpful, thank you.

Have acquired a lot of knowledge and advice from the article. I have a long way to go and still mulling it all over.

Thank you for sharing all this. I am seriously considering the course.

Hi Bridget, Glad you liked the blog post! I’ve gotten a ton of great feedback about the course and am sure it would help you tremendously.

Very helpful…straightforward and informative

Helpful and informative.

Thank you it was very helpful to start writing a book.

Thank you for this really interesting and informative guide. I have made a start on an idea and will definitely follow your 12 steps and then take the next steps for editor and hopefully publisher!

Thank you for such an excellent article! I’ve always dreamed of writing a children’s book, but never thought I could actually do it. I’ve set a goal for myself to write my first book this year; so far, all I have is a very general idea. However, I know what my main character looks like. I don’t want to waste words describing her appearance in the story since the book will be illustrated. When hiring an illustrator, would I have any say-so in the illustrations? Specifically, would an illustrator honor my wishes in how my main character looks?

It depends on the illustrator, but most illustrators want some basic info from you about what the character might look like. Illustrators that you hire tend to want explicit direction from you, while illustrators that the publisher hires tend to want independence and autonomy.

Interesting, but I would have liked more info on writing middle grade.

Thanks! I will be looking to rewrite classics for preteen kids. Like O Henry or Poe stories.

This was exactly what I was looking for! Thank you…this has been something I have wanted to do….time to get to it and DO IT!

hello I would Like info on how to write a children book

See above. Also, click the link at the bottom to get on my email list.

Incredibly informative – my thanks for sharing so many of the steps to success. Its a detailed road for potential success. My thanks.

Wow! What are you supposed to say when you get for free an excellent article (like this) that you know you wouldn’t mind paying for? Two words: Thank you! My only regret is not reading this article before I purchased some ‘how-to-write-a-children’s-book’ books on Amazon. All the same, I got some great ideas on how to market a children’s book. Still, I just realized that I have got work to do on my three books, which I plan to self-publish all at once this summer. I have decided to hit the pause button and take your course first. I will contact you to edit my books after I’m done with your course. Again, thank you!!

This was so to-the-point and practical advice. I am a visual arts teacher and I will use this guide in my classroom for my budding artists and writers. I also have a community arts space, and I will use this there as well.

Every aspiring author will venture out writing children’s books first since they believe that this is the easiest to write among other genres. Writing children’s books enables you to enter a different world, one that is filled with joy, excitement, and splendor. Children’s books are the pathway into other cultures, ideas, and imagination for young readers. These books enable them to be at the feet of other people and travel places unimaginable.

Hmm. One thing that is incorrect is picture book length. The vast majority of publishers now want nothing longer than 500 words (unless it’s nonfiction) – and preferably even shorter than that. Many won’t even look at anything longer anymore.

Great Advice! structure is SO important!

Thank you for the EXCELLENT overview, extensive information and helpful hints. Here is my question: I’m interested in writing a series of “educational” books that focus on African American leaders and heroes for children to read as inspiration. I’ve done my homework in terms of discovering black children read 39% less than white children and that is due in part to not connecting with the content/subject matter. I have a PhD in Education and would like to create a series of motivational/inspirational books – if he/she can do it, I can to! Any suggestions? Feedback is welcome! Thanks~

Sounds great! Go for it.

Thank you so much for your helpful “push!” I have been struggling in getting started and remaining committed to my dream of writing for children 0-5 in age. I’m an assistant Early Headstart Teacher, and reaching the minds of our little ones early with reading, is a journey that I truly wish to be a part of! Is there any way I can print out this article? I like to examine things more closely and I use a lot of highlighters!! Thank you again for giving me a starting point, but more importantly, a new vision!

Start and end your children’s picture book story quickly — and make every word, phrase and sentence “walk the plank”. That’s excellent advice on its own. Thank you. Is it acceptable to submit the same manuscript to several mainstream publishers simultaneously and should you declare this? Is “spreading the net” likely to hinder your chances?

It is acceptable to do simultaneous submissions.

But most mainstream publishers only accept manuscripts from agents.

Also, beware that you don’t submit simultaneously to multiple agents at the same agency — only one agent per agency at a time.

This is so awesome and helpful. Thanks The John Fox!

This was a great article, lots of things I would not have thought of. Thank you

Hi, I am not sure if my story is right for kids? And I don’t know what age group it is?

Thank you so much for the information. Now I have ideas on how to go about writing children’s books. I am new in this and I believe the information will go along way in building my competencies in creating readers for Children.

I respect everything that you have written in this blog. Please continue to provide wisdom to more people like me.

Thank you so much everything you talked about is very helpful. I have someone that can help me with getting my book out there, but one question is what if you write a children’s book and you can make it into a few books to continue the story, even if the main character is not in the rest of the story. Do you just keep going with the story or Do you just start the next book as if it were a new book not of the continuation

Some series can be thematic or located in a certain place, and yet feature different characters. So I would recommend you still call it a series.

I would love to do your course to get insight into my children’s book. I want it to be perfect.

Thank you so much for this invaluable information! I’m considering my first children’s book and I am an artist so I’ll do that part but I’m just starting out and I’m excited now to begin.

Amazing Amazing article! I literally jot down points and learned so much from this article. I wish to buy the children’s book course too. He is so talented and talks right on the point.

any ideas on how to write a childs forever home

An amazing post with great tips as always. Anyone will find your post useful. Keep up the good work.

Hello, I would like to know where your company is located. I am interested in taking one of your courses.

Hi Cynthia, I’m located in California. But you can take courses from wherever you are in the world — I’ve had students from nearly a hundred countries.

Thank you so much John for sharing your knowledge and insight! This is great information and extremely helpful. I do have a question. I’m working with an illustrator on Fiverr. Is it still necessary to ask if they keep the rights or do I? I would assume yes, but not sure if you recommend that based on the structure and operations of Fiverr. Thank you again!

Yes, that’s a good question to ask them. Most of the people on Fiverr would agree to giving you the rights, I believe, while the higher end illustrators hired by a publishing company generally keep the rights.

this article is gold!

This post was truly worthwhile to read. I wanted to say thank you for the key points you have pointed out as they are enlightening.

Great BOOKFOX informative and useful. Thanks.

Both the quality and quantity of the words you speak to your child matter when it comes to early literacy and language abilities. Books are a fantastic way to start chatting, telling tales, and interacting with your child. Thank you so much.

This was the exact information I was looking for as I begin my career as a writer. I appreciate all the time you have put into this amazing article regarding how to write a children’s book.

Hi! I’m curious about your course. How long are each of the videos? Or how long is all of the content put together?

Hi Andrea, most of the videos in my children’s book course are about 6 – 7 minutes. And there are 30 videos. I’ve worked hard to compress all the information you need into compact form — I don’t want to waste people’s time.

Wow! This is a great article. Do you have an article on how to write dialogue? I’m just starting my first book and I have written (and deleted) small stories for fun, but there was more action than words so the conversations were kind of boring. The main character in my book is 12 years old, so I was wondering if I should add words like, ‘literally’ or ‘like’ a lot, because the main part of my story is dialogue (my character is telling a story to her siblings.) Also, I’m a younger writer and closer to the age of my character, and I say those kinds of words frequently, but it honestly might be overkill to write them that many times in a book *if there was a laughing face emoji available I would put it here*. Your response would be greatly appreciated, Holland J

Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom and experience, John! This is excellent information that will be really useful. Anyone can sit down and scribble a children’s book, and with a little help and direction, yours could be good enough to capture the attention of thousands of kids.

Thank you so much. Based here in Ireland and I have a book idea the last 2 years and I really need to get it ready and started as I think it could be huge

Great article! I do have a question. You are speaking to picture books – where the pictures carry the story of the book and not the words. But what about if the writing carries the story and the pictures help to illustrate it? The majority of what you state would stay true but the word count would not be the same?

It’s really nice and educational for a beginner writer.

Books can encourage children to explore what they truly want to do in life. Your book could be a tool for self-discovery.

I loved reading through this. I’m working on my first children’s book series and this article brought up so many good points for my to consider when writing and publishing. Thank you for sharing!

This was exactly what I needed to come across today, very helpful and gives much food for thought. Very appreciative of your outline of the process thank you kindly

Hi. What a wonderful article and very informative too. Thank you. Lots to think about. Cheers

The high level steps, the bullet points, and the tips ar3 incredibly helpful. Thank you.

Excellent article. Very informative. Now at least I have a direction.

I’m a novice story teller with a story about adoption geared for ages 3-7. I have the basic story, photos to inspire an illustrator, but I really just want to tell the story for all of my family and friends who have experienced the JOY OF ADOPTION! I would feel so blessed if it would inspire other to adopt! We’ll see…

Extremely well-written and insightful advice. Thank you for sharing.

Great article! Thanks for the advice. Just reading this page has helped inspire me to keep moving forward with my ideas. The love I see in my daughters eyes when I read to her is my motivation to write a kids book to share that love.

Thanks for helping me “walk the plank”

I appreciate your informative article. After my son passing onto heaven he has repeatedly told me in my dreams to write a children’s book. Give little souls a chance to laugh and look more to simple tasks in a day to better one another because we are not promised tomorrow. May God bless you, Hillary D

Thanks for the honest words and great guide! Much appreciated.

Hi, I am thinking about becoming a children’s book writer, I have no experience.

Lots of great info THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Thanks for all of help on today 5/15/2022 a lot of information was discovered for me in this article I will be following your steps.

A very informative and well-elaborated article. Thank you so much. Has provided me with key points to consider as we write children’s books in local languages with some Ugandan primary teachers.

This is the best article that I have ever found on the internet. Very clear and helpful. Thank you!

Excellent article- so thrilled I came across it

I am glad to have come across this article. Very informativ and encouraging. Thank you!

Very good advice!

I plan to release a children’s book later this year, and I’m considering self-publishing with the help of hardcover book printing services. I appreciate the advice about how it would be best to make the character struggle and fail first before solving the problem to gain the interest of the readers. I’ll be sure to remember this while I look for hardcover book printing services to work with.

Read and then reread. Thanks!

The article is a good gist of all what children’s writer must know. Thanks a lot for this article.

Thank you, thank you! Invaluable advise for novice children’s book authors. I devoured every word in my attempt to write my first children’s book.

This has been a very helpful nicely structured review. It focused on practical points, gave useful examples.

Hello I am interested in writing a children’s book i just reviewed your notes on how and what to do my question is, if i wanted to hire you to help me with my book, do I have to take your course first? And also what is the over head view of funds i would need to publish a children’s book? Thank you very much.

Great article!!! It provided much helpful insight on heels of my self-publishing a “bucket list” children’s book recently. What John provided here is much-need food for thought for a 2nd effort.

Very good article. Well thought out, with relevant, professional information and resources. Thank you!

Not only is this a very well put together article, it even explains and demonstrates some of the elements with which a new writer might not yet be familiar. I will be reading this several times, and then some more Thanks!

A very brilliant and interesting article

I want to say a huge thank you for sharing this post. It has really been so valuable and helpful. Thanks again for sharing.

This is so helpful. Genuine guidance and because of this I am 100% interested in your services when it’s time. Too often these posts are one long advertisement but you hit the right balance between great free info and offering your services as a resource!

Very glad to hear that! Yes, I’ll be ready when you need editing.

Thanks for the article. Very informative

Hi, I’m a pensioner from NSW Australia. I have 22 cartoon Australian animals in my children’s book. All with descriptions and their personalities and where they live in the village around a pond in the Australian Outback. My illustrations have still to be coloured which I thought to do in water coloured paint. Being a pensioner, I cannot afford much and if so, would have to just print my book onto paper and keep it in the family for my grandchildren.

Great article, thank you

its a great article and nice advice

It was all very helpful. Now I can re-evaluate my children’s book. Thank you

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. This is the best article on helping new writers. I am so excited to get started now.

Thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom. It is so helpful and answers many of the questions I had.

Great info – Thanks. I stumbled on it at the perfect time to write a story for my grandaughter for Christmas.

This was extremely informative and beyond helpful. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Thanks so much for sharing this valuable knowledge!

Thank you so much for this article. We have to write a book for an assignment in my class and read it to the younger kids in my school. I needed a lot of help to get started. My group has an idea and this really helps with adding on to it and making it better.

Your article was very enlightening, I wrote a children’s story many years ago, you have given me the inspiration to publish.

This article was SO helpful and easy to follow. It all makes perfect sense now!

Very informative, great read!

I’ve published four children’s books (with Putnam and S&S) and this is one of the better tutorials on the subject I’ve read, similar to what we learn directly from editors at SCBWI conferences. This article served as an excellent reminder of all the important points I needed to hear as I start on a new book. Kudos!

Very glad to have this helpful and informative article straight to the point thanks

Hi very useful information, I’m doing my first book, that was sitting for years.

Your brilliant, and extremely helpful. I love your charismatic truth on everything.I feel so much more knowledgeable,than before I came here.

Hi! I’m writing a children’s book! I most likely won’t publish it, but I wanted to thank you for this article. It’s really helpful and informative! Wish me luck!

Really really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Lots of things to think about now.

I found your information quite insightful. I am already writing several children’s golf books and your piece has reinforced what I am already doing. This is a great reference tool. JM

Wow!! After being overwhelmed by TOO much googling, this guide has finally set a course! Thank you for such an easy run down on how to kick off!! Let the email attack begin!!

You’re welcome! Happy writing. And if you need more help, take my course on children’s books or hire me as an editor!

i loved it👌❤❤❤

I LIKE THIS ARTICLE

Hello, my name is Lori Fajardo. I have wrote a children’s story I would like to make into a childrens book. Age group 3-7 but I do not know the next step. I have many ideas for more stories. If you could help me with the next step that would be so wonderful. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

Thanks it was helpful

Your write up has helped a lot.Rather it’s going to be a reference to go back to.

thank you, this was very helpful!

Interesting, highly educative and informative.

Very helpful. Thank you

VERY HELPFUL.THANK YOU SO MUCH

This has been an amazing article. I have learned so much! Thank you for putting this out there!

I’m at the very beginning of the process and this was so informative and easy to understand! thank you

I hope I’m in the right place. I have a unique cat, she’s a tabbico Polydactyl Tripod, raised along with little children. She’s had many fun adventures coping the way they play. as well as adjusting to her unique circumstances as a special needs cat. I’ve been told numerous times I should write about the things she has done and her life. example.. knocking down hotwheels in the bathtub and playing with them. I have no idea where to start. I’ve had her since she was a baby. I mentioned she’s a Tripod, her one back leg has a bad knee and deformed foot. We’ve had quite the adventure so far.

sounds like it would be a good book

Very informative. Thank you.

I have started to write my first children’s book recently. I would like some assistance on how to proceed. I have a story, plot, characters all figured out (as best that I can, some professional guidance would be appreciated at this stage.

Such an informative article . Thank you

this really helped, thumbs up.

Wow, what a great and informative starting point. I wanted to write a children’s book or series of books But didn’t really know where to start. Thank you for your honest and informative information.

Nice advice, great to know this. This is best article i’ve read so far for children!

thank you for sharing this kind of blog

The article “How to Write a Children’s Book” is an outstanding resource for aspiring authors. It provides a comprehensive guide that covers every aspect of writing a children’s book, from generating ideas to crafting engaging stories and understanding the nuances of children’s literature. The practical tips and clear instructions make the process approachable and inspiring. It’s evident that the author has a deep understanding of the genre and a genuine desire to help others succeed. Kudos for creating such an insightful and supportive guide that will surely motivate many to bring their stories to life!

You want kids to read your children’s book again and again, right?

I’ve helped hundreds of writers create their first book. This course offers:

• A guide to writing, editing and publishing your book
• Tips on how to find an editor and illustrator
• Ideas on structure, characters, and endings

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ThinkWritten

300 Fun Writing Prompts for Kids: Story Starters, Journal Prompts & Ideas

Are you a parent or teacher? Here are 300 fun and creative writing prompts for kids to spark the imagination of young writers everywhere. Use these kids writing ideas as journaling prompts, story starters or just for fun!

We may receive a commission when you make a purchase from one of our links for products and services we recommend. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for support!

Sharing is caring!

It’s never too early to start writing, and so we’ve created this fun list of 300 creative kids writing prompts for teacher and parents to use.

You’ll love these fun ideas for kids writing prompts to use as creative sparks to get young imaginations writing in no time!

These are perfect to use as kids journal writing prompts, as short story writing prompts, or just for exercises to help students and children of all ages tap into their creativity. Maybe your kids will write an essay, maybe a poem, or maybe even a whole book!

Whether you are a teacher or parent looking to inspire your kids to write, or maybe even an adult who would like to practice writing with a more playful and young-hearted approach, I hope you find these creative writing prompts inspiring!

Buy the Printable Cards!  We will always have this list of 300 kids writing prompts available for free, but I’m very excited to now also offer an  ad-free printable version of these prompts  in my online Etsy shop. Thank you for your support!

The Ultimate List of 300 Fun & Creative Writing Prompts for Kids

#1. Imagine a giant box is delivered to your front doorstep with your name on it. What’s inside and what happens when you open it?

#2. Write a short story about what it might be like if you woke up one morning with a mermaid tail.

#3. Which is better, winter or summer? Write about the reasons why you think winter or summer is better.

#4. Write about what would it be like if you had an alligator as a pet.

#5. If you had $1,000, what would you buy and why?

#6. Write a story using these 5 words: apple, train, elephant, paper, banjo

#7. What do you want be when you grow up and why?

#8. Who is your favorite person on the planet? What do you like most about that person?

#9. If you could have any secret super power, what would you want it to be and why?

#10. Write about 3 places you would like to travel someday. What do these three places have in common?

#11. Write about a time you felt really happy. What happened? What made you feel happy?

