Picture Books Are Fun! (And they are not just for your little brother or sister.)They combine words and illustrations to make an exciting story in less than 500 words.

Want to learn more? You will need too, if you are going to become a picture book author.

By: Sherry Alexander,

Author of Oliver’s Hunger Dragon

http://www.sherryalexanderwrites.com

Reading picture books is fun, but

writing them is better!

Here are some

Picture Books written by author

friends.

Psst. Notice the

age levels. They

are not just for

babies!

By: Allyn Stotz (5-8 yrs) By: Robin Martin-Duttman (2-5 yrs)

By: Kelly Hashway (4-8 yrs) By: Julie Hedlund (3-7 yrs)

By: Selene Castrovilla (8-11 yrs) By: Alexis O’Neill (8-11 yrs)

What Picture Books have you read?

Come on! You can share.

Books, any books, are awesome!

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Picture Books, like all

other books, can help you learn

about other cultures, different

animals, your favorite sport,

or take you to another planet.

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They can be fiction or non-fiction

Fiction: Not true

Non-fiction: True

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They can be written in rhyme like: How High Will It Fly

I let my balloon go,

While I stood in the snow.

I wondered how high

The red orb would fly.

Rhyme: words that have the same sound

By: DC Swain

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Or . . . Getting Along With Each Other

Under the dim light of the moon a loon, a baboon, and a raccoon

Stood drinking at the edge of a lagoon.

Which words rhyme? Do they make sense?

By: Sally Huss

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They can be written in prose like: The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes

For Beatrice Bottomwell, Friday began like every other day.

Prose: written or spoken language in its

ordinary form, without rhyming structure.

By: Mark Pett

and Gary

Rubenstein

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Or . . . Deep in the Sahara

Deep in the Sahara, sky yellow with heat, rippled dunes slide and scorpions scuttle.

Did you notice the Alliteration? The repetition

of the same sound?

By: Kelly

Cunnane and

Hoda Hadadi

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Picture Books writers use different language to make their

stories come alive.

Picture Books use literal language.

• Words that denote what they really mean.

What books or stories have

you read with literal

language?

A lion roars

at the

ground to

confuse its

prey.

His bones never

straightened.

The sky is blue.

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Picture Books use figurative language to make their stories

exciting.

Metaphors . . .similes . . .hyperboles . . . Oh My!

• Figurative language uses words or

expressions that do not have their

normal, everyday meaning.

• A metaphor is a statement that compares two things that are not alike.

My teacher is

a star.

My room is a

disaster site!

Maria is a chicken.

Who can think of another

metaphor?17

• A simile compares two things that are not alike using “like” or “as”.

Who can think of another

simile?

As clear as

mud

I feel like a pizza

As light as a

cloud

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• A hyperbole is an exaggeration so dramatic that no one would believe it was true.

Who can think of a

hyperbole?

I am so

hungry I

could eat

a horse.

My mom is

going to kill

me!

Everyone

knows

that!

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• Personification gives human qualities to an object or an animal.

Who can think of a

hyperbole?

The lunch

line slowed

to a crawl.

The wind’s icy

fingers gripped

my neck.

Lightning

danced

across the

sky.

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• Onomatopoeia are sound words.

What onomatopoeia can you

think of?

The wind

whooshed

past meThe frog

croaked. The

bird whistled.

Clank, clink, clap, and clatter; gurgle, grunt, growl, and giggle; bark, bray, buzz, and bang.

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What type of figurative language can you find in this passage?

The bubbling of the creek that seemed so loud a few moments ago,

sounded muffled like a secret shared between sisters. Some small brown

trout, shining silver in the sparkling sun, hurried upstream. Others sat and

stared at us from tiny cracks.

When we surfaced, a long-toed salamander scurried from one rock to

another, its black, brown, and yellow spotted body glistened in the light.

Anna shook my arm and pointed towards the sky. I rolled on to my back. A

red-tailed hawk screeched as it soared over us. It’s giant brown wings

blotted out the sun.

Onomatopoeia; Personification;

Alliteration; Simile; Hyperbole

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Now, if you are going to plan, write, illustrate, and publish a picture book, you need a story

with . . .

It also needs . . .

A Character A Setting A Problem A Solution

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Here is an example from Deep in the Sahara

sky yellow with heat, rippled dunes slide and scorpions

scuttle.

you want a malafa so you can be beautiful too.

When you tell Mama, she smiles. “Lalla, a malafa is . . .

What is the

setting?

Who is the

main

character?What is

the

problem?

Do you

think she

solves her

problem?

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Why does Lalla want a malafa? (this is the problem or conflict in the story)

Your sister, Selma, in a malafa glows.

Nothing but dark eyes show. More

than all the camels in the land, you

want a malafa so you can be

mysterious too.

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Why aren’t her reasons to have a malafa enough? (This adds to the conflict/problem)

Read Deep in the Sahara

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What is her

first reason? What is

her

second

reason?

What is her third

reason?

Lalla’s reasons for a malafa changed . . .(this is the solution)

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How? Why?

How is the story wrapped up at the end? (Did you notice the summary?)

Did you notice the summary?

Read it together. See how all of

Lalla’s reasons are answered.

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What do you

think of the

ending?

Let’s think about your story.

Will you write about an animal, a person, an event, or a thing? Will it be non-fiction or fiction?

Still can’t think of a

character or a story? Here

are a few ideas.

Need more inspiration?

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Anything and

everything can

spark a story.

Rewrite a fairy

tale you

remember.

Did something

funny happen

to you that

could make a

good story?

Do you like

scary stories?

Or, do you like

happy stories?

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But before you get

started, you need to

know one more thing.

Picture Books come in different sizes, and they share the space with the illustrations.

They can be 24, 32, or 40 pages long.

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• 7 pages for your story

• 8 illustrations

• An author’s page

This does not count your cover

which will be construction paper.

Your cover will contain the title, the

author/illustrator’s name.

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It means you will need 7 short

paragraphs of story. One

paragraph on each story page.

It also means that each

paragraph will need an

illustration. You will alternate a

paragraph story page with an

illustration page.

Hint: In Picture Books, that paragraph can be as small as

one or two words as long as it moves your story.

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Check out Sherry’s blog “Writing for kids and about kids”

http://www.rightsherry.blogspot.com