NEW YORK, NY—As a rookie children’s writer several years ago, I received a piece of advice that sounded so simple, yet it still rings true today:
Don’t just write a story about a child. Write a child’s story.
Those words, scrawled on the inside cover of my first writing journal, came to life recently as literacy consultant Tony Stead began his keynote presentation at the 2002 Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Mid-Year Conference at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Stead, an Australian educator now living in New York, asked the audience of 750 to quickly jot down what they thought were the six most important elements to any successful picture book. (For those who didn’t make it to the conference, we’ll pause for a minute while you come up with your Top Six.)
So what do you think? Rich language? Memorable characters?
Well, after interviewing more than 2,000 teachers and students over a period of 15 years, Stead came up with two Top Six lists. The first is based on what children say is most important in a picture book. The second is representative of what teachers believe is most important.
One in the same, right?
Not quite.
According to Stead, the children he surveyed said the most important element was that a book “makes them laugh.” Teachers? To them, Stead said, a book is most successful when it “teaches a moral or lesson.”
That in itself, Stead suggests, demonstrates the considerable gap between what children want in their picture books and what they’re apt to get. The rest of the elements ranked as follows:
For children, the best books:
- include naughty or evil characters
- end with a sense of justice (bully gets punished, wicked witch melts, etc.)
- have wonderful illustrations
- have special features such as pop-ups, fold-outs, etc.
For teachers, the best books:
- have wonderful illustrations
- rhyme (when text doesn’t run too long)
- inspire requests for encore readings.
It’s in that final comment, about inspiring repeat readings, where teachers finally show true concern for what children want, Stead says. His message to those of us who write for children, then, is this: never forget the importance of a child’s perspective.
Granted, this isn’t exactly a cutting-edge philosophy. Ursula Nordstrom, the legendary children’s book editor at Harper’s, was known for championing child-centered books, as were many of those who followed in her path.
But in these days of superpower publishers, where writers often scurry from one marketing-driven trend to the next, seizing on any tidbit that might lead to a sale, it might be a good time to remind ourselves why we write for kids in the first place.
Once we do that, the right perspective usually pops into place.
And child-centered literature becomes priority number one.