#12. Imagine what would happen if someone shrunk you down to be only 1″ tall. How would your life change?

#13. If you were in charge of the whole world, what would you do to make the world a happier place?

#14. Write a story about what it would be like to climb to the very top of the highest mountain in the world.

#15. If you were in charge of planning the school lunch menu, what foods would you serve each day?

#16. What are some of your favorite animals? What do you like about them?

#17. Imagine that dogs take over the world. What do they make the humans do?

#18. Write a story about flying to outer space and discovering a new planet.

#19. You are a mad scientist and have invented a new vegetable. What is it called? What does it look like? What does it taste like? Most importantly: Is it safe to eat?

#20. You go to school one morning to discover your best friend has been turned into a frog by an evil witch! How do you help your friend?

#21. Describe what it is like when trees lose all of their leaves in the autumn season.

#22. Write about your favorite sport and why you like it so much.

#23. Imagine what it might be like to live on a boat all the time and write about it.

#24. If you had one wish, what would it be?

#25. Write about what you might do if you have the super power to become invisible.

#26. You are walking through the forest when one of the trees starts talking to you. What does it say? What do you do?

#27. The weather forecast is calling for a blizzard in the middle of the summer. What do you do?

#28. What types of transportation will people have in the future?

#29. What were some of your favorite toys when you very little? Do you still enjoy playing with them?

#30. What would a day in your life be like if you were a movie star?

#31. Imagine you’ve invented a time machine! What year do you travel to?

#32. What are your favorite things to do over summer vacation?

#33. What is your favorite holiday and why?

#34. If you could meet any fictional character from a book, who would it be?

#35. You are writing a travel guide for kids visiting your city. What places do you think they should visit?

#36. What is a food you hate? Write about it!

#37. Imagine what it would be like if there was no electricity. What would be different in your daily routine?

#38. You are building a new city! What types of things do you think your city needs? How will you convince people to move to your new city?

#39. What is your favorite movie? Write your review of the movie and why you think people should watch it.

#40. Imagine you get a magic sweater for your birthday. What happens when you wear the sweater? What do you do with these new found magical powers?

#41. You are the security guard at the zoo and someone has stolen a rhinoceros! How do you track down the thief?

#42. You have been invited to have lunch with the queen. What foods do you eat and what topics do you and the queen discuss?

#43. If you could design a school uniform, what types of clothes would you suggest? What colors would they be?

#44. Imagine you are a reporter interviewing a celebrity about their life. What questions do you ask?

#45. You are running a lemonade stand. Describe the steps for how you make lemonade and the types of customers you see during the day.

#46. Write a story about being the ruler of an underwater world.

#47. Write an acrostic poem for the word “treehouse”.

#48. You decide to grow a sunflower, but the sunflower grows so tall it reaches up to the sky! Write about what happens when you decide to climb to the top. What do you discover?

#49. Imagine you look out the window and it is raining popsicles from the sky! Write a story about the experience.

#50. If you could be any animal, which one would you be and why?

#51. If you were on a spaceship, what would you be most excited about seeing?

#52. Do you have any pets at home? Write an essay about how you take care of your pets. If you do not have a pet, what type of pet might you like?

#53. Imagine you are opening a store that only sells items which are blue. What types of items do you sell?

#54. Have you ever lost something that is important to you? Were you able to find it?

#55. Write a story about a kid who is moving to a new school. How do you think they might feel?

#56. Rewrite the ending of your favorite fairy tale. For example, what would have happened if Cinderella never went to the ball?

#57. Have you ever forgotten to do your homework? What happened?

#58. Do you have a favorite song? Write about the type of music you like to listen to.

#59. Imagine your parents wake you up one morning to tell you they will take you to do anything you want to do for the whole day – you don’t even have to go to school or do your chores. What would you choose to do and why?

#60. Do you like amusement parks? What are some of your favorite rides?

#61. Write a story using these three words: detective, piano, and pizza.

#62. Have you ever been to the beach? Write about your favorite things to do. If you have never been to the beach, what would you like to do the first time you visit?

#63. Is there a favorite tv show you like to watch? Write about your favorite character and why they are your favorite.

#64. Write a poem using onomatopoeia , where the words you use are pronounced similar to the sound they make. For example, buzz, bark, sizzle, slam and pop.

#65. Have you ever had to stand in line to wait a long time for something? What did you do while you waited? How did you feel while waiting? How did you feel once the wait was over?

#66. Is it a good idea to keep ALL secrets a secret? Write about examples of when it is okay to spill a secret – and when it isn’t.

#67. Is there something you are good at doing? Write about your best strengths.

#68. What historical time period and location would you go back to live in if you could? Write about it!

#69. Write about 5 things you can do that are important for you to stay healthy and safe.

#70. Do you think thunderstorms are scary? Why or why not?

#71. What would you most like to learn over the next year? Think about things that interest you or questions you might have about the world and make a list!

#72. You are going on a trip to a jungle safari! What items do you pack in your suitcase?

#73. Imagine you are sitting at home one day and you hear someone shrieking in the living room they see a mouse in the house! Write a story about what might happen next.

#74. You are writing a letter to someone who is having a hard time making new friends at school. What do you write? What advice do you give them?

#75. Imagine you just met a magician – but their beloved rabbit who they pull out of a hat for all the tricks has been kidnapped! How do you help find the rabbit?

#76. Do you hear what I hear? Set a timer for 5 minutes and write about all of the sounds you hear in those 5 minutes.

#77. Imagine you go to get a haircut and they accidentally shave your head! How do you feel about that and what would you do?

#78. Do you find it easy to talk to people you don’t know? What are some ways you can start up a conversation with someone you have never met before?

#79. Are there any chores you have to do at home? What are they? What do you like – and not like – about each one?

#80. Open up a random book to any page. Write for 5 minutes about the first word you read.

#81. Pretend you are a writer for your city’s newspaper. Who would you like to interview for a news story and why?

#82. There are many fictional characters who live in unusual houses, such as the old woman who lived in a shoe. What kind of unusual house would you like to live in? Write about what it would be like to live in an unusual house!

#83. Write a list of 10 things you can do to practice kindness to others.

#84. Is there a homework subject you dread? Why do you not like getting homework in that subject?

#85. What is your favorite month of the year? Write about why you like it and some of your favorite things to do during that month.

#86. Imagine you are planning a surprise birthday party for someone. How do you keep it a surprise?

#87. Pretend you walked outside to find a sleeping dragon in the grass! Why is the dragon there? Is it a friendly dragon? What do you do? Write about it!

#88. What are you grateful for today and why?

#89. You were on your way to a very important event when you fell into a puddle. Now what?

#90. Have you ever watched a movie and didn’t like how it ended? Write what you think should happen instead.

#91. Can you answer this riddle from Alice in Wonderland ? How is a raven like a writing desk?

#92. Imagine you are the captain of a pirate ship. Write a diary entry for what your day was like.

#93. If you could start any type of business, what kind of business would you start? What types of products or services would you provide?

#94. Write a sequel to one of your favorite fairy tales. For example, what was Goldilocks’s next adventure after she left the bears?

#95. What is something you are afraid of? What helps you to feel less afraid of something? What would you say to a friend who feels scared to help them feel less afraid?

#96. Write a letter to your future self in 20 years.

#97. In addition to basic survival needs such as food, water, air and shelter, what are 3 things you would you need to be happy?

#98. If you could invent a robot of any type who could do anything you imagine, what types of things would you would have the robot to do?

#99. Which do like better? Apples or Oranges? How are they alike? How are they different?

#100. Why did the chicken cross the road? You are a detective and are assigned to the case. How do solve the mystery?

#101. Write instructions for how to make your favorite snack. Be sure you add your favorite tips and suggestions for how to select the best ingredients!

#102. Imagine you borrowed a friend’s favorite lucky pencil to help you pass a math test – but then it snapped in half! How will you ever tell the news to your friend?

#103. Look around the current room you are sitting in and choose 3 random objects that are nearby. Now write a story or poem that includes those three items!

#104. Write a letter to the author of a book you recently read and tell them what you liked most about the book.

#105. Ernest Hemingway is famous for writing a six word story. Can you write a story in just 6 words?

#106. What do you think will be the future for cell phones? Will people still use them in 25 years or will something else take its place?

#107. Do you want to go to college? Why or why not?

#108. Write a story or poem about a kitten who wanders off and gets lost. How does the kitten find its way home?

#109. Currently, it is required by law that kids go to school. Do you think this is a good or bad idea?

#110. If you could invent a new board game, what would it be called? How is it played? What are the rules? What makes it fun to play? Write about it!

#111. Imagine you come home to discover your entire bedroom is covered in ketchup! What on earth happened? What is your reaction? How do you clean everything up?

#112. What is something you learned today?

#113. Would you rather have a goldfish or shark as a pet?

#114. From A-Z: make a list of something for every letter of the alphabet.

#115. Have you ever gone fishing? If you have, did you like it? Why or why not? If you haven’t, do you think you might want to?

#116. What is one of the most important things you do each and every day?

#117. Write a story about Gretchen the Grouch, a girl who is always angry! Will she ever be happy? Why is she so grumpy all of the time?

#118. How do you feel when someone takes something of yours without asking? What is a good way to deal with it when that happens?

#119. Write a poem that starts with the word “if”.

#120. Write a story about a family of rabbits who live in the woods. What are some of the challenges they face?

#121. What clothes do you think are the most comfortable? What kind of clothes do you like to wear the most? What clothes do you NOT like to wear?

#122. Imagine there are no grocery stores and you must get your own food. What are some of the ways you find food? What types of things do you eat?

#123. What are 3 things you can do that are good for the environment?

#124. If you could meet any famous person today, who would you want to meet and why? What questions might you ask them?

#125. A tongue twister is a quick poem where many of the words start with the same letter and are similar in sound. For example, “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers.” Try writing your own with this fun kids writing prompt!

#126. What is the first thing you think of when you hear or see the word green?

#127. A hero is someone who is admired for their courage and achievements. What do you think makes someone a hero? Who are some of your heroes?

#128. What did you do during summer vacation last year? What do you want to do for summer vacation this year?

#129. Write a story about a super hero dog who saves the day! Who does the dog help and why?

#130. Would you rather live somewhere that is always cold, or somewhere that is always hot? Write about which one you would rather choose.

#131. Have you ever volunteered to help a charity? If so, write about the experience! If not, what are some charities you think you might like to volunteer for?

#132. What does the word courage mean to you?

#133. What makes you unique? What are some things about you that make you an individual?

#134. Have you ever been to a museum? What is your favorite thing to look at on display?

#135. What can you do to set a good example for others to be kind?

#136. A Tall Tale is a story that exaggerates something that actually happened. Write a tall tale about something that recently happened to you.

#137. What is one of your favorite toys that you think you might still want to have and play with when you are 22 years old?

#138. Oh no! Everyone around you is sick with a nasty cold! Write a silly poem about how you try to avoid catching their germs!

#139. Personification is when a non-living object takes on human characteristics. Write a story where you personify a common electronic gadget in your house, such as the Television or toaster.

#140. Write a poem using similes, which is when you say an object is like something else. Here is an example of a simile: “Her eyes were as blue as the sky.”

#141. Have you ever read a book written by Dr. Suess? Write your own “Suess-style” story, complete with rhymes and made up words.

#142. Do you have any siblings? Think about what it might mean to be a good brother or sister and write about it!

#143. Make a list of questions to interview your parents or grandparents about what it was like when they were growing up as a kid. Then, ask them the questions and write about their answers!

#144. You are in charge of writing a new radio show just for kids! What topics will you talk about? What music do you play?

#145. What do you usually eat for breakfast every day? What, in your opinion, is the greatest breakfast food ever created? What makes it so great?

#146. Write a 12 line poem where every line is about a different month of the year.

#147. What is something you look forward to doing the most when you are an adult?

Use these prompts in your classroom!  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to inspire your students to write! Thank you for your support!

#148. Do you like to try new things? What is something new you have tried recently or would like to try?

#149. Imagine what it might be like to be alive in Egypt when the pyramids were built. Write about what it was like.

#150. A credo is a statement of personal beliefs. Try writing your own credo for things that you believe in and feel are important.

#151. The circus has come to town but they have no place to perform! How do you help the ringmaster find a place to put on a show?

#152. Do you like to act? What are some of your favorite actors or actresses? What do you think makes someone a good actor or actress?

#153. “Practice makes perfect” is a popular saying. What is something you like to practice so you can become better at it? A sport? A musical instrument? A special skill? Do you like to practice?

#154. Write about what it might be like to be water drops freezing and turning into ice.

#155. Do you think it is important to keep your room clean? What do you like about having a clean room?

#156. Imagine your parents are sending you away for a two week summer camp trip. Would you be excited? Why or why not?

#157. What are you currently learning about in history class? Write a fictional story about someone from the past you are learning about.

#158. Many wars have been fought in the past. Instead of going to war, what do you think countries could do to resolve their differences peacefully?

#159. Every year over 8 billion plastic bottles and cans are thrown away. What are some things you can do to help encourage your family and friends to recycle?

#160. Imagine if you were the principal of the school. What might you do differently? What things would you do that are the same? Write about it!

#161. Pretend that one day you are at your neighbor’s house and you notice a strange noise coming from the basement. You go downstairs to investigate to see a large machine running with many lights and buttons. Why is it there?

#162. Write an essay that starts with the line, “Tomorrow, I hope…”

#163. If you could give one thing to every child in the world, what would you want to give them?

#164. Do you have a piggy bank at home? How do you earn money to add to your savings?

#165. What qualities make a house a home? What are 3 things you think every house should have?

#166. Would you rather go scuba diving or rock climbing? Write about which one you think you would like to do more and why.

#167. Do you think it is a good idea for kids to write a daily journal? What are some of the benefits of writing every day?

#168. Do you like watching fireworks or are they too noisy? Write about a time when you saw fireworks in the sky.

#169. Oh no! Your friend has turned into a statue! How did this happen? What do you do? Does your friend ever turn back into a person again?

#170. If you could be any movie character, who would you be and why?

#171. A mysterious message appears in code on your computer screen. What could it mean?

#172. If you could go to work with one of your parents for a day, what do you think the day would be like? What types of things do your parents do at work all day long?

#173. Imagine you are the President and you are creating a new national holiday. What is your holiday about? How is it celebrated? What day of the year do you celebrate? Write about it!

#174. You won a never-ending lifetime supply of spaghetti noodles! What will you do with all of these noodles?

#175. Would you rather be a bunny rabbit or a hawk? Why did you choose the one you chose?

#176. Your teacher has been acting mysterious lately. After school one day, you notice a weird green light shining through underneath the door of your classroom. What do you do? What is happening with your teacher?

#177. Write an article about tips for how kids can be more organized and study well for tests.

#178. Look at any product in your house and read the ingredients labels. Research what each ingredient is. Do you think these ingredients are good or bad for people?

#179. If you were a doctor, what do you think would be the most important part of your job every day?

#180. The school librarian needs your help! A truck just arrived with 2,000 books and she can’t fit all the books onto the shelves! What do you do? How do you find a place to put all these books?

#181. Do you think it would be fun to plant a garden? What types of plants would you want to grow? Write about your garden ideas.

#182. What is a sport or activity you would like to try playing for the first time?

#183. Do you think kids should be allowed to do the same things as adults? What things do you think kids should be able to do that only grown-ups can?

#184. Imagine you and your parents switch places for a day. Your parents are the kids and you are now in charge! What would you do?

#185. Write a get-well letter to someone who has been sick. What can you say to make them feel better?

#186. If you could visit any planet in the solar system, which planet would you like to visit the most and why? Write about what it might be like.

#187. Have you ever been to a farm? What did you like about it? If you haven’t been to a farm, do you think you might like to visit one? Why or why not?

#188. The mayor of the city has a big problem and needs your help! What is the problem and how will you solve it?

#189. Pretend your little sister ate carrots for dinner and the next morning woke up with rabbit ears!  How did this happen? What do you do? Will she be a rabbit forever?

#190. Imagine you wake up in the morning to find out you get to relive any day of your life again for the whole day. What day would you want to experience again and why?

#191. Do you think you might like to be a firefighter? Why or why not?

#192. You are a lawyer and your client has been accused of stealing a car. How do you convince the jury your client is innocent?

#193. Think of the four elements: fire, air, earth, and water. Which of these four elements do you like the best?

#194. What would you do if you could be invisible for a whole day? Do you think you would enjoy it or be glad to be back to normal the next day? Write about it!

#195. Imagine you are a meteorologist and people are starting to get angry that your weather predictions are always wrong. What do you do?

#196. If you could create any law, what would it be? Why do you think the law is an important one to have?

#197. You are going incognito and need to hide to your identity so you aren’t recognized or discovered while you walk through the city. What type of disguise do you wear?

#198. Write a persuasive letter to your parents explaining why you should get a new pet. Make sure you provide a convincing argument they won’t be able to refuse!

#199. Your friend wants to do something dangerous. What should you do?

#200. How do you think the world would be different if there were no oceans?

#201. What do you do when someone disagrees with your opinions? Is there a better way to handle conflicting opinions?

#202. What do you think you as a kid could do to help encourage more people to read?

#203. Do you have a good luck charm? What makes this item lucky? When do you use it? How do you use it?

#204. What is at the end of a rainbow? Imagine you follow a rainbow to the end. What do you discover? Is it a pot of gold, or something else?

Use these prompts in your classroom!  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to inspire your students to write! Thank you for your support!

#205. What do you think the consequences should be for someone who is caught cheating on a test at school?

#206. Imagine you are riding your bike one day when you encounter an older kid who wants to steal your bike. What do you do?

#207. You are the lead singer and star of a famous rock and roll band, but there is one problem – your drummer is jealous of your fame! How do you solve this situation?

#208. If you could help a group of kids in any part of the world, what kids would you want to help the most and why? What are some things you think would help these kids?

