of fairy tales, fables, folktales, myths, and legends from all cultures. They come from old traditions of storytelling that you can trace to particular countries or regions. A few of the originating sources that writers mine again and again include the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, Russian folk tales, and Greek mythology.
In fact, nearly every culture has a storytelling tradition that you can research for material. These stories continually inspire writers to write retellings and adaptations, stories that add to or change the source material in some unique way. Here are some excellent examples of retellings: Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (Quill Tree Books), a Cinderella retelling; Beastly, by Alex Flinn (HarperTeen), a “Beauty and the Beast” adaptation; and Bound by Donna Jo Napoli (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), a Cinderella tale set in ancient China.
Graphic novels and manga
Although graphic novels and manga are formats (flip back to Chapter 2), they’re also genres.
While graphic novels can cover almost any topic, many are fantasies. Graphic novels also often cover topics such as action and adventure, comedy, romance, science fiction, sports, historical fiction or nonfiction, and detective content. Recent entries include the middle-grade series Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1), by David Bowles, illustrated by Charlene Bowles (Cinco Puntos Press), and Beetle & The Hollowbones, written and illustrated by Aliza Layne (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). Books to check out in the YA category include Flamer, written and illustrated by Mike Curato (Henry Holt & Company BYR), and Banned Book Club, by Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada, illustrated by Hyung-Ju Ko (Iron Circus Comics).
Horror and ghost stories
Horror stories and ghost stories are the creepy, goosebump-inducing stories that make you leave the flashlight on under your sheets — even when you’re done reading. Good ghost stories always suck you in because they’re grounded in reality. After you really fall for the characters and the setting (as if the story were about the family next door), the plot springs something otherworldly on you. For an example of good writing in this genre, check out Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins), with illustrations by Dave McKean.
Getting in on the Action (and History)
Who doesn’t like an action-packed story that stimulates your mind and perhaps even makes your heart skip a beat or two? We know we do, and so do many other people — children and adults alike. Young readers also find history a very fascinating topic. They crave finding out more about where they and their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors came from and the experiences they and others went through in past times.
Action/adventure
With very stylized, bold covers, action/adventure focuses on young boys and girls who combat nature, industry, bad adults, and other evils (see the example, The Revenge of Joe Wild, in Figure 3-2). You can find action/adventure stories in early readers, middle-grade books, young adult books, and graphic novels.
From The Revenge of Joe Wild. Reprinted by permission of Santa Monica Press © 2022.
FIGURE 3-2: Find action and adventure in The Revenge of Joe Wild.
Subgenres of action/adventure include thrillers and espionage (usually involving a spy who must protect their imperiled country, school, or family against an enemy), mysteries, crime-solving stories, and detective novels.
True stories
Who needs to make up a story when you can find so many true stories out there simply waiting for you to transform them into a children’s book? (See examples of true stories in Figure 3-3.)
a) Boardwalk Babies. Text copyright © 2021, Marissa Moss. Illustrations copyright © 2021 April Chu. Reprinted by permission. b) A Queen to the Rescue. Text copyright © 2021 Nancy Churnin. Illustrations copyright © 2021 Yevgenia Nayberg. Reprinted by permission.
FIGURE 3-3: Example true stories.
One real-life subject that all children seem to gravitate toward is true stories about animals. One successful example is Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, by Isabella Hatkoff and Craig Hatkoff (Scholastic Press), about a baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise who adopt each other after a tragedy leaves the baby hippo orphaned.
If you narrow down the category of animals to dogs, cats, and other domesticated beasts (who have a lot in common with children, after all), you have another potentially winning formula. A moving example is Marshall the Miracle Dog, written by Cynthia Willenbrock and illustrated by Lauren Heimbaugh (The Marshal Movement), which relates the story of a horribly mistreated and disfigured dog who, against the odds, finds a loving forever home.
Many new writers swear they have an incredible tale, stranger than fiction and 12 times more lovely. Great! Go ahead and write it. Just beware that all the rules of writing good children’s books apply to real stories just as much as they do to fictional ones.
