There are a number of genres within the children's book arena. The target audience ranges from babies right on through to young adults. This provides a unique situation for writers to pick and choose a genre that feels comfortable to write in, while still remaining within the children's book market.
Each genre is geared toward a specific age group and has its own set of rules and tricks.
Children's Books: An overview of the different genres and a description of each:
Bedtime stories: These stories are simple and soothing. They are written to help lull little ones off to sleep and are in the form of picture books. The age group can be from newborn to five or six years of age.
An example of a bedtime story is the classic Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.
Board Books: Board books are simple picture books geared toward babies and toddlers. They are designed to hold up to a toddlers prying and pulling fingers. Board books can be black and white or very colorful. These books usually teach simple concepts, such as numbers from one to ten, days of the week, colors, and simple words.
An example of a classic baby board book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is also a board book.
Picture books for the 2 - 5 year old group: These books are meant to be read aloud the child. Rather than simply concept themes, simple story lines can be written with short sentences and words. These books are for children in the 'pre-reading' stage and the word count can range from 100 - 500 words.
An example of a very young child's picture book is The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.
Picture books for the 4 - 8 year old: This genre makes up most of the picture book market. These books are also meant to be read aloud to children, but for the older child it can be read individually. The pictures will give a visual element for children learning to read, helping with the comprehension of the text. The wording and themes can be a bit more interesting, but still rather simple.
For the writer, in this genre you will need to use introduce 'showing' to create an engaging reading experience for the child. The average picture book is 32 pages and under 1000 words.
Two examples of picture books for this age group are Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Owen by Kevin Henkes.
Chapter books for the 6 - 9 or 7 - 10 year old group: Children in this group are learning to read. The vocabulary and storyline is expanding, but clarity is still a must. These books may be labeled as 'early readers' or 'easy readers' by educational publishers and are designed to read by the child. The word count is usually between 5,000 and 12,000.
An example of a chapter book is Clarice Bean, that's me by Lauren Child; another is Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.
In regard to Because of Winn-Dixie, the protagonist is ten years old. Since children tend to read-up (the protagonist will be 2 - 3 years older than the reader), the target audience is around 7 - 8 years old, placing it within this genre and possibly the younger end of middle grade.
Middle grade books: The middle grader is between 8 and twelve years old. The middle-grader will go for stories that he can associate with and characters he can form a bond with. The word count is usually a minimum of 20,000.
As the child is able to comprehend more and is maturing, so should the stories. Stories and conflict can be more involved and you can now introduce more than one protagonist or point of view. This age group can also be introduced to science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries.
An example of the middle grade genre are the early Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.
Young adult books: This genre encompasses the twelve to sixteen and up age group. YAs can be edgy; plots and characters can be complex and serious issues addressed.
An example of a young adult book is An Audience for Einstein by Mark Wakely. The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer is also in the YA genre.
A useful way to get a better idea of what the different genres consist of is to visit your local library and talk to the children's section librarian. She'll be able to show you books in each genre and give you tidbits of information on which are the most popular, which are classic, and much more.
Karen Cioffi is a sought after children's
Kamis, 27 Juli 2017
Sabtu, 08 Juli 2017
How to Write Children's Books - Tips in Writing for Children
Learning how to write children's books and writing for children in general can be a great experience but of course, it can also be a challenging task. Of course, you have to get the attention of children who are sometimes, or most of the time, have short attention span than adults.
If you want to write for the children, learn what they want to read and what catches their attention. Most often, this means colorful images and creative presentations that come along with your children's book. Of course, it is also important that you know the children's thoughts about the stories they prefer and they like.
Firstly, you have to have the passion in writing if you want to learn how to write children's books. Of course, from the passion in writing, you can move on to learning the basics as well, and focus on what can get the attention of children when it comes to written materials and books.
- Research. You may need to check out what children love reading. You may need to observe children in the bookstore and what makes them like a book. Check out popular children's books and study them. Learn how these bestselling children's books captured its audiences as well.
- Study how to make effective dialogues in children's books. Dialogues should not just be something that your character says, but it should also give descriptions on the character's reactions while saying the dialogue. This will help provide the reader a good description of the character or the event. It is important that your dialogues are something that can also provide a picture of what the character thought, what he says aloud and what he is into while saying the dialogue.
- Develop your characters before writing your story. Most f the time, you would be thinking of how to twist the plot in your story but to write a good story - whether for the children or adults, you have to develop and define your character first before deciding to start with your writing.
- Add humor to your story. Children indeed love humor as much as adults do, so try to incorporate a little bit of humor into your story book. This will help keep their attention as well. Children indeed love to laugh and giving them a reason to laugh in your book can indeed be a good thing to consider if you want to learn how to write children's books.
- Find inspiration in your writing. If you write for the children, it helps a lot to have an inspiration - may it be your own kids or other writings for the children. You can also draw inspiration from other children's books that you find in your local library and be creative in searching for what children love to read.
Keep in mind to entertain children with your book. Aside from adding humor in it, make sure as well that you have conceived your characters well, especially if you are using talking animals. Not all talking animals are appealing to children, You have to make sure that you have a well-developed character that will also be appealing to children.
These are just a few tips to help you learn how to write children's books. Keep in mind that you may not have instant success with just one book. You have to be patient as well.
If you want to write for the children, learn what they want to read and what catches their attention. Most often, this means colorful images and creative presentations that come along with your children's book. Of course, it is also important that you know the children's thoughts about the stories they prefer and they like.
Firstly, you have to have the passion in writing if you want to learn how to write children's books. Of course, from the passion in writing, you can move on to learning the basics as well, and focus on what can get the attention of children when it comes to written materials and books.
- Research. You may need to check out what children love reading. You may need to observe children in the bookstore and what makes them like a book. Check out popular children's books and study them. Learn how these bestselling children's books captured its audiences as well.
- Study how to make effective dialogues in children's books. Dialogues should not just be something that your character says, but it should also give descriptions on the character's reactions while saying the dialogue. This will help provide the reader a good description of the character or the event. It is important that your dialogues are something that can also provide a picture of what the character thought, what he says aloud and what he is into while saying the dialogue.
- Develop your characters before writing your story. Most f the time, you would be thinking of how to twist the plot in your story but to write a good story - whether for the children or adults, you have to develop and define your character first before deciding to start with your writing.
- Add humor to your story. Children indeed love humor as much as adults do, so try to incorporate a little bit of humor into your story book. This will help keep their attention as well. Children indeed love to laugh and giving them a reason to laugh in your book can indeed be a good thing to consider if you want to learn how to write children's books.
- Find inspiration in your writing. If you write for the children, it helps a lot to have an inspiration - may it be your own kids or other writings for the children. You can also draw inspiration from other children's books that you find in your local library and be creative in searching for what children love to read.
Keep in mind to entertain children with your book. Aside from adding humor in it, make sure as well that you have conceived your characters well, especially if you are using talking animals. Not all talking animals are appealing to children, You have to make sure that you have a well-developed character that will also be appealing to children.
These are just a few tips to help you learn how to write children's books. Keep in mind that you may not have instant success with just one book. You have to be patient as well.
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