#209. Everyone knows the house on the end of the street is haunted. What are some of the strange things that happen there? Why is the house haunted?

#210. You notice at school one day there is a door to a secret passage next to the janitor’s closet and decide to explore. Where does it lead? Why is it there? Do you go alone or bring a friend along?

#211. A bucket list is a list of things you want to accomplish in your lifetime. What are 5 things on your bucket list?

#212. Imagine the perfect treehouse or clubhouse for you and all of your friends as a place to hang out. Describe what it is like inside.

#213. Do you get bored easily? Make a list of things you can do whenever you feel like you are bored and there is nothing fun to do!

#214. Now vs. Then: Think about how today is different from one year ago. How have you changed? What things in your life are different?

#215. Write your autobiography about your life.

#216. It’s a heat wave! What do you do when the weather is hot? What are some of your favorite ways to stay cool?

#217. What are three important safety tips every kid should know to stay safe?

#218. What genre of books do you like to read the most? Write about the characteristics of the genre and list some of your favorite books as examples.

#219. Holiday Traditions: How does your family celebrate the different holidays and events? What are some traditions you do each and every year?

#220. Imagine one day in science class a science experiment goes terribly wrong and now you and all of your classmates have superpowers! What are your superpowers and what do you do with them?

#221. Who is favorite teacher? Why are they your favorite?

#222. You are baking a cake, but you accidentally put salt in the cake instead of sugar. Nobody will eat it! How do you feel? What will you do next time?

#223. Do you think it is important to have good table manners? What do you think some good manners to practice might be?

#224. Many schools no longer teach cursive handwriting. Do you think this is a good or bad thing? Do you know how to write cursive handwriting? Would you like to learn if you haven’t?

#225. If you were the owner of a theme park, what types of rides and attractions would have? Describe what they would be like and why people would want to visit your park.

#226. Your parents give you $100 to spend at the grocery store. What do you buy and why?

#227. Some people who are alive today grew up without computers or video games. What would you do if you didn’t have a computer or video games? How would life be different?

#228. You walk into your living room and discover there is a giant elephant standing there. How did the elephant get there? What do you do about it? How do you explain the elephant in the living room to your parents?

#229. Have you ever had a weird dream? What happened in the dream? What do you think it means?

#230. Do you like to draw or paint? Write a story inspired by a painting, doodle, or sketch.

#231. You are being sent on a mission to outer space to live in a space station for 5 years. What supplies do you pack and why?

#232. What is the scariest creature alive on earth? Describe in detail what makes it so horrifying.

#233. What do you think your pet might say if they could talk to you?

#234. Imagine your school is putting on a talent show. What act will you perform? What other acts will be in the show?

#235. If you could breathe under water, what would you do?

#236. What time of day do you think school should start? Write a convincing argument on why or why not the time of day school starts should change.

#237. If you were to start your own YouTube video channel, what would the videos on your channel be about?

#238. Do you like to cook? What are some things you like to make and eat?

#239. Your school is having a field day and you are in charge of planning the activities and games. What types of activities and games would you plan for the event?

#240. If you had a remote control drone that takes video of everything it sees from the sky and you could take it anywhere, what would you film? For example, the inside of a volcano or soar it over the plains of Africa.

#241. The Bermuda Triangle is an area of the ocean where many ships and planes have gone missing. Why do you think this could be? Write a story about what it might be like to travel there.

#242. There are 7 great wonders of the world – which one do you think is the most wonderful?

#243. If you could speak any foreign language fluently, which one would you like to speak and why?

#244. You are inventing a new flavor of ice cream! What is the new flavor called and what ingredients do you need to make it?

#245. Would you rather go to a baseball game or read a good book? What reasons do you have for your choice?

#246. You walk outside to get your mail and your mailbox starts talking to you! What does your mailbox have to say?

#247. Imagine you are a famous person. What are you most famous for? What is it like to be famous?

#248. What do you think would be the most fun job in the world to have? Give examples of why you think it would be a fun job to have.

#249. Write a poem about an object that is shiny and dazzling.

#250. Do you like to watch the Olympics? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favorite Olympic sport?

#251. What kind of car do you want to drive when you are older? Do you think learning to drive will be easy or hard?

#252. What do you think would make for a great gift to give someone on their birthday?

#253. Describe a time when you needed help and someone helped you. What did they help you with and how did it make you feel?

#254. If you could be any type of fruit or vegetable, what would you be and why?

Love these prompts?  Get the  ad-free printable version of these prompts  to use at home or in the classroom!

#255. Do you think it is more important to have a good imagination or have all the facts proven?

#256. Do you have a favorite aunt, uncle, or another relative? Write a story about their life and why you like to be with them.

#257. Think of a time you laughed really, really hard. What was so funny? Why were you laughing? Write about it!

#258. Write a poem about an emotion. For example: happy, sad, angry, embarrassed, guilty.

#259. Do you ever have a hard time falling asleep? What are some things that help you feel sleepy?

#260. If you could drive a car, where would you drive and why?

#261. Imagine you are trading places with your friend for a day. What will it be like to be at their house? What will your friend think while they are at your house? Write about it!

#262. If you could break a world record, what would it be? What do you think would be necessary to be able to break the world record?

#263. Imagine you live in Colonial times. What would it be like to grow up as a kid in Colonial America?

#264. You are building a new city. What is the name of your city? What is the weather like? What buildings will you build?

#265. What do you think it would be like to work as a sailor on big ship in the ocean each day?

#266. Imagine you are the teacher for the day. What types of activities do you make the students in the class do?

#267. How would you feel if your parents told you that you would be getting a new baby brother or sister? Write about it!

#268. Do you know any good jokes? What are some of your favorite jokes? What makes them funny? Do you think you could write your own?

#269. Imagine you are floating down a river on a raft. What types of things can you see from the river that you normally wouldn’t see from the land?

#270. You want to start a new hobby collecting something. What kinds of things would you collect and why?

#271. Your mom announces she is having a yard sale. Would you let her sell any of your things? Why or why not?

#272. Imagine you walk out your front door one morning and it is raining popcorn! What do you do?

#273.  You are camping in the woods one night and hear a scary noise. What do you do? What might be the cause?

#274. What do you think might make kids really happy to go to school? What are some things you think schools should do so that it could be more fun?

#275. Today’s lunch at the cafeteria was unusually horrible. You are a detective on the case to investigate. What do you think is the cause?

#276. If you had a tree that grows money, what would you do?

#277. What would you do if you had a unicorn as a pet?

#278. Would you rather go to the zoo or go to the aviary? Which one would you pick and why?

#279. What are some safety tips you should follow when riding a bike?

#280. You are designing the cover of a magazine. What are some of the headlines on the cover?

#281. Are you afraid of the dark? Why or why not?

#282. If you could learn to play any type of musical instrument, which one would you like to learn how to play and why?

#283. Imagine you are playing a sport that involves a ball, such as soccer, baseball or kickball. What would it be like if the ball could talk?

#284. You come home to discover a friendly alien has been living in your closet. What do you do? Why is there an alien in your closet?

#285. Is there something you are afraid of that you wish you weren’t afraid of? Write about it.

#286. Write about the best party you’ve ever been to. What made the day fun and special?

#287. What makes you feel loved and cared about? What are some ways people can show you that they love and care about you?

#288. There is a kite flying competition coming up and you are going to design your own kite. What will your kite look like? What colors will it be? Will it have any certain shape?

#289. You are given the challenge to drop an egg on the floor – without it breaking! What are some things you might try to make sure the egg won’t break?

#290. What are some of the things you can do every day to stay healthy?

#291. Do you think grown-ups are boring? Why do you think they are so boring all of the time? What is something fun that boring grown-ups could do instead of being so boring?

#292. Write a lyrical poem or song about what kids do while they are at school all day long.

#293. What are the first things you like to do when you are done with school each day? What are some of the activities you like when you are not at school?

#294. Imagine dinosaurs were still alive today. How do you think our lives would be different?

#295. Would you rather visit a volcano or a desert? Which one would you choose and why?

#296. Is there a sound you think is annoying? What types of sounds drive you crazy? Write about them!

#297. What do you think it would be like to be the size of an ant for a day? What types of things would you do?

#298. Imagine one of your stuffed animals comes to life and starts talking to you. What types of things will you talk about? What will you do?

#299. What makes you feel happiest? Write about the things in life that make you feel happy!

#300. Imagine there is no gravity. What kind of things would you do you for fun? How would some of the things you already do for fun be different?

Buy the Printable Cards!  We will always have this list of 300 kids writing prompts available for free, but I’m very excited to now also offer an  ad-free printable version of these prompts  in my online Etsy shop. Thank you for your support!

Parents and teachers, I hope you enjoyed these 300 writing prompts for kids and that you will use them to inspire your children’s creative imaginations.

These prompts of course can be used in a number of different ways and can be adapted for a variety of different styles of writing !

What do you think? Do you think these are good conversation and story starters for kids? Do you have any ideas for writing prompts you would like to share?

And of course, if you’d like to make it super fun and easy to use these prompts at home or in your classroom, be sure to get our ad-free printable version of these kids writing prompt cards now available in my Etsy shop.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on different creative writing ideas and topics for kids to write about! Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Chelle Stein wrote her first embarrassingly bad novel at the age of 14 and hasn't stopped writing since. As the founder of ThinkWritten, she enjoys encouraging writers and creatives of all types.

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Home / Book Writing / How to Write a Children’s Book in 9 Easy Steps [2024]

How to Write a Children’s Book in 9 Easy Steps [2024]

How do you write children's books and get them published? You write a children’s book by choosing a target audience, incorporating captivating elements, and beautifully illustrating it. Children’s books may either be self-published or submitted to traditional publishers .

And this article can give you the other tools you need to write the next great children’s book that you may have been thinking about for years, but never thought you'd be able to write and share it with little ones.

What’s your reason for writing children’s books? For me, it’s that smile.

Many authors or aspiring writers dream of publishing a children’s book. Maybe you have an incredible idea that you can’t stop thinking about. Or perhaps you want to put to paper your little one’s favorite bedtime short story — the one you made up while snuggling together.

Whatever the reason, now is the time to check this dream off your bucket list.

And I'm here to help you do that.

I'm a multi-award winning & bestselling children’s book author and ghostwriter of more than 50 children’s books. And I founded a little thing called Children’s Book University®, which helps other authors create books like I have.

What follows is as much information as I could condense into a single article on how to write a children's book. Enjoy!

Writing and publishing your own children’s book is no longer super challenging to achieve, nor does it take all your life savings (like it might have 20 years ago).

Unless you’re a celebrity or have a large following already, self-publishing your children’s book is a great way to get your foot in the door, even if your ultimate goal is to eventually explore traditional publishing.

If you present a well-performing book and an established author platform, your chances of landing a publishing deal are much higher than if you simply submit a query or manuscript.

How much money can be made from writing a children's book? The answer to this question greatly depends on the subject of the children's book. That's why doing our research is so important, even before we start writing our children's book.

Even for children’s books, we need to validate our book idea .

• How to Get to Know Your Audience
• How to Choose the Right Format for Your Children's Book
• How to Narrow Down Your Book Category
• How to Name a Children's Book
• How to Choose a Writing Style
• The Most Important Elements of a Children's Book
• How to Edit Your Children's Book
• How to Illustrate Your Children's Book
• How to Create a Book Dummy
• How to Sell Your Children's Book
• FAQs on Writing a Children's Book

Table of contents

• Will parents want to buy this book?
• Do you know the [basic] structure of a children’s book?
• Can you explain your book concept before writing?
• Writing a Children’s Book: Things to Avoid
• How to Write a Children’s Book in 9 Steps
• STEP 1. Choose the Format
• Board Books
• Picture Books
• Chapter Books
• Middle Grade
• Young Adult
• STEP 3. Choose a Title
• STEP 4. Find a Writing Style
• STEP 5. Incorporate Important Elements
• STEP 6. Use Solid Characters
• STEP 7. Make the Story Engaging
• STEP 8. Proofread & Edit
• 1. Choose Your Orientation
• 2. Plan Your Image Sizing
• 3. Create a Storyboard/Book Dummy
• Text as Part of the Image
• Text and Image Separate
• 5. Choose an Illustrator
• 6. Pay for Illustrations
• 7. Obtain the Illustrations
• 1. Should I copyright my children’s book?
• 2. What should I not do when writing a children’s book?
• 3. How do I convert my children’s book into an ebook?
• 4. Should my children’s book have a subtitle?
• 5. How do I write a children’s book description?
• 6. What category should my children's book be in?
• 7. What is the best cover design for my children's book?

Additionally, book series are generally doing very well with kids. Once little ones come to love a character, they often can't get enough of them and their parents continue buying the books. The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne and The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle are wonderful examples.

The roadmap below outlines what steps we’ll take to write and publish a children’s book:

Questions to Consider Before Writing a Children’s Book

For books marketed to younger audiences, you need to know that parents will want to buy this book. Children usually don’t spend the money to buy your story. Yes, make something entertaining for kids — but you need parents to buy your book first.

The primary purchaser of children’s books is between 30 and 44 years old. Females make up more than 70% of these buyers.

A few ways you could really get to better know your audience are:

• Spend time with age groups you’re targeting and their parents/guardians (whether in real life or on social media)
• Talk to parents and teachers
• Give a survey to women within the target age range from your own social circles

Market research is also a huge tool to see what books parents are looking to buy their children. You'd be surprised at how much interest some themes get when compared to others. Take a look at this example here, showing the search volume for common children's book themes on Amazon:

Data provided by  Publisher Rocket

Right away, you should see that some topics get way more interest than others- and depending on your personal goals, you might want to avoid writing a book about a topic with low searches.

Side Note: We recently reviewed another great course on publishing children's books, read our review here .

When writing a children’s storybook, it’s really important to know the basic structure of a children’s book. There are lots of templates for writing a children’s book!

To learn more about children’s books and how to structure your writing for a younger audience, you could:

• Study books that fall into your targeted age group. What is the general layout? What vocabulary is used?
• Visit a bookstore or library and browse through the kids’ section to get a feel for this genre.
• Search for age group trends and consumer trends in general via sites like Slideshare
• Talk to experts in child psychology and learning to understand the unique needs of children at each age level.

Is there a template for writing a children’s book? Yes, there are many templates for writing a children’s book. Here are some of my favorites:

• My own How to Write a Children’s Book Template (it’s free with lots of added resources)
• Template.net’s Illustrated Children’s Book Template (not all are free, but very professionally done with lots of different choices)
• Write Kids’ Books Free Microsoft Word children’s book template (for chapter books for slightly older kids )
• Claire O’Brien’s Free Picture Book Scrivener Template (for everyone’s favorite book-writing software, Scrivener )
• Used to Tech’s Free Editable Book Templates in Word (for Microsoft Word)

You should be able to explain your book concept to anyone in a single sentence and in fewer than 30 seconds.

To best explain your book concept to potential readers or traditional publishers, you should develop a logline that encapsulates the plot and the hook.

If you’re not concisely explaining your book’s concept, you might lose potential readers and publishers because it’s too confusing.

These 7 writing tips may help you avoid common issues when writing a children’s book:

• Don’t confuse age categories. I will talk more about the different age ranges shortly, but in essence, board Books for 0- to 2-year-olds should not have long words or long sentences. Middle Grade books should not feature profanities, and Young Adult fiction should not contain many illustrations (if at all).
• Avoid too many words in younger children’s literature. Picture books should never contain more than 800 words, including the front matter and back matter .
• Don’t make the moral of your story too obvious . Kids can smell a lesson being taught, and they don’t like it. Instead, subtly weave lessons into the story and characters.
• Avoid a bland title . Your title should interest potential buyers, clearly show what your story is about, and be easily searchable on Google and Amazon. Also, always use a subtitle to up your marketing game . Subtitles mean more keywords associated with your book.
• Don’t write bland characters . Your main character should take an active role in the plot, making bold decisions that move the story forward. Also, colorful personalities play well with younger kids.
• Avoid a slow start . Start your children’s book off with something exciting and suspenseful. Kids can lose interest if your story is slow, so be sure to hook your little reader from the very beginning.
• Don’t skimp on an illustrator . This is where many aspiring children’s authors struggle a bit. You don’t have to spend a fortune, but because illustrations play such a big part in children’s books, it’s important to use high-quality work. l While Young Adult books won’t need illustrations any longer, they are a must for books up until Middle Grade books. Especially those for younger kids will need vibrant illustrations on nearly every page. Picture Books should emphasize images just as much as the text.

Best Book Marketing Software

Over 47,000+ authors, NYT bestsellers, and publishing companies use Publisher Rocket to gain key insight to the market.  Help your book now

You want to make a children’s book. Below is every resource you’re going to need.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write a children’s book:

• Choose the format
• Know your target category
• Choose a title
• Find a writing style
• Incorporate important elements
• Use solid characters
• Make the story engaging
• Proofread and edit
• Illustrate your book

STEP 1 . Choose the Format

Should you publish an ebook or paperback? You should consider publishing your children’s book in both ebook format and paperback format.

Paperback is still the most popular format for children’s books. If you’re looking to sell your children’s book on Amazon or in brick-and-mortar stores , you should invest in a high-quality paperback format.

Ebooks are not a very popular medium for children’s books. However, children’s ebook usage is continuously increasing.

Most parents still prefer their kids to read print books, but the number of parents who prefer ebooks or who have no preference is growing.

Ebooks also come in handy during promotions and review requests. Giving away an ebook for review is a lot easier and more cost-effective.

With a little research, you can determine how well books are selling in your desired format. Here's an example of five competing paperback books on Amazon showing for the keyword “Children's Books About Puppies”, which should give you an idea of how well that format is performing. You can even see how many pages these books are, so you can calculate your estimated costs!

