We all remember the children’s books we read growing up—the ones we checked out from the library, the ones our teachers read to us, the ones we demanded every night at bedtime.
But what about books for the new generation? How can we create modern stories for today’s children without losing the qualities we all know and love?
Here are seven tips on how to make a great children’s book:
1. Find the Right Inspiration
The best children’s stories are the ones that were sparked by a personal experience, whether a funny conversation you had with your toddler, an unaddressed challenge you see in your home or career, or a key value you want to instill in the next generation of readers. It’s not uncommon to be overcome with creativity and for the story to pour out of you and onto the page. When the narrative is something you’re passionate about, something you can get excited about, that never fails to translate to the story itself. In many ways, this is a critical first step to developing a winning book—writing something you can truly believe in and proudly share with the world.
2. Make Your Characters Relatable
Whether you have a human protagonist the story follows throughout, a variety of families represented to include diversity, or animals as characters to avoid aligning with a particular background or ethnicity, it’s important to consider how you will forge a connection between the characters in your story and the young reader following along. No matter what your story is about, the characters should experience some sort of emotional arc that kids can relate to. You want a child to be able to see themselves in the character(s)!
3. Let the Message Drive the Story
Calling back to that inspiration that prompted you to sit down and write a children’s book—make sure the value, lesson, and/or purpose of the story is the driving force of the entire book. You don’t want to have a meandering narrative with several half-baked plotlines and ambiguous takeaways. Young readers who are developing their literacy best grasp a story when it has a clear central message.
4. Find the Right Pacing
Young readers tend to have short attention spans, so don’t dillydally when it comes to diving into the action. When the story starts, launch right in without bogging the reader down with unnecessary background info. Then, stay focused and intentional about the content so you don’t lose your readers (or cause parents to groan when their kid picks your book out for bedtime). Children’s books are meant to be relatively short, so keep the story moving right through to the powerful, poignant, or thought-provoking ending.
5. Get the Cadence Just Right
Children’s authors often want to craft stories that rhyme. That can be super fun, especially when each verse has an almost lyrical quality with a clear rhythm. The tricky part is . . . lots of authors struggle to create rhymes that really work. You don’t want to force it. In fact, if you’re tempted to force it, you may want to just go with a non-rhyming book—that'll probably flow better in the end!
While there’s no formula for creating perfect rhymes, it can be helpful to pay attention to the number of syllables on each line. If there’s a huge difference, it’s probably going to trip up the reader! Another tip: Don’t stress about the rhyme being exact. As long as it sounds close enough and is grammatically correct, it will probably work. (Remember, we don’t want to force it!) Finally, be sure to read your work out loud to see how it rolls off the tongue. Something may seem okay in your head, but when you read it aloud, you realize the cadence is off.
6. Be Thoughtful About Word Choice
Just like with any book, when writing children’s literature, it’s important to consider your target audience. Whether you’re writing a simple picture book or a more advanced early reader or chapter book, you should ensure the language is matched with where your target audience is on their literacy journey. Feel free to challenge your reader when it makes sense and if that aligns with the goals of your book. Just make sure they can at least piece together what you’re trying to say based on context clues and the supporting illustrations. You may even want to include a glossary at the back of the book to help readers broaden their vocabulary!
7. Bring the Story to Life Visually
As much as authors love the story they’ve written, they usually are most excited about the visual component—starting with the illustrations! When it comes to children’s literature, the artwork is almost even more important than the story itself, as it engages the reader and helps them understand the content holistically. Make sure the illustrations are true to your vision in terms of style and color palette while meaningfully conveying the story.
Tip: Keep the illustrations in mind while writing the manuscript—you don’t need to describe the color of the girl’s sweater or the particulars of the weather outside because it will be shown through the art!
Once you’ve got beautiful illustrations, you need to integrate the text. Be sure to select fonts that fit the tone of the book but that are clearly legible for young readers. (For example, it’s not usually recommended to use handwriting or script fonts as they’re harder to read). The typesetting phase is another opportunity to get creative, so make it as dynamic and engaging as possible with thoughtful text placement that fits with the content.
8. Have Fun with It!
The most important thing to remember when publishing a children’s book is to . . . have fun! From the language of the story to the style of the illustrations to the color of the fonts, every piece of the production process should be enjoyable and fulfilling. So embrace whimsy, nail down your vision, and dream up a story fit for the child you once were—the child that still lives inside you today.
Kids are the future, and the books we give them will shape their values and beliefs—the way they see the world. So it’s our responsibility to create great stories that will help nurture the next generation into the greatest one yet!
If you have an idea for a children’s book or would like to explore publishing the next beloved children’s story, visit the Blue Balloon Books website for more information.