Writing Children's Books For Dummies. Peter Economy

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Stork: A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends, by Robie H. Harris, illustrated by Michael Emberley (Candlewick).

      American Girl Publications has a few great entries that deal with puberty, such as The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls, by Valorie Lee Schaefer, and Help! The Absolutely Indispensable Guide to Life for Girls, by Nancy Holyoke (both Pleasant Company Publications). Or try From Boys to Men: All About Adolescence and You, by Michael Gurian and Brian Floca (Price Stern Sloan).

      Educational books for children aren’t limited to sex education. The environment is on everyone’s minds these days (refer to Figure 3-16), so kids want to explore the subject that everyone is talking about. You can write an educational book about any topic imaginable. You just need an interest in a topic and a zest for making facts as interesting and fun as possible so that you don’t lose your reader’s attention.

      

New writers often make the mistake of belittling the intelligence of their audience by talking down to them or preaching at them. No matter what you aim to teach your readers, make sure you keep the tone fun and the material interesting. You have to convey what you, as an author, think or expect through the information you relate and not through expressed opinions.

Photo depicts the We Both Read series.

      Reprinted courtesy of Treasure Bay, Inc.

      Religion

      Religion as a genre includes stories related to the Bible, biblical characters, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and any other religious affiliation and its attendant holidays, characters, or tenets. This genre permeates nearly every format of books — from board books to Bible story compilations for the middle grades. Religious diversity is also covered in school curricula, so textbooks often include excerpts from titles focusing on these issues — an added source of revenue for authors.

      Books that fall into this genre include Maria Shriver’s What’s Heaven? (Golden Books Adult Publishing) and Bryn Barnard’s The Genius of Islam (Knopf Books for Young Readers).

      Aspirational and inspirational

Photo depicts When Pencil Met the Markers, an aspirational story.

      From When Pencil Met the Markers by Karen Kilpatrick and Luis O. Ramos, Jr.; illustrated by German Blanco. Copyright © 2020 by German Blanco, Karen Kilpatrick, and Luis O. Ramos Jr. Reprinted by permission of Imprint, a part of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

      FIGURE 3-18: When Pencil Met the Markers, an aspirational story.

Photo depicts No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan, an inspiring story.

      From No Steps Behind. Text copyright © 2020 Jeff Gottesfeld. Illustrations copyright © 2020 Shiella Witanto. Reprinted by permission.

      FIGURE 3-19: No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan, an inspiring story.

      Diversity

      

You may be tempted to write about a culture that’s not your own. But the controversy over the adult novel American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummings (Flatiron Books), demonstrates that writers can sometimes face a backlash and be accused of cultural appropriation, even if they’re not writing an educational book. In Cummings’ book, a New York Times bestseller, she wrote about a Latinx woman who has to flee Acapulco to make her way to North America. Cummings was severely criticized over the fact that she’s not a Latinx writer, so she wasn’t writing about experiences she herself had. Is this fair? The glowing reviews her book received across the board, and the fact that Oprah chose her for her book club, did not douse the fire.

Photo depicts dealing with diversity.

      a) From book covers/jackets published by Abrams Books/Magination Press/American Psychological Association. Used by permission of Harry N. Abrams, New York. All rights reserved. May Your Life Be Deliciosa text © 2021 Michael Genhart. Illustrations © 2021 Loris Lora. b) Cady and the Bear Necklace cover reprinted by permission of the author. © 2019 Ann Dallman.

      FIGURE 3-20: Dealing with diversity.

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