Price, Earnings, and Pages Data provided by  Publisher Rocket

It’s worth noting that a study out of the University of Michigan found that storytime with ebooks is not as effective . Compared with physical book storytime, parents spent more time talking about the technology, instead of the book’s content, during ebook storytime.

So physical children’s books won’t go away anytime soon.

STEP 2 . Know Your Target Category

To write a children’s book, you need to know your target category — that is, the age of your target audience.

When publishing on Amazon, you will be asked to list what ages your book is for. So it’s important to add the most appropriate age range. Otherwise you may receive lots of negative reviews from parents and other caregivers that thought your book to be unsuitable for their little ones.

Depending on the kids’ age reading your book, you will want to adjust the number of illustrations, word count , writing style, and more.

Most children’s books fall into one of these 5 categories:

• Board books
• Picture books
• Chapter books
• Middle grade chapter books
• Young Adult books

Below is a table to show average statistics for the most common types of children’s books:

Children's Book Categories

Short words and short sentences are critical for the youngest children, so readers don’t feel overwhelmed. Colorful illustrations and fun characters are more necessary in children’s books than in adult fiction. Where adults can mentally grapple with ambiguity, kids prefer resolved stories and answered questions.

Each stage of development in a child’s life requires a different story structure and book setup. Adapting to each stage and its cognitive ability is essential if we want our book to be meaningful, educational, and fun.

Board Books are considered the youngest category — including on Amazon’s marketplace. They are for kids aged 0 to 2.

A Board Book is printed on thick paperboard. Often, it contains all pictures or fewer than 100 words.

In most of these categories, but especially these Board Books, marketing to parents is probably more important than appealing to kids. Of course, you want your book to be fun and intriguing to children. But make sure you give parents what they’re looking for: a good message and subtle, effective education.

Picture Books are the next category of children’s books. They are for 3- to 5-year-olds.

Children’s picture books contain up to 400 words, but there should still be vibrant illustrations on every page.

Also called the “Early Readers” category, Chapter Books are just what they sound like — the first books that children will read with the story split up into chapters.

Though some children will be excited to start reading chapter books, others will be reluctant. The broad age range for basic Chapter Books is 6 to 10.

Middle Grade books are for children 8 to 12 — a step up from Chapter Books.

These books typically feature a protagonist aged 10 to 13, slightly older than the reader. They should contain no profane language, no violence, and no romance outside of a first kiss or an innocent crush.

Common themes include friendship, acceptance, good conquering evil, and the importance of family.

A Middle Grade book is longer than a Chapter Book but shorter than a YA book. It usually contains between 30,000 and 45,000 words.

Young Adult books are targeted towards readers aged 13 to 18. Abbreviated as YA, Young Adult is meant to appeal to teenagers, although it’s important to note that more than half of YA books sold are read by adults older than 18.

Some people also use “Young Adult” to mean a genre where the protagonist doesn’t fit in, the parents are absent, they live in a post-apocalyptic world, and a coming-of-age story takes center stage. These are tropes and don’t necessarily apply to every YA story, but you get the picture.

YA books won’t always be considered children’s books. But some traditional publishers may classify “Young Adult” as a children’s book category.

STEP 3 . Choose a Title

You need to choose a winning title for your children’s book. You could do this after it’s written, but having a title in mind may guide you in your writing. You can always improve and change the title after the story is written.

A creative title lets your story’s personality shine through. But you also want readers to actually find your book. This could be difficult if you don’t name your children’s book correctly.

Fortunately, Dave at Kindlepreneur wrote excellent articles on How to Title a Book and Book Title Generators . They will definitely help you craft that perfect title.

To title a children’s book, you need:

• To grab a reader’s attention (or a parent’s attention)
• To clearly tell what the story is about
• An easily searchable title, hard to confuse for something else
• Keywords that match what your audience is searching for

The book The Color Monster : A Story About Emotions is a great example:

• It grabs your attention because kids usually don’t associate monsters with different moods.
• It tells parents and kids that this story is about different monsters with different emotions.
• It is one of the first results when you search “monster book for kids.”
• It has the word “monster,” a very common search term for boy’s books.
• The subtitle reads “A Story About Emotions,” and includes “emotions,” which is another common keyword parents look for in their children’s books.

Speaking of subtitles: It’s important to include a subtitle underneath your title. This helps the marketing of your book by including additional keywords that parents can search for.

As you can see, some kids book genres have decent money coming into them, with less competition. So, make sure you do your research beforehand and see what possible types of kids books you can create. One way you can quickly see the competition of a genre is checking out your book's Amazon categories, and seeing how many sales it takes per day to become a bestseller. That should give you a good idea of the competition in that genre.

For example, take a look at the competition difference here for several children's categories about specific animals. Many young children have a favorite, and making a high quality book in a lower competition category can help your book be discovered by readers.

By writing a quality book for a category with low competition, but significant interest, your children's book will stand out from the crowd. If you decide to target a high competition category, just know there are publishers and authors with high experience already in that space, and you will have to work harder to capture a customer's attention.

STEP 4 . Find a Writing Style

You need to find a writing style that fits the age group you are writing for, the associated word count, the story you’re telling, and your own preferences.

You may be an excellent writer, an engaging blogger, maybe even an already accomplished author of adult fiction or nonfiction. But when it comes to writing style for children, you have to adopt a new mindset and an appropriate writing style.

Here are some writing styles you should consider:

• Rhyme: If you decide to write your book in rhyme, you need to make the rhyme very, very good. Make sure lines have the same syllable counts and rhythms. Don’t force bad rhymes or skip rhyming. Be consistent. (The Little Blue Truck and Llama Llama books are excellent examples.)
• Past or Present Tense: Kids prefer books in the present tense, actively engaging them in the story. They’re experiencing it as it happens, rather than being removed from something that happened in the past. (Maisy books are a great present-tense example.).
• First or Third Person: A third-person narrator’s voice may give you more freedom and flexibility. Children tend to prefer it to the first person. However, if it works with your theme to tell the story through a first-person narrator’s eyes, then make that choice.

There is no right or wrong approach; it’s merely a question of style. Once you have chosen your style, you will need to stick to it throughout the book.

STEP 5 . Incorporate Important Elements

When you write a children’s book, there are important elements that you need to incorporate, such as an appropriate theme, memorable characters , and relatable dialogue .

Your inspired story idea is only as strong as how you tell it. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are actions, scenes, and emotions. Be sure to be clear about your core message.

The 5 most important elements in a good children’s book:

• Unforgettable characters: The best characters have strong personalities, make bold moves, and go after their dreams against all odds. Children fall in love with them and want to be like them. Children want to relate to the main character in some way. They also relate to kids that are just a bit older than them. Characters who remind kids of themselves are the most unforgettable.
• Suspenseful action/hook: Beginning a children’s book with a suspenseful action or hook is an effective way to draw in young readers. Consistent action throughout your story is vital, as it will hold the reader’s attention. Chapter books, for example, usually end each chapter with a cliffhanger to ensure the reader keeps turning the pages.
• Realistic dialogue: Children like to read stories that sound like they talk. Listen to conversations you hear around you; none of them will sound like the nicely flowing, full sentences you learned to write in school. Make sure you’re using age-appropriate language that kids will understand and relate to.
• Good storyline: A good storyline means there are always obstacles and challenges for your characters, ever-escalating the action. Note that little ones like happy endings and answered questions. If your storyline lacks a happy ending, you risk upsetting the reader or leaving them dissatisfied.
• The instant recall factor: You want your book’s character to remain in the minds of your little readers long after they’ve read your book. If kids ask to read it over and over again, you can consider your story a success.

While the sequence and rhythm of events are significant, keep in mind that not all stories have the same structure. There is no one formula because following a formula would rob stories of their true potential.

Yes, it’s crucial to have an intentional structure. But if it doesn’t fit perfectly, don’t force it.

STEP 6 . Use Solid Characters

You have to use solid characters in your children’s book. Interesting, unforgettable characters are a must, especially when helping kids recall your story and core message.

The best characters in children’s books…

• are around the age of the child, if not a few years older
• have colorful personalities
• make bold choices that move the story along
• speak as the readers speak (dialogue style)
• have relatable wants and dreams

It's also important to research a character's surface level attributes before starting to write your book. Children will often ask their parents for a specific type of character such as a train, or a pig, or any other current interest they may have. For example, take a look at how much bestselling books earn for these character types, as well as the level of competition become a bestseller:

STEP 7 . Make the Story Engaging

You need to make the story engaging in your children’s book.

First, you need a good ending. Younger kids need a happy ending that satisfies them. You don’t want to make a kid cry because your story ended sadly. That doesn’t mean slightly more realistic conclusions are pointless, but your audience may struggle to understand complex topics.

Next, make sure your main character is making deliberate choices to move the story forward. If they aren’t making any decisions, they probably shouldn’t be the main character.

Any good story needs suspense, no matter your age category. Cliffhangers are a great way to engage your reader. In a younger book, a cliffhanger may be as simple as writing “Peek-a-” on one page, then “BOO!” on the next.

Here are some examples of suspenseful questions that different age ranges should ask throughout the story:

• In your picture book , is the caterpillar going to achieve its dream of becoming a butterfly? Is the mama cow going to find its baby calf?
• In middle grade books , is the girl going to get her first kiss? Is the boy going to convince his parents to let him get the big Nerf water gun?
• In YA books , is the protagonist going to realize she’s beautiful and save the world?

STEP 8 . Proofread & Edit

When you finish your first draft, you need to proofread and edit your children’s books.

Check out Kindlepreneur’s useful article on the Best Proofreading Services You'll Ever Find .

You should wait to hire a professional editor until you have self-edited your book. But you need a pro to look at your work before publishing.

Editing is a valuable and necessary investment, particularly for anything longer than 600 words. A professional proofreader or a line editor can help with spelling and grammar. For chapter books and beyond, you may want to hire a developmental editor to look at the big picture.

A good editor is instrumental in making your book a success because poor spelling, grammar, and book structure will reflect poorly on you as a children’s book writer, leading to negative reviews and fewer sales.

Your book and its message might be fantastic, but too many errors will be noticed by your readers. They may voice their opinion in a review like this, which ultimately lowers your overall rating.

So if your book is more than 600-800 words long, you should send it off to a professional editor for proofing.

Yes, you can go over it yourself and let your significant other read through it. But letting an unbiased, independent professional look over it will make your manuscript as good as it can be.

To find a great editor, read Kindlepreneur’s handy article Selecting The Best Book Editor .

STEP 9 . Illustrate Your Book

When it comes to adding illustrations to your children’s book, there are three options you can choose from:

• Do it yourself
• Hire someone
• Combination of both

The best option for you will depend on your budget, time, skill level, and trust you’re willing to put into someone else's interpretation of your story. Illustrating your book may take almost as much time as — if not more time than — actually writing the words of your children’s book. I’ve broken up the illustration process into 7 steps:

• Choose your orientation
• Plan your image sizing
• Create a storyboard/book dummy
• Combine text & illustration
• Choose an illustrator
• Pay for illustrations
• Obtain your illustrations

When it comes to picture books, there are 3 orientations to choose from:

(This doesn’t apply to chapter books or books for older children. Those usually feature the classic 5½” x 8” format.)

You should choose your book’s orientation early on since it will inform virtually every decision about illustrations down the road.

This is not a hard and fast rule, but here are general reasons to choose each:

• Vertical images are great for character-based books
• Horizontal images are best for a journey-like story
• Square images are excellent for instructional books

Whether you hire an illustrator or create the illustrations yourself, you’ll want to make sure you plan your image sizing correctly. This way, once you upload your artwork, everything runs smoothly.

Below are the most common sizes for children’s book images:

• 5.5” x 8.5”
• 6.14 x 9.21”
• 8.5” x 8.5”

If you plan on having your images cover the entire page, make sure to add 0.125” to the top and bottom, as well as one side. This accounts for trimming (sections to be removed in printing).

Amazon offers handy templates to plan your image sizing. But remember that you’ll still have to add the bleed allowance yourself.

Here are great inches-to-pixels and pixels-to-inches converters. These help you know how large your image should be, depending on your selected trim size. Be sure to choose a DPI (dots per inch) of 300 when using the mentioned converter.

A storyboard or book dummy helps you decide what to include in each illustration and how the text will match up with the images.

This is meant to help you determine which illustrations you want to include, better informing your quest to find and hire an illustrator. This step is extra helpful if you are planning to create your illustrations yourself.

The storyboard creation process doesn’t have to be perfect. Be expressive, and have fun. In the end, you’ll probably create a few different versions, each being an improvement over the previous one. How to create a storyboard or book dummy:

• Fold enough blank sheets of paper and staple the stack down the middle.
• Print out your manuscript on a separate paper.
• Cut and paste each block of text into the book dummy (folded paper).
• Flip through each page, read your pasted text, and think of an illustration that would go nicely with that particular text.
• Start sketching on the page of pasted text — or on the opposite page if that’s more helpful. Then you can visualize everything before you give your work to an illustrator.

4. Combine Text & Illustration

How you combine your text and illustrations is entirely up to you.

However, it's a crucial element on how to write a children's book. Whatever you choose, be consistent throughout.

There are two ways of combining text and illustrations:

• Text as part of the image
• Text and image separate

Having the text as part of the image makes your book format much more straightforward,, and looks consistent across all devices.

However, you decide to include the text in the image itself, this will have to be done by your illustrator. This method makes editing the text a bit harder — any changes or corrections have to be made within the image itself.

Below (left) is a page from my book The Garbage Trucks Are Here , and on the right is a page from my book A Gemstone Adventure .

The other option is to have the text and image separate. The text sits below or above the illustration or on a separate page.

Below is a double-page spread from my chapter book series, The Amulet Of Amser. It has an image on the left-hand page and the text on the right-hand page.

You can arrange this layout by yourself. You don't have to involve your illustrator.

I've started gathering individual authors and agencies into one big list to help with your search. Check them and their sites out below. Keep in mind that I haven't used these services myself.

Here’s a list of outsourcing sites and social media sites where you can choose an illustrator for your children’s book:

• LinkedIn — artist and illustrator groups
• Facebook — artist and illustrator groups
• Goodreads groups
• Children's Illustrators

These outsourcing sites provide you with reviews from the artist’s previous clients and may even include information about previous completion rates . Most importantly, these sites are cost-effective .

On most outsourcing sites, you’ll post your project (similar to a job offering), and children’s book illustrators will bid on it.

To get an idea of how much you should be offering, browse some of the platform’s current projects. Know that your bid sets a baseline only, as each illustrator will bid individually on your project if he or she is interested in working with you.

After the initial bidding process (usually a couple of days), you will have to go through each illustrator’s profile and portfolio to decide who would — or wouldn’t — be a great fit.

• Here’s a helpful vetting process to see if an illustrator is a good fit:
• Look at their profile and read through previous reviews.
• View their portfolio to get a feel for their style.
• Request a sample of their work to see how effectively they can turn your writing into illustrations and how well they follow instructions. View an example of such a request with this link .

You’ll need to pay for illustrations. An illustrator is more critical than an editor for picture books — the illustrations are what the reader will be most focused on.

To get a feel for acceptable prices for a project, browse websites to find postings for similar projects. Actual prices differ significantly from service provider to service provider and change drastically over time.

Payments are generally released based on milestones that you set, such as the completion of the storyboard. The milestone setup will depend on the scope of your project and the platform you are using to hire your illustrator.

The cost of your illustrator depends on multiple things:

• Number of illustrations
• Complexity of the artwork
• Illustrator’s skill level and experience
• Location of the illustrator
• Delivery speed

Once you choose the best-fitting illustrator for your project and they’ve completed their work, you need to obtain the illustrations.

You want high-resolution images (300 dpi) with the proper sizing and the raw files of all images. This will enable you to make changes directly to your illustrations if need be.

A signed art release form is relevant if you decide to hire an illustrator directly . Any art attained via outsourcing sites should automatically make the illustrations your intellectual property.

Need Help with Your Keywords?

Take my full featured video course on how to select the best keywords and categories for your book.

FAQs for Writing a Children’s Book

The answer to whether or not you should copyright your children’s book is entirely up to you. Just know that under U.S. copyright law, you already own your work the instant you write it down. However, you can protect your copyright by registering it with the US Copyright Office .

Read Kindlepreneur’s handy article written by a lawyer: How to Copyright a Book in the US

What should I not do when writing a children’s book?

You should try not to sound too preachy or instructional about your themes and morals. Kids are very perceptive. They smell an agenda miles away.

You should not leave a story unresolved or a question unanswered. Depending on the age group you’re writing your children’s book for, you need to provide a satisfying ending — particularly for smaller kids.

You should not break patterns. Children love a routine. The key to routines or patterns is to not break them. In your children's book, once we’ve established a pattern (rhyme, repeating phrase, character behavior, etc.), try your best to stick to it.

One of the easiest ways to convert your children’s book into an ebook is Amazon’s Kindle Kids’ Book Creator .

While I use other methods, I love working with and recommending this simple yet powerful tool. It’s FREE and helps you create an ebook version for your illustrated children’s book. You can import artwork, add text, and create Kindle Text Pop-Ups.

And the best part is that there’s no HTML/CSS knowledge required!

Yes, your children’s book should have a subtitle , mainly for marketing purposes.

As I share in my book How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book , making use of a subtitle can be very beneficial for connecting with potential readers.

Giving your children’s book a subtitle provides you with an additional opportunity to use keywords, key phrases, or synonyms that potential readers might be using when searching for a children’s book like yours.

Using a subtitle also allows for more creative freedom than with your actual title. So if your title itself doesn't fully communicate the topic of the book, you’ll have the subtitle as a backup.

Figure out what is trending in children's books using Publisher Rocket . Use this info to develop an effective subtitle.

