So far, this year, I’ve been taking a break and being kind to myself. Meanwhile, the Kid-Lit Writing Wisdom team members have been doing their own thing. I believe that in the future I will be offering periodic guest posts from wise authors and/or illustrators, so keep an eye out. Before I move on to talking about picture book structures, I want to mention that my book BUTTERFLY KISSES FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA is featured in the summer reading section of the recent County Line Magazine. There are a couple cool things about this nice surprise. First, they put me in the great company of two other Texas authors Rosie Pova and Jen Betton. Rosie’s book SUNDAY RAIN (illustrated by Amariah Rauscher) is featured and author/illustrator Jen Betton’s cute book HEDGEHOG NEEDS A HUG is featured. The other thing that surprised me about BUTTERFLY KISSES FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA is that out of all my books, they picked the one that has been around the longest. What I love about this is the fact that my first picture book has had such a long life. I believe it may be the top seller of all my books, even after all these years.
The message that I want to leave with you is that some books do have long lives. One never really knows what the future will bring for our precious babies. You can see the magazine feature here.
Now I will move on to picture book structures.
PICTURE BOOK STRUCTURES
A few months back, someone inquired about my course ART OF ARC, asking if it covers the many different picture book structures. The answer is yes, but not extensively. There is certainly enough information and lists of mentor texts to get one very familiar with books that don’t fall into the traditional story structure. This is not to say that many of the different structures don’t still have an arc of some sort. Anyway, after that inquiry, I decided it might be nice if I could share a little bit about the various structures with you. The best and wisest way to do that is to share what others have already created. So here is a list of links where you can learn all about picture book structures.
Enjoy!
2016 ReFoReMo Day 5: TAMMI SAUER MODELS HOW-TO DO THE STRUCTURE STRUT (ReFoReMo is now March on with Mentor Texts)
2012 PiBoIdMo Day 7: EVERY DAY TAMMI SAUER IS STRUCTURIN’ (PiBoIdMo is now Storystorm)
https://taralazar.com/2012/11/07/piboidmo-day-7-tammi-sauer/
2014 PiBoIdMo Day 11: TAMMI SAUER’S HOW TO “HOW TO”
https://taralazar.com/2014/11/11/piboidmo-day-11-tammi-sauer/
2021 Picture Book Builders PICK AND COMMIT: CHOOSING A PICTURE BOOK STRUCTURE by Pat Zietlow Miller
https://picturebookbuilders.com/2021/08/pick-and-commit-choosing-a-picture-book-structure/
2020 Writer Magazine: HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR PICTURE BOOKS FOR SUCCESS by Ryan G. Van Cleave
These tried-and-true structures can provide a blueprint for your picture book plot.
2020 Writer’s Digest: 7 WAYS TO STRUCTURE YOUR PICTURE BOOK by Brian A. Klems
https://www.writersdigest.com/improve-my-writing/7-ways-to-structure-your-picture-book
Reading Rockets: STORY SKELETONS: TEACHING PLOT STRUCTURE WITH PICTURE BOOKS by Shutta Crum
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/story-skeletons-teaching-plot-structure-picture-books
Ms. Rosen Reads: PICTURE BOOK PATTERNS (an extensive list of mentor texts for a variety of picture book structures)
https://msrosenreads.edublogs.org/read/picture-book-studies/picture-book-patterns/
2018 Mentor’s for Rent: HOW TO WRITE A NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK: STEP 6: STRUCTURE IT by Laura Purdie Salas
Florida Writers Association: WRITING THE WORDLESS, OR ALMOST WORDLESS, PICTURE BOOK by Shutta Crum
https://floridawriters.blog/writing-the-wordless-or-almost-wordless-picture-book/
2012 Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating: WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS
https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/wordless-picture-books/
LINDA ASHMAN SHARES HER MANUSCRIPT FOR HER NEARLY WORDLESS PICTURE BOOK “RAIN”
An excellent demonstration of formatting a manuscript for a wordless or nearly wordless picture book.
https://lindaashman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/RAIN_Submission.pdf
I hope some of this information helps you with possibly finding a new and interesting path for some of your picture book ideas.
If you missed the “Kid-Lit Writing Wisdom” posts, you can find them all here. Together, these posts are a free course in kid-lit writing.
Alayne Kay Christian 