Just type in a children's book idea , and you can quickly see how many people are searching for those books on Amazon, the average amount of money made by the top books, and even the competition:

As you can see, some kids’ book genres have decent money coming into them with less competition. Make sure you do your research beforehand and title/subtitle your children’s book accordingly.

You write a children’s book description (blurb) by looking at similar books’ descriptions. Pay special attention to length, word choice, and the style they are written in. That’s usually a great way to see what your audience expects and is used to.

Like books of other genres, your book description is fundamental to your children’s book’s success.

While your book cover and title help with your book’s discoverability and grabbing a potential buyer’s attention, your description is often the reason a reader decides to buy (or not to buy) your book.

To help you with your blurb format, be sure to check out Dave’s amazing Book Description Generator that takes care of all the text formatting for you.

Amazon has over 450 paperback and 260 eBook categories for children’s books. Your children’s book should be in the category that best describes your audience:

• Board Book — 0-3 years old
• Picture Book — 2-5 years old
• Early Reader/Chapter Book — 6-10 years old
• Middle Grade Chapter Book — 8-12 years old
• Young Adult (Teen) Chapter Book — 12-18 years old

(These categories are how Amazon’s marketplace categorizes children’s books.)

During your children’s book setup, you may have noticed that not all children’s book categories are offered as an option. That’s because some of Amazon’s categories need to be unlocked before being selected.

However, if you set up your children’s book correctly by adding age ranges, you will be able to add your book quickly and easily to any of these hidden categories by following Dave’s steps in his article How To Choose the Best Book Categories . This is a game-changer for you and your children's book.

The best book cover design for your children’s book is one that entices potential readers, looks professional to parents, looks fun to kids, and communicates what your book is about.

To get the best cover design you can for your children’s book, follow this guide for making standout book covers . Then create a book mock-up for your book marketing efforts.

Now you know how to write a children’s book!

Follow this guide, and you’ll craft a beautiful story tailored toward your audience. And you’ll have the illustrations to make your children’s book eye-catching, and intriguing.

Children value creativity and individuality. There is no one way to draw. No one way to paint. No one way to write. It’s about being uniquely you, lending your unique voice to your unique story.

That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of the way you write, and you draw because that’s what sets you apart. Diversity is important. Tell your story.

Check out my book, How To Self-Publish A Children’s Book – Everything You Need To Know To Write, Illustrate, Publish, And Market Your Paperback And Ebook .

It will teach you how to:

• Format Your Paper & Ebook Versions of Your Book Step-by-Step
• Publish Your Paperback and Ebook
• Market Your Freshly Published Children’s Book

Writing a children’s book is one thing; writing a children’s book that sells is another. Check out Kindlepreneur’s video on How to Write a Children's Book: 8 EASY STEPS!

Want more videos like this? Then click HERE to subscribe to Kindlepreneur’s YouTube channel.

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

• STEP 8. Proofread & Edit

Related Posts

Author vs writer: what’s the difference, how to write an adventure story, parts of a book [from cover to cover], sell more books on amazon, how to title a book checklist.

Titling your book can be hard…really hard. As you go through choosing your book title, use this checklist as your guide and make sure you have a title that will sell!

182 thoughts on “ How to Write a Children’s Book in 9 Easy Steps [2024] ”

Wonderful post Eevi ???? Thanks for sharing this article.

Animal Characters in Children’s Literature comprises various bodies of work made especially for children. This consists of picture books and easy-to-read stories for the entertainment and development of children. Children love books not only…

Please read my blog: Animal Characters in Children’s Literature

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks so much for your kind words and for sharing, Caroleann!

Thank you for all of this great information. Does your article or website include how to reach out to publishers once you have your ‘prototype’ book?

Forever grateful,

Thanks so much for reaching out and for your question, Habiba! I mainly share information about publishing your children’s book independently. If you would like to try to reach out to traditional publisher, I would recommend the book “Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market ( https://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Writers-Illustrators-Market-2020/dp/1440301239 ). They have a updated edition out about every year, so this would be a great way to start, as it includes publishing houses, agents, as well as a short section on how to write your query letter. As for any publishers that are not listed in this book, please be sure to do your due diligence when it comes to deciding whether or not to approach them. Hopefully, my quick article on how to find out whether or not a publisher is trustworthy right here is helpful as well: http://www.eevijones.com/vanity-vs-hybrid-vs-traditional-publishing/ . I hope this helps, Habiba!

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Julia Donaldson

Writing children's picture books.

Craft your own picture book and make it come alive with the bestselling author of The Gruffalo .

This course includes:

38 exercises

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What you'll learn

Join Julia on a journey through the picture book process, from finding inspiration to selling your first book.

• Find your initial idea
• Write a satisfying storyline
• Use rhyme and language patterns
• Weave in values and life lessons
• Partner with an illustrator
• Get your story published
• Your Maestro
• More like this

You couldn’t ask for a more qualified teacher. Julia’s books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, won too many awards to list and been adapted into eight award-winning animated films. And she’s a former Children’s Laureate to boot. So soak up the wisdom and insight from this formidable writer and her frequent collaborators – including her agent, her editor and The Gruffalo illustrator, Axel Scheffler.

Writing Love Stories

Ken Follett

Writing Bestselling Fiction

Storytelling

Writing Popular Fiction

Harlan Coben

Writing Thrillers

Bill Lawrence

Writing Comedy for Television

Carol Ann Duffy

Writing Poetry

Malorie Blackman

Writing for Young Adults

Jed Mercurio

Writing Drama for Television

David Walliams

Writing Books for Children

Lesson plan (27)

Writing Children's Picture Books Introduction

What is a picture book: variety

What is a picture book: practicalities

The initial idea

Traditional tales as inspiration

Characters: humans, animals, fairies - and pencils!

Journeys and quests

Themes and messages

The sound of the words

Patterned language

Numbers, letters, colours

Inclusivity: reflecting the world

The role of the illustrator

Author / illustrator partnership

Which illustrator?

Case study: The Snail and the Whale

Performance and promotion

Adaptation for stage and screen

Reviews for this course

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Food & Drink

Film, TV, & The Stage

Art & Design

Home & Lifestyle

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Creative Writing for Kids: The Seven Basic Plots

In 2004, Christopher Booker published   The Seven Basic Plots—Why We Tell Stories , an iconic book that was 34 years in the making. In it, Booker identifies seven common story lines that he believes encompass the plots of virtually all of the stories ever written.

Conventional stories share an underlying structure with specific plot elements. All of the seven basic plots have these features in common although they may use them in somewhat different ways:

• Introduction to the protagonist and anticipation of things to come • Beginning of the adventure; early success encourages the protagonist • Obstacles present frustrations that cause the protagonist to despair • Problems escalate to a climax that questions the chance of ultimate success • The protagonist triumphs despite the odds, bringing resolution to the story

As you read through these plots, see whether they fit any of your favorite novels, movies or fairy tales. List examples of your own for each story type.

Plot 1: Vanquishing a Monster

This plot tells the tale of a hero who sets out to defeat an enemy or evil force and triumphs.   The Golden Legend of Saint George and the Dragon is an ancient story from Libya that follows this general plot. A vicious dragon lived in a lake, and to appease him, the townspeople began feeding it two of their own children daily, chosen by lottery. One day, they drew the name of the king’s daughter, and the princess was awaiting the dragon on the lakeshore when Saint George rode by. Saint George killed the dragon and rescued the princess from an awful fate.

Plot 2: A Journey from Rags to Riches

This basic plot follows a protagonist from humble beginnings to a sudden windfall that he or she has not earned, leading to trouble. After losing the riches and returning to rags, the character gains insight that leads to a new order. In the story of Aladdin, the genie grants the poor boy three wishes. Aladdin uses them to become rich and marry the princess. He nearly loses everything when an evil sorcerer intervenes, but after some quick thinking, Aladdin manages to regain his palace and his princess.

Plot 3: A Quest

This plot centers on characters that set off in search of something vitally important, chronicling their adventures along the way and culminating with the achievement of their goal. One of the most well known plots of this type is the 12th century tale recounting the Quest for the Holy Grail ,  which follows King Arthur’s knights as they search for this valuable, elusive object.

Plot 4: The Voyage and the Homecoming

This plot tells of the journey of a protagonist to a faraway land and the character’s fight to return home. Along the way, he or she meets other memorable characters and has exciting experiences.   Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is one example of this type of tale.

Plot 5: Comedy

Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing Presented by Alfred A. de Pass in memory of his wife Ethel 1910 Source/photographer:  Tate Britain

A comedy is a love story in which two people must overcome many obstacles to find love and live happily ever after. Such Shakespeare plays as A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It have complicated comedy plots in which sets of couples struggle to find love. Modern (and mature-content)  films like Love Actually (2003) and   Sleepless in Seattle (1993) are classic examples of this plot type.

Plot 6: Tragedy

Tragedy tells the story of a villain who sets out to do harm but fails to succeed. The villain typically dies, thus providing a satisfactory resolution. In the Brothers Grimm tale of Snow White, the wicked stepmother attempts to kill Snow White with a poisoned apple but succeeds only in making her sleep. A prince wakens the girl with a kiss while the villainous stepmother meets her death.

Plot 7: Rebirth

In a rebirth plot, the villain learns a lesson that promotes personal growth and redemption. In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables , the escaped criminal Jean Valjean redeems himself by adopting and raising the young daughter of Fantine, a woman he wronged.

Today’s Activity: Writing a Story

Select one of the seven plots described above and create a story with one or more of the following characters. Follow the underlying structure that all plots have in common, and assign your characters names and personal traits to make them more real.

• An old woman who sells flowers at a corner stand
• A group of college students who belong to a time travel club
• A magical dog that can grant wishes
• A ruthless CEO of a pharmaceuticals company
• Two friends on a backpacking trip through Mexico
• A troll who keeps travelers from crossing a bridge
• A 25-year-old dishwasher who suddenly inherits millions of dollars

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• Press + Praise
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How to write children’s books – 3 free courses to get you started

If you’re thinking about writing your first children’s book but are not sure where to start. What sort of story should it be? What age group should you target? How will you know if children will like your story? We found some great free online courses that will answer these questions and more.

Get started.

Coursera.com Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest

Join over 85,000 other aspiring writers who have enrolled for this course over the last few years and take your passion for writing children’s books to the next level – action.

Through five modules, designed to take one week each, this course offers instruction with a combination of video lectures, online readings, peer reviews, and guest appearances from world-renowned children’s authors.

One of the great things about having so many students enroll is the community created. You will be able to give and receive feedback from other writers which adds to the wealth of the learning experience.

During the course, you will develop ten to twelve extracts of writing which can be the starting point for your first book projects.

Course outline:

• Your Writing Identity
• Genre, Form, and Audience
• Editing and Proofreading

Instructors: David Hill, Maria Gill, Alex Alexandrou

More info: Writing For Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest

Reedsy.com Children’s Books 101: Writing for the Right Age Group

One of the challenges for new writers of children’s books is figuring out what sort of story to write for a particular age group. This course was designed to help clear this up.

Some of the stuff you will learn:

• An introduction to the children’s book market
• What publishers are looking for in children’s books for different ages
• Industry standards for books in all categories including appropriate content, word count, and illustration requirements
• How to give yourself the best chance of landing a publisher.

Instructor: Anna Bowles More info:  Children’s Books 101: Writing for the Right Age Group

Open.edu Exploring books for children: words and pictures

This course is offered via open.edu so you can take it without even signing up if you wish. Signing up lets you track your progress, earn a free statement of participation, and access all course quizzes and activities.

It was designed to help new children's book authors understand the art of using pictures to delight, inspire and educate young ones.

"You will learn how children’s books use words and pictures together in remarkably sophisticated ways to communicate both to young and older readers, drawing on examples from the classics, such as Beatrix Potter’s Tales of Peter Rabbit, and from contemporary children’s authors such as Anthony Browne, author of Gorilla."

• Words and pictures in children’s fiction through the ages
• Making sense of pictures
• Combining words and pictures
• Book design and intended readership
• Illustration
• Illustration as interpretation: the example of Alice
• Analyzing images: composition and symbolism

Instructors: Sharon Goodman, Philip Seargeant, and Jackie Tuck More info: Exploring books for children: words and pictures

Bonus Blog Post

How to write a children's book by Judy Blume This post includes 5 Different Types of Children’s Books,7 Things to Consider Before Writing a Children’s Book, and 4 Tips for Writing a Children’s Book.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Author: Team VoW

Valley of Writers provides resources, tools, ideas and training for new writers. We work with a writers and contributors based around the world. Our primary focus is to equip new writers with skills to help them reach new audiences and achieve their goals.

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Secrets of Storytelling: A Creative Writing Workbook for Kids Paperback – July 14, 2020

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• Fun activities —Explore engaging exercises that get your creativity flowing, including brainstorming, filling in the blanks, and beyond.
• Tips on writing for kids —Learn simple strategies for crafting strong storylines, and get pointers for overcoming writer's block, editing your work, and more.
• Quotes for creativity —Discover inspirational and motivational quotes from famous writers.
• Print length 196 pages
• Language English
• Grade level 4 - 6
• Dimensions 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
• Publisher Rockridge Press
• Publication date July 14, 2020
• ISBN-10 1647391342
• ISBN-13 978-1647391348
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rockridge Press; Workbook edition (July 14, 2020)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1647391342
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1647391348
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 8 - 11 years, from customers
• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 6
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.53 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.25 inches
• #33 in Children's Composition & Creative Writing Books
• #52 in Writing Reference

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Natalie Rompella taught elementary and middle school for ten years. She is the author of twelve trade books and twenty-eight leveled readers and workbooks on a variety of topics, including creative writing, insects, sled dog racing, and science fair experiments. Natalie lives in the Chicago suburbs.

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Children's Book Ideas: 150+ Prompts to Write a Picture Book

Children's book ideas | picture book ideas | children's book themes, last updated on: november 03, 2023, what is a picture book, what types of ideas work in picture books.

• What are the types of picture books?

Bedtime books

First day of school, dinosaur books, imaginative play books, mindfulness books, lingering book ideas, story generator 1: listen to children, story generator 2: journal your childhood experiences, story generator 3: brainstorm character and setting ideas, story generator 4: keep an ideas journal, story generator 5: writing prompts, story generator 6: try a different point of view, story generator 7: start at the end of a story.

With the rise of self-publishing, more and more authors are finally achieving their dream of writing a children's book. But writing a children’s book is not as simple as just putting pen to paper. It's not even as simple as having a great idea. In order to write a great children's book, t's essential to first understand what a children’s book is—and what it's not!

When most people say “children’s book,” what they mean is a picture book. A picture book is a story intended for the youngest of readers, in which the illustrations and the text work together to tell the story. Because picture books are more often read to children than by children, illustrations and text must complement one another, each offering a piece of the story that the other does not. Keep in mind that these books are meant for children who are not yet able to read, and help them develop a sense of storytelling, plot, and vocabulary, and language recognition.

But of course, picture books aren’t the only kind of children’s books.

• Board books , intended for the youngest of children, are usually produced on a thick carboard stock that children can gnaw on. These can cover any range of subjects.

• Early chapter books are books for emergent readers, who have the skills but not the stamina to read longer books.
• Chapter books, middle grade, and YA novels are for increasingly older children capable of handling increasingly complex plots and vocabulary.

As you start off on your journey, keep in mind the five basic elements of writing a children’s book: age range, word count, page count, vocabulary, and plot.

Children’s book age range

Children’s picture books are typically written for children ages 3-7, and it’s important for these children to recognize themselves (or their friends) in these books. While there have been successful picture books that focus on adults, most picture book protagonists fall into one of two categories: children ages 7–8 or animals (and often animal children).

The age ranges and protagonists for other types of children’s books are as follows:

• Board Books: audience 0–3; protagonist varies
• Decodable books: audience 4–8; protagonist varies
• Early reader books: audience 6–8; protagonist varies
• Early chapter books: audience 6–8; protagonist 6–8
• Chapter books: audience 7–10; protagonist 8–10
• Middle grade: audience 8–12; protagonist 8–12
• Young adult: audience 12+; protagonist 13+ (usually 15+)

Children's book word count

If you've ever had a young child hand you a book at bedtime that feels WAY too long, then you know how important length is when it comes to children's books. A children’s picture book typically clocks in between 400 and 700 words. In fact, when submitting to publishers, that is the cut-off for many. Why? Because children have notoriously short attention spans (and because parents simply don’t want to read books that are much longer!) There are exceptions, as in the case of nonfiction picture books (which are usually intended for a slightly older age) but as a general rule of thumb, try not to exceed 1,000 words, and staying under is better!

Below is a general guideline to follow when writing any other kind of children’s book:

• Board book: word count varies
• Decodable books: 100-200 words
• Early reader books: 200-400 words varies
• Early chapter books: 2,000-4,000 words
• Chapter books: 4,000-10,000 words
• Middle grade: 10,000-25,000 words
• Young adult: 60,000-90,000 words

Children’s book page count

As important as word count is, in some way page count is more important. That’s because children’s books follow very specific standards, and nowhere is that more specific than in a children’s picture book. While novels can vary in length and board books may be anywhere from 5 spreads to 12, picture books are almost always 32 pages, including the title page and copyright page. Once you get writing, you’ll want to keep this page count in mind as a way to help cut any extraneous scenes (and your first draft will probably have plenty of them!).

Outside of picture books, the page count on children’s books can vary significantly. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Board book: 5 spreads to 12 spreads (note, board books are measured in spreads, not pages, with the front and back cover counting as 1 of those spreads.)
• Decodable books: length varies
• Early reader books: 32 pages
• Early chapter books: 48 or 64 pages
• Chapter books: 64, 80, or 96 pages
• Middle grade: 128+ pages
• YA: 256+ pages

Children’s book vocabulary

When it come to those big words we all want to throw into our books, it’s essential to keep in mind what the child reading the book is capable of understanding—and reading! Most children get their early exposure to advanced language through books, so there is nothing wrong with including big words in a story, but make sure there is enough context to understand the word ! Big words for the sake of big words will only frustrate children. And keep in mind who your actual reader is. Picture books are often read TO children, which means that including harder-to-read words is fine. But early readers and early chapter books are read BY children who are still learning out to sound out words, so try to be aware of where your typical reader will be in their reading journey.

Children’s book plot

This is where it starts to get fun, because what may sound like a great idea doesn’t always turn out to be a great plot for a book. When writing a children’s book, keep in mind the life experience of the child reading the book. A six-year-old can’t understand the problems of a high school student. They don’t typically understand financial worries. They have a limited scope of experience and a limited understanding of the world. But they do have wide imaginations. That’s why the best books often revolve around either something they have everyday experience with or a familiar play pattern.

Regardless of the type of book you’re writing, you will want to have engaging characters and a plot that constantly moves forward with a clear rising action and climax. But what that plot is? That’s entirely up to you. Just make sure it’s something your reader can actually relate to!

In order to write a truly great picture book, it’s important to understand what works in the market, and what doesn’t. Picture books can generally be divided into four main categories: nonfiction, concept picture books, poetry picture books, and fiction picture books.

• Nonfiction books are books based on facts, real people, or real events. In picture books, these concepts are usually represented as an historical event, a biography of a person, or an examination of the natural world.
• Concept picture books aim to teach early concepts and is one of the most popular picture book themes. They are used as a teaching tool for the youngest of readers and include themes such as the alphabet, colors, numbers, and shapes.
• The third type of children's book is a poetic or rhyming book . Picture books can be full stories written in rhyme, a collection of poems by a single author on a single theme, a collection of poems by a single author on an undefined theme, or a collection of poems by several authors.
• Fiction picture books are the most common kind of picture book, and when it comes to what they can be about, the sky's the limit. But, there is a caveat because of whom your target audience is. Don't forget that children of this age group are still learning about the world, so ideas that are related to situations and characters they can relate to tend to do the best. This is why subjects such as farm, bedtime, and friendship are always popular.

What are the best children's book ideas?

The best children's books often stem from concepts children are familiar with. Among the perrenial favorites are: bedtime, farm, abc, first day of school, dinosaurs, imaginative play, mindfulness, and food.

Bedtime books are a favorite that never seem to fade. Why? Because it’s something kids intimately understand. From day one of life, kids are out to bed. They develop familiar routines and can recognize those routines in others. They know that reading is part of bedtime. And for parents, books are a great way to wind down before sleep. This familiarity makes for a strong contender for a book idea.

Farm is another big picture book idea, and it’s no surprise. One of the earliest things we teach our kids is that the cow says moo and the sheep says baa. We show them pictures of animals and talk about them. So it’s something kids know. Even if they’ve never been to a farm, they get the concept. And they take pride in recognizing the different parts of a farm and naming the animals, even before they can read.

Concept books (books that teach a concept suck as alphabet, numbers, or colors) are always popular. But ABC books tend to be the most popular. Why? Because we teach our kids the ABCs. And we encourage them from a young age to recognize the letters as a precursor to reading. So they are a natural idea for a children’s book.

With an age range going up to 7, most picture book readers have experienced a first day of school—whether preschool or kindergarten. And they’ve experienced the nerves of being left by mom or dad and knowing no one in the class. It’s a familiar life experience and parents often use books in this topic to calm those nerves before the big day, which is why it’s such a popular picture book idea.

What kid doesn’t love dinosaurs? They’re big. They’re loud. And they’re scary. And from the perspective of children’s book ideas, there’s a wealth to pull from. Great characters and a lot of learning options, which makes dinosaur books a win for parents and children alike

Kids have great imaginations, and they make up games all the time. Space, pirates, princesses, and super heroes are among the more common imaginative play patters with kids. They like to inhabit these characters—to pretend they are them. And that translates well to picture book ideas. Reading becomes an extension of that play and books about the things they want to be easily get embraced, making them a great picture book idea.

One of the earliest concepts kids learn is opposites, so it's no wonder that it's a popular theme for a picture book. But opposites isn't just tall/short and high/low. This concept can be addressed in a deeper manner by offering books that focus on comparing and contrasting themes, rather than just adjectives.

Over the last few years, more age more parents and teachers have started teaching mindfulness—in particular, breathing techniques to calm down. The idea of mindfulness (if not the term) have become familiar, and books on the topic give them a chance to practice what they’ve learned (which for some can be very appealing!)

Not as popular among kids, this is one parents like. As parents we’ve all dealt with picky eaters. And books that show kids trying new foods and liking them open a door to cover sati on about our own picky eaters trying new foods. Which is why it’s such a popular picture book idea among parents.

Of late, there has been a surge in stories about, nature, sloths, unicorns, and fractured fairy tales. If you’re stuck for an idea, try one of these. But remember to find a way to make it your own.

Pro Tip: Go to a bookstore and see what themes picture books are categorized under. Read some of the books sitting face-out in that section. (They’ll usually be the better-selling books.) Maybe you’ll find one that sparks a book idea!

What are the best children's book themes?

Not every picture book centers around a specific play pattern. Sometimes picture books focus instead on a particular emotion or theme. Below are some popular picture book themes:

• Social change
• Environmentalism
• Social issues
• Death and grief

Children's book story generator ideas

Now that you know the children's book themes that sell the best, it’s time to come up with a great book! Of course, it’s not always easy. For some authors, after that debut book, it’s hard to come up with another story idea. At least, it’s hard to generate story ideas that work—that are worth writing about. And for an author who wants to build a business around their children's books, that can be a problem. Waiting too long to publish the next book can mean readers forget about you. The good news is, you’re not alone. Even the most experienced children’s book authors sometimes struggle to come up with their next book idea. The difference is, they have strategies in place to generate story ideas. I have written hundreds of children's books and below are 7 of my top story generator ideas: listen to children, journal childhood experiences, brainstorm character and setting ideas, keep an ideas journal, writing prompts, try different points of view, start at the end of the story.

When it comes to story ideas for children’s books, there’s no one better you can take advice from than a child. Why? Because they have such wild imaginations! Story generation just comes naturally to them. From doctors who treat monkey farts to flying superheroes who shoot water from their feet, a child’s imagination is never at rest. Kids are always making up games, too. One minute they are doctors, the next they are going to the moon or have turned into pirates. Pay attention to their play patterns and see how you can extend them into your own story ideas. Listen to what comes out of their mouths, and see where you can draw inspiration. What theme do they most often return to? What excites them? What excites you? As you listen to children around you playing and talking, see if anything particularly strikes you as an idea for a new book idea. Remember, children’s books are for children. They are the audience you need to appeal to. So use what already appeals to them as a jumping off point to come up with new book ideas.

Try this: If you have children in your life, try this fun game with them. Give them a person, place, or thing, and ask them what happens next. Join in the fun of story generation with them! Many best-selling books start off as a story told to a child. So use that idea to spin off your own great book idea!

Sit down with a notebook and start writing down book ideas. Don’t worry about what they are, just get whatever comes into your head onto paper. Focus on your own experiences as a child. What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you? The saddest? The silliest? When were you most proud? If asked for a childhood memory, what sticks out the most? A moment with a parent or grandparent? A moment at school? All of these experiences provide fodder for book ideas, so dig into them and see what resonates. And don’t forget to think about your own childhood emotions. How did certain situations make you feel? Emotion is a strong part of children’s books, so if you can tap into a moment in your own childhood that carries with it a strong emotion, you may find a good story angle!

Try this: Without thinking, complete the following sentences:

• My best childhood memory is:
• My worst childhood memory is:
• When I was a child, I wanted to:
• I though I would grow up to be a:

Now pick one of those answers and start writing! Even if it doesn’t become a fully fleshed out story, it may offer the seed for a story idea (or more than one!)

On a piece of paper, try writing down a list of characters, settings, and plots. Then mix and match and see what you come up with. Once you have your setting, try turning it upside down. Is there one big change you could make that would change the entire landscape of your story? Is the whole world backward? Or upside down? You might find a funny (or sentimental) book idea hiding in there that wouldn’t have come to you if the who, what, and where hadn’t been randomly thrown together.

Try this: Set a ten-minute timer to write down as many characters, settings, and plots as you can come up with. Put each one on a separate piece of paper or sticky note and throw them in a hat. Pull one at a time until you have one of each. Then force yourself to start writing a story about whatever it was you chose! Did you come up with a great story idea? Did the forced writing spark a new story idea? If not, what’s not working? What change to one of these elements could you make to make the story better?

We’ve all had a great story idea and then forgotten it. Sometimes it’s a dream we forget within minutes of waking up, or an idea in the shower. Maybe watching a child’s dance recital. Wherever your ideas come from, keep a notebook close by to write down any idea that comes to you (or if you’re so inclined, create a list on your phone.) Wherever that place is, make it a dedicated story list. By always keeping your story ideas in the same place, you’ll know where to go to find them when you’re ready.

Try this: Once a week open to a random page of your ideas journal. Whatever you land on, try writing about it. Maybe the story will be great, maybe it won’t. Either way, it will get the creative juices flowing.

A writing prompt offers up no more than the first few words of a story. It’s a chance to get your head spinning. And they’re easy to find. A quick internet search will reveal hundreds. So why not use them as a jumping off point for your book idea? You don’t have to keep the opening lines, but they might help you find the story idea you’ve been looking for!

Try this: Ask yourself, “What if” or “Why” and fill in the rest with the craziest question you can come up with. What if the stars were made of cheese? Why do flamingos stand on one leg? What if the whole world turned purple? How would you answer that question? Is there a story idea hiding in the answer?

Have you written a story but it doesn’t feel right? Maybe your protagonist shouldn’t be your protagonist. What would happen if you told the story from a different point of view? Try retelling it from every character’s perspective. Does one feel better than another? If nothing else, you’ll learn more about your characters, which will result in richer storytelling.

Try this: Find your favorite classic picture book. Now retell it from another character’s perspective. How does it change the story? Publishing another author’s work, even retold, is never a good idea. But it might help get your own creative juices flowing.

Sometimes starting a story can be challenging. But ending one is fun. It’s a resolution. So start there. Write how your story ends. Then back up and figure out what had to happen in order for your characters to reach that resolution!

Try this: Look at the story ideas you’ve abandoned. Are any of them struggling to reach the end you anticipated? Change the ending! Then work backward to a new beginning!

150+ Story Prompts to Kickstart a Children's Book Idea

• Write about silly ways to catch a dragon
• Write about an animal that loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Write about a story where all the toys go on strike
• Write a heartwarming story about all the notes a dad leaves in their child’s lunchbox
• Write about a bird afraid of flying
• Write about an ordinary door that leads to a magical new world
• Write a story about a child who is granted three wishes—what would they wish for?
• Write about a scaredy cat who finds his courage
• Write about a main character’s quest to find what’s at the end of the rainbow
• Write about a child’s favorite toy coming alive at night
• Write about how a brief act of kindness can change people’s hearts
• Write about a main character who has a dinosaur as a pet
• Write a story about friends who build a rocket ship and blast off into space for the day
• Write a story about a monster under the bed who afraid to scare people
• Write a story about a missing sock
• Write a story about a T-Rex that loves burritos
• Write a story about a magic scarf
• Write a story about how to sail a pirate ship
• Write a story about how to keep a tiger for a pet
• Write about a star that’s afraid to shine
• Write about a main character that learns they have magic powers
• Write about a mouse who had his mac & cheese stolen
• Write about a main character who lost their balloon and the adventure they go on to find it.
• Write about an elephant and ant who are best friends
• Write a story about a ghost who wants a friend, but who finds that everyone is scared of him (except for one brave kid)
• A story about a dog that can yodel but can’t bark
• Write a story about a main character who travels through time
• Write a story about a main character who refuses to go to bed at night
• Write about a main character that moves to a new town/city
• Write a story about all the silly things that go wrong in a day
• Write a detective story about who took the last slice of pizza
• Write a story about a crayon that refuses to color
• Write about a bear who gets a tummy ache after eating too much candy
• Write about a sleepy cat and all the silly places it takes a nap
• Write a story about a farm animal searching for its mom
• Write about a curious pet that’s always getting into trouble
• Write about an animal that’s afraid of the first day of school
• Write about an animal searching for his hat

• Write a story about a main character with a talking pet
• Write about a main character who decides to run away but realizes things aren’t that bad
• Write about a T-Rex who wants to be a painter
• Write a story about a dog with a cape who thinks he’s a superhero
• Write about a pig with a curly tail who feels different, until one day his tail saves the day
• Write about a crocodile that can’t stop sneezing
• Write about a magic train and all the places it stops on its journey
• Write a story about a mouse that solves crimes
• Write about a ghost that hates Halloween
• Write a story about learning to appreciate the simple things
• Write a story about how to have fun without spending money
• Write a story about where the unicorns live
• Write a story about all the ways to say, “I love you.”
• Write about a child who finds a magic coin
• Write about a kid who discovers an invisibility cloak
• Write about a fish who wants to live on land
• Write about dinosaurs invading a big city
• Write a story about a kid trying to learn what happiness is
• Write a story about all the great creatures a kid imagines seeing in the dark (then what they really are in daylight)
• Explore the complex feelings of what it’s like to lose a friend/pet, from a kid’s perspective
• Write about a character who accepts themselves for who they are, instead of what they’re not
• Write a story about friends who discover a cave and all the strange animals that live inside
• Write about all the stars in the sky and the stories behind them
• Write about a friend who lives forever and the lessons they’ve learned
• Write a story about a kid who grows up on a farm
• Explore the bond between a mother and a child
• Write a story about a magical world full of fantastic creatures
• Write a story about a rainy, blustery day and what happened
• Write a story about the moon and how it keeps secrets/prayers
• Write a story about a mischievous animal who relies on some unlikely friends to keep him out of trouble
• Write about a family who sets off to catch a glimpse of a rare animal
• Write about a kid’s quest to find the boogeyman or bigfoot
• Write about a talking tree and all the wisdom it shares
• Write a retelling of an old fairytale or fable with a modern twist
• Write about a character whose imagination turns everyday tasks into adventures
• Write about how to make new friends
• Write about a main character who is zapped into a wall of paintings
• Write about a boy’s journey with his dog, from puppy to adulthood
• Write a story about learning to whistle
• Write about a gang of outlaws who help those in need
• Write about a main character who dreams of being a ballerina
• Write about a kid and all the things they can be when they grow up
• Write about a kid whose babysitter's a modern-day Mrs. Poppins
• Write about a kid who discovers his neighbor is a vampire
• Write a story about a mother’s prayer or poem for her newborn child
• Write a story about an animal that keeps a diary
• Write a story about a magic rock or magic beans
• Write a story about a kid who befriends a strange, but kind creature
• Write a story about a kid’s imaginary friend who helps him out of jams
• Write a story about a group of unlikely animals who start a jazz band
• Write a story about a kid who loves to cook and all the silly dishes they create
• Write a story about a character who finds a magical balloon and the adventures it takes them on.
• Write a story about a haunted house at the edge of town
• Write about a bird who’s getting his first flying lesson
• Write a story about a kid that’s zapped into his favorite book
• Write a story about never giving up and the courage it takes to keep going
• Write a story about how to give the best hugs
• Write a story about how to befriend a bully
• Write a story about learning to read
• Write a story about a silly crew of animals join the circus
• Write a story about a kite and all the things it sees from the sky
• Write a story about a boy who can fly for a day
• Write a historical story about where a family grew up
• Write a nonfiction story about a well-known historical figure
• Write about a group of friends going on a hunt to find flying horse
• Write a story about a magic umbrella
• Write a story about a giant hot air balloon adventure
• Write a story about a main character who wins an impossible race
• Write about all the animals you can find on a farm
• Write about a kid whose family are secretly superheroes
• Write a story about an imaginary lion who protects a child from danger
• Write a story about a kid who goes on grand adventures every night in his dreams
• Write a story about a kid who can’t stop telling knock-knock jokes
• Write about when a kid’s favorite toy goes missing or is ruined
• Write a story that explores real-world topics, like adoption, blended families, or individual cultures
• Write a story about a grumpy cat
• Write a story about how to make the best cookies (and create a silly recipe)
• Write about a kid who chalk draws on sidewalks and brings a world to life in the city
• A story about a boy who wants to be just like their dad (firefighter, police officer, etc.)
• Write a story about how to catch a firefly
• Write story about a stuffed animal brought to life because of a child’s love for it
• Write a story about an animal who is very curious and is always asking questions
• Write a story about a kid who makes a game-winning shot
• Write a story about being brave, even if you’re small
• Write a story about an animal who loves wearing shoes
• Write a warm story about how to feed and water a sad heart
• Write a story about how to grow an appletree and use its fruit
• Write a story about a main character who make a wish that comes true, but then they try to reverse it
• Write about a girl who wants to become a scientist
• Write about a group of friends who walk to the end of the world and what they find
• Write a story about a group of kid-detectives who solve local problems
• Write a story about a kid on a quest to find out what the moon is made of
• Write about a child with a disability and how they overcome it
• Write a story about a kid who traps a bear

• Write about a kid who loves to invent things
• Write a story about a child coping with loss
• Write a story about kids who dig a hole to the other side of the world
• Write a story about kids who find a treasure map and where it leads
• Write a story about a boy who’s descended from Greek Gods
• Write a story about a main character who’s best friend is a magic carpet
• A story about a boy with an imaginary friend who never grows up
• A story about a kid who overcomes being afraid of the dark
• A story about silly things to grow in a garden
• A story about everything a pet does while kids are away at school
• A story about a dog that waits everyday for the school bus, in any kind of weather
• A story about a main character who wears a cape to bed to save the world at night
• A story about what to pack in a lunchbox
• A story about learning to tie your shoes from an unlikely cast of animals
• A story about getting ready for school every morning
• A story about first-day of school jitters
• A story about a zebra who dreams of being a racehorse
• Write about a dog that time travels to historical periods, like the Mayflower or Salem
• Write a story about unlikely friends who are always planning adventures
• Write a story about a child who swallows a watermelon seed, and the watermelon that grows in their belly
• Write a story about a child who is invited to play in a pro sports game
• Write a story about a child who plants love in the garden and what happens
• Write a story about waking up to find the world physically upside down
• Write a story about a birthday wish gone wrong
• Write a story about a girl who discovers she’s a mermaid (or fairy or witch)
• Write a story about a child’s day with their grandparent

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Decodable Reading System

Learning to read doesn’t just happen. instead, children must learn to read word by word, sound by sound. our charge into reading decodable reader sets follow a literacy-specialist–approved scope and sequence, with each set of books building on what was taught in previous sets..

Picture Books

At charge mommy books, our mission is to instill in children a lifelong love of reading. and that begins with making reading fun that’s why every one of our picture books is packed full of humor, adventure, and love. so grab a book and curl up with your little one for a memorable reading experience.

Level 1 Early Reader Books

The charge into reading early reader system uses simple language, high frequency words, repetition, and humor to support literacy skills in emergent readers. these f&p leveled books each contain seven pages of added literacy activities meant to strengthen your child's reading and comprehension from page to page., don't forget to share:.

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Creative Writing .css-fjkx37{display:inline;-webkit-appearance:none;-moz-appearance:none;-ms-appearance:none;appearance:none;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-user-select:none;-moz-user-select:none;-ms-user-select:none;user-select:none;vertical-align:middle;outline:2px solid transparent;outline-offset:2px;line-height:inherit;font-weight:500;transition-property:var(--chakra-transition-property-common);transition-duration:var(--chakra-transition-duration-normal);height:auto;min-width:3rem;-webkit-padding-start:var(--chakra-space-6);padding-inline-start:var(--chakra-space-6);-webkit-padding-end:var(--chakra-space-6);padding-inline-end:var(--chakra-space-6);background:none;color:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0.3em;padding-left:0px;border-bottom:2px 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Best creative writing books for kids

My First Story Writing Book

(£7.99, Usborne)

A great option for complete beginners, packed with write-in activities to take a young writer through each part of story-writing from creating characters and developing description skills by using picture prompts to writing whole short stories.

Download a FREE Creative Writing toolkit!

• KS1 & KS2 workbooks
• Bursting with fill-in prompt sheets and inspiring ideas
• Story structure tips, style guides and editing suggestions

How to make awesome comics (£7, Phoenix Comics)

Start your journey to comic-making with a complete guide which covers everything from first steps (coming up with your stories and characters and learning how to draw) to making art and text work together well, how to be funny, what makes a good villain and creating your own books from paper. A brilliant and very cool guide.

How to write a story (£5.99, Bloomsbury)

An activity book for budding authors, packed with ideas about how to create the perfect plot, coming up with great character names and acting them out, how to structure a story to build interest and suspense and lots more.

Write your own adventure stories

(£8.99, Usborne)

A write-in book with a focus on adventure stories. Whether explorers, spies, ghosts, aliens or heroes and villains are the protagonists, practical advice and activities help children create characters, develop thrilling plots and stage exciting action scenes. Unputdownable stories are the result!

Pizza, Pigs and Poetry

(£5.44, HarperCollins)

Poet Jack Prelutsky has written hundreds of poems about (among other things) pizza, pigs, pigeons, penguins, parrots, puppies, pelicans, porcupines, pies and parents, and in this poetry-writing primer he shares his expertise with tips and exercises to help budding poets get started on their own verse journey. You'll get ideas to help you turn your own experiences and stories about your family, friends and pets into poems as well as advice about how to get started (or unstuck) when writing.

How to Write Your Best Story Ever

(£9.99, OUP)

Christopher Edge (author of TheSchoolRun-favourite novel The Many Worlds of Albie Bright ) aims to help readers aged 13 and under see themselves as writers and achieve their creative writing goals in his curriculum-linked creative writing guide. From how to write for a specific audience or purpose to overcoming writer's block and selecting the right words for each genre, this book gives children the tools they need to make writing fun.

Write Your Own Mystery and Ghost Stories

If your child is hoping to scare their readers with their writing, this spine-tingling activity book is the one for them! The advice will help them produce stories about haunted houses, eccentric detectives, cursed tombs and more, with specific tips on how to plan a story and build suspense.

Write Your Own Book

(£9.99, DK)

From setting the scene to describing an action, different skills are introduced one by one in this diary-style book, gradually building up to your child writing their own story. Plenty of "talking point" boxes aim to offer story starters and spark new creative ideas and "word boxes" help develop vocabulary. There are plenty of drawing spaces, too, including a space to illustrate a personalised book cover.

Write Your Own Storybook

A fun fill-in activity book packed with writing tips, techniques and methods to help make every story effective and polished, with suggested activities to help kids develop their ideas and boost their confidence with writing from different points of view and creating characters, settings and story lines. The second half of the book is presents different story themes to write about, from murder mysteries to tales from outer space.

My Book of Stories

(£9.99, British Library)

Beautifully illustrated books which use Shakespeare, myths, fairy stories and literary classics as story starters to inspire the writers of tomorrow. Highly recommended.

• My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Adventures
• My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Shakespearean Tales
• My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Myths
• My Book of Stories: Write Your Own Fairy Tales

KS1 creative writing toolkit and KS2 creative writing toolkit , TheSchoolRun

Help your child harness their imagination and share their stories in writing with our KS1 and KS2 creative writing learning packs, available as part of a TheSchoolRun subscription. Bursting with fill-in prompt sheets and inspiring ideas to get even the most reluctant writer started, they're a great way to encourage children to put pen to paper.

Creative Writing Book

(£9.99, Usborne)

A great choice if your child isn't sure what genre of writing they're most interested in, this inspiring book will boost their enthusiasm for writing stories, poems, comics, blogs, reviews, movie scripts, horror stories, romance and thrillers, and even shock journalism. Lots of space to write in, but no scary blank pages!

Give your child a headstart

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More like this

Written by Scott Wilson

The very first books you read to children can shape them for a lifetime.

A trip to the Hundred Acre Wood or Neverland can sparks the imagination of new and foreign places, a far cry from the mundane days at home and preschool. Pinocchio’s particular disability and predilection demonstrates the value of honesty in ways that no number of parental lectures could achieve. The journey of Mowgli through the jungles introduces social hierarchy and the importance of family in the most visceral way.

Telling tales to young children is an ancient practice that evolved into an entire category of classic literature and fairy tales.

Modern authors who want to follow in the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm and Lewis Carroll need the special skill of telling entertaining tales in simple language with vivid imagery. Children’s story authors may need a multidisciplinary background, skilled in illustration as well as writing for picture books.

From primers designed to teach the alphabet to meditations on what it would be like to have a giant red dog bigger than your own house, there are plenty of opportunities in creative writing to craft children’s books that draw laughter, forge understanding, and unleash empathy in the very newest readers.

But it takes a special skill and a wildly creative imagination to both invent the sort of stories to grab the attention of children and bring those visions to life. Both of those qualities can come to you with a degree in creative wring.

What Is Children’s Literature?

In general, when people talk about children’s books, they are talking about works aimed at kids under the developmental age of approximately 12 years old. They tend to be short chapter or picture books with limited text to each page, a restricted vocabulary, and short, to-the-point ideas and story lines.

There’s no bright line between young adult and children’s literature. Much depends on the developmental stage of the child. Like any other sort of genre distinction, it’s as much about marketing as it is about the actual audience for the books.

Kid lit can further be grouped by genre or by the target age range of the reader.

Children’s literature is often intended to be a combination of entertaining and instructive.

Kid’s books can be designed either to be read to young children, or to introduce them to reading and the wider world of literature. Because the audience for these works are still building vocabulary and linguistic skills, not only do children’s book authors have to keep their style and word use straightforward, but they also often incorporate strong visual elements in those books.

Children’s books are commonly illustrated and may in fact use visual story-telling as much as the written word. Authors in this genre don’t have to be illustrators, but they do have to be able to think visually and work with other professionals for drawing and illustration.

There are plenty of sub-genres in kid lit, too. Just a few examples include:

First Books

Just what it says on the label, these are books that are designed to be the very first introduction to language and stories for babies or toddlers. Because they are very much for pre-literate children, though, they may actually be more complex and have fewer illustrations since they are designed to be read to the child by an adult.

Picture Books

In the opposite direction are picture books. These are the traditional illustration-focused early readers designed to start kids off with language and words directly. They typically tell the story mainly through the pictures, with the words places carefully to associate meaning. Consequently, they may only have 200 or 300 words through the entire work—but each one is important!

Board Books

Board books are also designed for toddlers and other demographics that may be especially hard on the physical construct of a book. They are printed on thicker cardboard stock that is easier for tiny fingers to flip through and more resistant to tearing, bending, and juice spillage. They can overlap with other genres but are usually matched with picture and early readers.

Educational Books

These children’s books fall more toward the didactic end of the spectrum. They are designed to offer some sort of new information about the world or people in it. They can cover culture, cross-cultural concepts, or weighty matters like death, illness, or how to cope with a new brother or sister in the family.

Early Readers

These books fall just after picture books in the developmental age range of children’s books. They are designed to expand reading skills and vocabulary after the first initial foundations are put in. They are more advanced, with a greater focus on language and story, with illustration offered only as a supporting element. They may be longer than other kinds of children’s books and have more plot and substance, but still are written with direct grammar and basic vocabulary.

Middle Grade

These books are probably the most advanced in the kid lit spectrum, overlapping and blurring together with young adult works. They aimed at kids who are developmentally between 8 and about 13 years old. Consequently, they can be more advanced and may also deal with more advanced subjects—making new friends, fitting in to society, finding your own way in the world apart from your parents.

As you can see, it’s a wide open field with a lot of room for developing your own creativity and ideas. It’s also a genre that is inextricably linked with education. Even in the more entertaining work of kid lit fantasy, new words, new ideas, and new ways of envisioning the world are being passed along. Good children’s authors understand their work on every level.

Are Comic Books Children’s Literature?

It’s true in the United States, at least, that comics were originally aimed at and primarily read by children. As a format with the tried-and-true combination of pictures and words to tell the tale, they fall right in with picture books as an art form.

But as comic readers grew older, they didn’t necessarily put the books down. And some comic authors began taking on heavier, more mature subjects, weaving complex stories together in a format that began to be called a graphic novel.

It’s that very shift suggest the answer to the debate, though: some comics are clearly meant for kids, while others are not. Within the form, you can find as many different gradations and sub-genres as in traditional formats. And either way, when a child finds something they want to read, smart adults know to encourage them—words open new worlds.

Children’s Books Explore Tough Themes and Ideas in a Straightforward Way

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. ~ Madeleine L’Engle

As you might expect from works for children, the issues and themes for kid’s books tend to be pretty straightforward. But that doesn’t mean they are simple. As the works that will be introducing and explaining many of the most challenging concepts in life to children for the first time, kid’s books have to be crafted very carefully. A children’s author needs the skill and sensibilities to talk about tough subjects ranging from death to divorce to sickness.

And, of course, poop.

In every case, it’s a lot to try to pack into a book that may only be 30 pages or so. Children’s books are a vessel carrying their audience on a voyage of discovery, both of the self and of the wider world.

On the other hand, writing for children can be remarkably freeing. Conventions requiring writers conform more or less to accepted consensual reality don’t really apply. Have a talking bear as the main character and no one will bat an eye. Pixies are real and people can take flight with happy thoughts and a little pixie dust sprinkled on them. That’s not sci-fi, it’s kid lit!

J.M. Barrie claims to have added the concept of pixie dust as a necessary ingredient for flight in his Peter Pan stories after a number of children in the real world ended up in hospital after attempting to take off with only happy thoughts to power them.

With the guard rails of reality removed from the course, however, the author of children’s books actually takes on more responsibility. Children are remarkably adept at sniffing out inauthentic stories or behavior. There’s nothing that will lose readers faster than a character behaving in a way that is not true to themselves or the story. A kid lit author has to, in some very real sense, live within the world they are creating.

How to Write a Children’s Book: Creative Writing Degree Programs Give You Exactly the Skills You Need

Sure, it's simple writing for kids…just as simple as bringing them up. ~ Ursula LeGuin

All these talents are tough to pick up on your own. But a degree in creative writing can help you hone many of them, as well as guiding you toward your own innate voice as a children’s author.

These programs come at your skillset for writing pitching children’s books from every direction. The ways they can boost your writing skills and career include helping you in areas such as:

Turning the Creativity Dial up to Eleven Through Reading and Writing

Additionally, your mind will be fueled with the essential stuff of imagination: a creative writing program comes with prodigious amounts of assigned reading. You’ll be exposed to many different authors in many genres, with different philosophies and styles that will inevitably influence your own.

Developing a Style All Your Own

Children’s authors are also famously inventive in terms of style. There’s nothing that sells a good line to an audience of children like wordplay. Many of the classics of the genre are written in rhyming or other poetic styles.

Not only will the extensive reading that comes with a creative writing degree expose you to all those styles and help you understand your own, but you’ll take courses that unpack the elements of verse and style. Professors will walk you through the operational mechanics of poetics, exploring the structure and form of different styles and their evolution. You’ll find gems and germs of ideas to help you create your own unique literary style to resonate with children.

Exploring the Evolving Psychological Bases of Your Audience

Creative writing degrees aren’t necessarily just all-writing, all-the-time. You’re studying at a university, one stacked up with the most advanced experts in every sort of field under the sun. And you have the opportunity and often the requirement to acquire a full-throated liberal arts education, one expanding your base of knowledge and experience to draw on for story ideas.

This particularly comes into play for children’s book authors through the availability of psychology coursework to help you explore what science has found about the stages of human development. You can take courses that help you unpack not just the thought and growth process of your core audience, but the actual physical and neurological components that go into those processes. That all goes to making you a more incisive, more capable writer of kid lit.

Getting the Essential Feedback to Hone Your Craft

The constant writing assignments that come along with creative writing studies aren’t just a way to work out your fingers. They also offer legitimate works that you will share with your cohort and receive helpful comments on. Everything from character building to tone to plotting can be improved with feedback. You’ll get plenty of it, and you’ll grow faster than you ever could alone.

Networking With Industry Professionals To Turn a Craft Into a Career

Children’s authors are up against one major challenge that most other writers don’t face: your audience is never going to browse, discover, and buy your books on their own.

One of the biggest benefits on the business side of being a children’s book author is that your audience is constantly renewing itself. A new crop of readers is coming up into your audience every year!

That means a professional network for publication and marketing is an absolute must. And both your classmates and professors can provide invaluable contacts for getting your career launched as they make their own way through the publishing industry. You may get a line on an agent from a professor who knows what they are looking for; a classmate may graduate and end up with a job at a major children’s book imprint and get your manuscript a look it would never have received otherwise.

You’ll also find that the experiences of professors and various guest authors provide valuable insights on how the publishing industry works. You’ll build up your business acumen as a part of being a children’s writer that you probably never considered before.

For Writers of All Stripes, Online Creative Writing Studies Offer New Freedoms With Traditional Rigor

Writing, after all, is a necessary solitary affair. As helpful and useful as professors and your fellow students can be in reading, reviewing, brainstorming, and offering suggestions along the way, when you get right down to it it’s just you and the keyboard during the most critical parts of learning to write absorbing children’s literature.

So you can save money and keep your individual flexibility wide open by pursuing your formal creative writing studies online. Keep your day job, or labor in a humble garret atop a mountain with only your inspiration for company—it’s all on the menu.

At the same time, with high-tech connections to your professors and classmates, you still have regular assignments, video chats to check in, and lengthy online dialogs to review. It’s the best of both worlds that has the added bonus of frequently coming at lower cost than an on-campus degree.

Most programs include at least a few on-campus or other in-person meetings, so you’re not just engaged with random faces on a small screen. You have the opportunity to make genuine connections and long-lasting friendships, while still preserving your personal latitude.

Degrees at Every Level Offer a Foot in the Door for Prospective Children’s Book Authors

That starts off with Certificates in Creative Writing . These take a handful of college-level courses and pack them into a tight schedule lasting only a few months. While they don’t offer the full range of training you find in a full degree program, they often come with tightly focused themes that may be just what you need—including specific options such as a Children’s Book Writing Certificate. They can be offered both at the post-secondary and graduate level, tailored to your individual experience level.

A step beyond certificates will take you to a two-year Associate Degree in Creative Writing or a four-year Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing . As the first level of degree-granting college studies, these programs are more structured and offer a broader level of education than a certificate. You’ll fulfill expansive general education requirements in areas like math, science, and social studies alongside your English and writing courses. With such broad studies, few options exist specific to writing for children, but you will put in strong foundations in spelling, grammar, plotting, and other essentials for any kind of creative writing career.

The real peak for most professional writers comes with a master’s degree in creative writing . Taking between two and three years to complete, an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Creative Writing is considered to be the pinnacle of training in writing. Here, you will find concentrations in areas like the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults, or dual degree programs such as a Master of Arts in Children’s Literature plus an MFA in Writing for Children. The level of individual investment in writing prowess that comes with an MFA can’t be beat. Nor can the direct attention of expert, and often widely published, instructors and guest lectures in tight-knit workshops.

There’s also potential to go beyond a master’s, earning a PhD in Creative Writing . But these programs are almost entirely devoted to polishing the research and academic skills needed to teach in the field rather than actively attempting to improve your own writing skills. Still, there are a handful of doctoral-level studies in creative writing that are aimed at producing quality writers rather than quality writing professors.

Each school that offers a creative writing program has a unique culture and conceptual approach to writing education. And the specialties of professors themselves go to shape the program, with their own writing and publication experience offering a preview of their teaching interests and style.

You’ll want to take all of that into account as you look for a school that offers the best shot at launching your own children’s writing career. When you land on the right program, it will put together your inspiration with the right mix of professionalism, expertise, and focus to help you realize your dreams… and spark new dreams in the next generation of readers.

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Creative Writing: Children’s Books

About this course.

Do you love writing or children? Have you dreamed of having your own book published? This course will guide you through the process of identifying the format and audience for your book, brainstorming ideas, developing a plot and characters, writing effectively, seeking and benefiting from feedback, and finally perfecting your manuscript to send off to an agent or publisher. Whether you know exactly what you want to write or are still fishing around for ideas, this course will take you to the next level through exercises designed to further your particular project.

After completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Describe the features of different formats of children’s books
• Identify the elements of successful writing for children and common mistakes
• Come up with ideas, plots, and characters for a children’s book
• Recognize the elements of complex characters and a compelling plot
• Describe common children’s book plots
• Employ strategies for improving characters and plot development
• Rewrite effectively to strengthen your work
• Identify sources for feedback on your writing and opportunities for professional development
• Identify the advantages and disadvantages of different avenues for publication
• Recognize the importance of submission guidelines

Estimated length: 1.5 hours Access Time: 90 days CEUs: .15 Delivery: Online Cost: $29

Professional Development Institute

John P. Gorel, Director, Corporate Relations 570-945-8622

Email: [email protected]

Keystone College reserves the right to cancel or postpone any program due to insufficient enrollment or unforeseen circumstances. If a program is canceled, registrants will be notified and a refund will be processed. Requests for refunds for withdrawals must be submitted in writing five days prior to the start of the program. Refunds will not be issued for failure to attend a program.

Interested in more workshops? Check out the Keystone College Professional Development Institute's continuing education and personal enrichment course offerings below:

Fun Writing Prompts To Entertain Your Kids (And Keep You Sane)

Carina Pereira

Carina Pereira, born in ‘87, in Portugal. Moved to Belgium in 2011, and to Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 2019. Avid reader, changing interests as the mods strikes. Whiles away the time by improvising stand-up routines she’ll never get to perform. Books are a life-long affair, audiobooks a life-changing discovery of adulthood. Selling books by day, writer by night. Contact

View All posts by Carina Pereira

If most people have trouble dealing with staying inside, imagine having to stay home with bored kids, complaining that they have nothing to do the whole day, and dismissing any attempt to be entertained! Books are, of course, a great way to spend the time, but there are only so many books a kid can read before wanting to actually do something . If you’re a parent whose kids would gladly write stories, but you don’t have the mental energy to come up with writing prompts, Book Riot has got your back! Here are 20 writing prompts for kids that will keep your children entertained for hours in their own made-up world! You can thank us later (just enjoy your extra time, for now)!

*The rule of the code is as follows: for each letter, you skip two letters (A becomes C, B becomes D, etc. Book Riot would become Dqqm Tkqv). Fun!

Want to help your kids improve their writing? Here are a few children’s books about writing that will definitely help!

Amelia’s Notebooks by Marissa Moss

Many adults who have read these books as children vouch for them as a legit learning tool for writing.

The books are fun, and they are written as real journals, by the pen of Amelia, who describes her thoughts and all the things that happen in her life.

There are various volumes, directed to elementary and middle school.

Just Write: Here’s How by Walter Dean Myers

Myers is well known for his children’s books, and in this volume he teaches the reader to write both fiction and non-fiction.

It includes notes from his own notebooks, and questions and answers regarding outline, characters, and length.

It also questions the reader on what makes them want to become a writer, which might be a very interesting exercise to start off with.

Share Your Smile: Raina’s Guide To  Telling Your Own Story by Raina Telgemeier

This book is a mix of a journal, a ‘make your own comic’, and scrapbook, because in its pages the little writer is encouraged both to write, draw, and glue things.

For this alone, I think it will be very interesting for kids. It’s not only about writing, but a little bit about crafting, and we all know how kids love getting creative, even when there are guidelines.

Q&A A Day For Kids by Betsy Franco

This a sort of interactive book. Each page contains a question, and all the kids have to do is write an answer.

It’s less a book of prompts and more an easy writing exercise, where kids don’t need to think too much to put something on the paper. It will also help create a habit of writing, as it’s supposed to be an-answer-a-day exercise.

It is great fun to do together with the parents or siblings, and compare answers.

Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly by Gail Carson Levine

This is a great one to motivate kids to write and to make them believe that they, too, can become great writers.

Not only does Levine explain how to create great stories – including dialogues, and how to come up with memorable characters – the book also contains writing exercises, to put to test what is taught across its pages.

A wonderful mix of fun and learning.

Another writing book by Levine that is worth adding to this list is Writer To Writer: From Think To Ink .

The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander Engages Students In Writing Workshop by Kwame Alexander

Written by a Newberry medal winner, this book is pretty much a way to help teachers and parents guide kids in their writing endeavours, in a fun way.

A bit of a step-by-step on how to go from creating a plot, developing interesting characters, drafting, and more.

It dares to go beyond the private writing, teaching you how to print a book, or how to present a text.

It’s like having all the material you need to create a story from start to finish, allowing you to help younger ones create them too.

If You Have Older Kids In The House, You May Also Like These Books For YA Readers

Find your voice: a guided journal for writing your truth by angie thomas.

This book includes writing prompts and craft tips, and it is said to be a perfect book for homeschooling, so definitely a good choice for times like these.

Thomas is well-known among young readers for her up-to-date and woke stories. She writes about young people with empathy, making them shine in her stories.

It also includes tips on how to write a ‘zero draft’, maybe the most important tip ever.

It was later in life that I found out you’re not supposed to write a good story the first time around – I was shocked, but thankful, to learn that – so this book would have been a treasure in my teens, and I’m sure many kids who enjoy writing, and want to keep enjoying it even as it becomes more challenging, will appreciate it.

Write Yourself A Lantern: A Journal Inspired By The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

More than a guide, this book is a journal, and what makes us better writers than writing everyday? For ourselves alone and with no expectations?

With lines from Acevedo’s The Poet X  adorning its pages, this wonderful book is ready to be filled in by a writer who is not afraid to make mistakes. It’s supposed to help us find our voice, and make us accept that it may take a while for that to happen.

As consumers of books, it’s impossible not to be inspired by those we read. This journal becomes an invitation to draw inspiration from Acevedo’s writing and, with it, find our own.

We hope these prompts – and books – manage to provide hours of fun for kids, and some peace and quiet for all parents out there!

Stay creative, wash your hands, stay safe (and sane)!

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I'm Joanna Penn, and through my books, podcast and community, I'll share my lessons learned on how to write, publish and market your book — and make a living with your writing.

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Think writing books for children is easy? Think again

It’s a question often put to people who attended college: What did you learn there that has served you well?

Neesha Hudson , who lives in Brunswick and is the author and illustrator of a new children’s book called “The Best Flower Ever!” has a good answer. While studying at an art college, she took a picture book course, which turned out to be both inspiring and instructive.

“It’s an aspect of illustration where you really get to put yourself on the page,” Hudson said. “You get to do a variety of different things. You’re not drawing the same thing over and over and over.”

Hudson’s new book tells the story of a dog with a simple but beautiful flower who finds himself comparing it to the more elegant and elaborate flowers that other dogs possess. The message for kids is that one should learn to appreciate what one has and not be envious of others.

As with all books for young readers, the illustrations are hugely important. They have to pull in the reader—or perhaps in this case, the page-turner who’s not yet old enough to read. For Hudson, it’s impossible to keep track of how many versions of each picture she’s done.

“I work in watercolor, and watercolor is not a perfect medium. It kind of has a mind of its own,” she said. “I drew the characters countless times and painted them multiple times to get them right.”

Reading a book for kids may take mere minutes. The same cannot be said for creating one.

“Illustrating and writing children’s books seems very simple,” Hudson said. “But it is not easy.”

Cotsen Children’s Library

Princeton university.

Writing an Alphabet for Ages 9 to 90 is Heavy Lifting

Last week I discovered Billy Blew-away’s Alphabetical Orthographical & Philological Picture Book. For Learners (Boston: James R. Osgood, c.1882), which seemed to have had two important things going for it—a clever concept backed by a reputable publisher.  James R. Osgood was not the best businessman in the industry, but in the early 1880s he had Mark Twain and Walt Whitman in his stable.   This picture book was printed entirely in vivid Prussian blue on white paper in a style associated with architectural blueprints.  I wonder if this was supposed to “blow you away….”  The unusual format and the mock-serious alliterative title seems designed to catch the eye of an adult book browser.    It was also the first (and only) volume in The Lazy Hours Series, which held out the promise of more entertainment than instruction.

The letter E has the same faults, but at least it shows the unhappy effects the couple’s behavior may have on a third party on the right, caught in the act of staring at their extravagant display of affection.  Overall the tone is unapologetically unserious, rather like the long-winded title.

Writers of alphabets often resort to another trick, which at least is not especially ignoble.  When inspiration flags, the  author lumped  X, Y, Z  with W the into one picture to dodge the embarrassing want of words in the English language starting with those letters.  At least W waves goodbye to the reader, as he leads the other figures running across top of the letters.  

The second question about presentation is problematic because we don’t know whose idea the blue print illustrations were.  They are striking because at first glance they look like cyanotypes, an expensive photographic process frequently used in architecture books.  James Osgood would have had access to professionals with the technical knowledge as the publisher of American Architect magazine, but that doesn’t really explain if silhouettes in Prussian blue instead of black were integral to Godfrey’s concept, except as a point of departure for the goofy title.  The illustrations must be imitation blue prints for several reasons: an entire book of cyanotype illustrations would cost more than 75 cents; cyanotypes are usually not printed on thick white paper; there are a few faint blue smudges made by finger prints on the blank backs of the leaves.

Billy Blew-away reads like a book by someone who hadn’t given much thought to the challenges of writing an illustrated text for children.  Maybe he went into the project assuming that some imagination and a sense of fun would be enough carry through to the end, a misapprehension that might have been deflated by the process of putting the book through the press.   I strongly suspect he was writing more for himself than for small people and was never inspired to try a second time.

Thanks to Julie Mellby and Molly Dotson, my colleagues in graphic arts, plus Susan Liberator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum for help with this post!

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9 Books to Spark Your Creativity

Reading Lists

Struggling to come up with ideas here's how to find inspiration.

Of all the craft books I’ve read in my life, perhaps none have stuck with me quite as clearly as the assertion, at the beginning of Mary Oliver’s  A Poetry Handbook , that, rather than waiting for inspiration to strike, an aspiring writer must sit down regularly for an appointment with the muse. If you do this, Oliver suggests, inspiration will follow: “if you are reliably there, it begins to show itself—soon it begins to arrive when you do.” And if not, “if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive,” the inspiration you’re seeking “will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.”

Even twenty years past the introduction to poetry class in which I first read Oliver’s book, I don’t think this is necessarily bad advice. I don’t write every day, as some scolds insist you must to be a real writer, whatever that means, but I do write regularly, and I’ve got a notebook and a pen stashed in every purse, my gym bag, and my glove compartment, so I can catch inspiration whenever it does strike. (My newsletter,  Write More, Be Less Careful , is  full of tips  for  scratching out time to write  in the midst of a busy life.) 

But what happens when you sit down to write and inspiration doesn’t follow? What do you do when you’ve dutifully held up your side of the bargain and that creative spark remains elusive?

Below, I’ve rounded up a collection of books that will spark your creativity and make you want to write. They mostly aren’t craft books in the conventional sense—they’re less about learning about line breaks or point of view and more about how to seize on unlikely sources of inspiration and crack open your brain to make space for creative work. 

Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles by Beth Pickens

In  Make Your Art No Matter What , Pickens, a therapist and artist coach, guides readers through exercises to overcome common creative hurdles, ranging from the philosophical like time, fear, and other people, to the downright practical, including money and marketing. I  interviewed Pickens , a therapist and artist coach, when her book first came out in the summer of 2021, and it’s has remained a warm source of encouragement since then. (It was that interview with Beth that inspired me to finally stop cackling nervously about how anxious I was about the business and self-promotion arm of writing and actually find a therapist, which helped enormously, in case anyone else needs a nudge to stop following therapists on Instagram and see one in real life.) Like a good therapist, she’s sympathetic to your struggles—and she’s also got lots of great resources to help you make your art and get out of your own way.

Syllabus: Notes From An Accidental Professor   and  Making Comics by Lynda Berry

Even—or maybe  especially  if—you’re someone who thinks of yourself as “not artistic,” the exercises in Lynda Barry’s books will likely unlock something in your creative brain.  Syllabus: Notes From An Accidental Professor , provides a peek into Barry’s classroom at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she’s an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity, and the follow-up,  Making Comics , includes exercises like “Scribble Monster Jam” that can be done in a group as a round robin or on your own. Several of her exercises pair drawing with narrative, a combination that will likely prove fruitful for lots of writers. What I love about Barry’s work is her insistence on practice and playfulness. Once we’ve abandoned something because we fear we’re bad at it, Barry writes, “a certain capacity of the mind is shuttered.” Barry’s exercises point the way toward cracking that creative capacity open again. Even if you, like me, never manage to make a piece of real art through her exercises, there’s something about working visually that can shake out new ideas. 

Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop by Marty McConnell

So often, our image of the writer is someone weeping into their notebook alone, and Marty McConnell’s  Gathering Voices  provides a useful counter to this image of the solitary artist, reminding us that writing doesn’t have to be a lonely pursuit. Her book, a collection of poems and writing exercises meant to be used in community-based poetry workshops, provides lots of points of entry for collaborative writing and discussion. McConnell developed the Gathering Voices approach through nearly twenty years of creating community writing workshops, including The louderARTS Project in New York and Vox Ferus in Chicago. The exercises, based on poems by Ocean Vuong, Terrance Hayes, Jericho Brown, and more, focus on curiosity, careful reading, and experimentation. Each poem is followed by a series of discussion questions that are open-ended enough to be accessible to even new readers of poetry an exercise related the poem. The exercise that’s paired with Kwame Dawes’s “Death: Baron Samedi,” for example, asks writers to “invent a minor god, deity or demon” then use a Mad Libs-kind of structure to begin their freewrite. It sounds like a little wacky, but it’s a mix of structure and freedom that can be really generative. You could use these exercises with your writing group or just pick them up for your own practice and be reminded that, even if it’s just you and your notebook right now, you’re not actually alone.

1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg

Like many writers, I found Jami Attenberg on twitter through the #1000words project, in which writers sign up to get a daily email of encouragement and write 1000 words a day for 14 days.  Since Attenberg began the project in the summer of 2018, it’s grown to a newsletter,  Craft Talk , with more than 37,000 subscribers and a book, published this past January. The magic of the #1000words project is the sense of companionship, that even as you’re sitting down at your desk alone, you can also feel writers all around the world settling in for the same word work. On social media and in the comments on the newsletter, writers chime in to share their word counts, celebrate little breakthroughs, and commiserate on tough days. The book, which includes essays by Attenberg and contributors including Roxane Gay, Lauren Groff, Celeste Ng, Carmen Maria Machado, and more on topics ranging from making writing friends to handling distractions and persisting through rejection, captures that energy. The book works best, I’ve found, as a friendly companion to a writing practice. I keep mine on my desk and flip through it when I need a little burst of encouragement or a reminder to get back to work. 

You MUST Use The Word Smoothie: A Craft Essay in 50 Writing Prompts by Chen Chen

In the introduction to this collection, available as a free digital download in Sundress’s Craft Chaps series, Chen writes that he hopes the prompts will “spark some unexpected new writing for you.” Across the sections, which Chen describes as “potential windows,” readers will find prompts ranging from “Write more love poems” to “Rest” and “If you can afford to: go to therapy. (Art can be therapeutic, but is not a substitute for therapy.)” It’s hard to write about this set of prompts without feeling like I’m either giving away the pleasure of its many surprises or making light of how it interweaves the playful and the politically attuned. Perhaps it will be enough to say that these prompts, either worked through individually as you’re inspired, or taken up as a whole across several weeks of writing, will take you on a journey from rest to rage and back.

The Book of Delights and The Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay

Ross Gay’s  Book of Delights  and  Book of (More) Delights  are all about finding delight in the everyday. The brief essays in these two books, which cover experiences ranging from carrying a tomato on a plane and pulling carrots to watching two people share a bag, feel like a kind of field guide to the pleasures of re-engaging with the world around us. (If you haven’t had the chance to see Ross Gay read in person, check out  this brief video  of him reading “Tomato on a Plane” so you can get that voice and smile in your mind and carry it with you as you read. And then see him read in person the next chance you get!) Though they’re not exercises, reading these essays always inspires me to look for more delight in my own life. Read a couple, then use the guidelines he created—“write them daily, write them quickly, and write them by hand”—to start crafting your own delights. 

Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life by Sharon Fagan McDermott and M. C. Benner Dixon

Millions of Suns  is the closest thing in this collection to a conventional craft book, but it distinguishes itself within that category through its expansive approach. Each chapter features a pair of essays written by McDermott and Dixon, followed by a range of prompts that are sure to spark your creative energy. It’s useful for writers working in genres from poetry to prose, and its chapters include topics ranging from imagery and inspiration to metaphor, structure, and revision. It ends not with the advice on publishing or facing rejection or finding a writing group that often seems to end craft books, but with a chapter on Beauty, and McDermott’s essay, which suggests that “beauty is a projection and a reality, both.” The book begins by insisting that “there is joy in writing,” and the essays and writing prompts it includes point the way toward cultivating more of that joy in your own creative life.

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