Acquire excellent taste in kiddie lit.
Imagine cranking out a bottle of wine in your garage and expecting to sell it for $30 a bottle without having first spent a great deal of time with good wines–and not just any old wine…box wine, next to Reunite, next to a $100 merlot? You don’t get a fine wine education playing roulette.
That’s where a lot of aspiring writers screw up. I did. Reading any old picture book won’t help you. “Hey, someone published it.” No. GOSH, no.
(I’m assuming you’re not an illustrator too. Those folks are in a whole other medium. So, if you’re an author-only, this post is for you!)
Read the good stuff written by other author/non-illustrators.
This is a list of just that. Now, I don’t like everyone on this list, but I can’t deny the gillions that do. Conversely, I have a few on here that I haven’t seen on anyone else’s list–but I felt they should be here.
A Hole Is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions (Ruth Krauss)
A Visitor for Bear (Bonnie Becker)
Ain’t gonna paint no more (Karen Beaumont)
Alexander and the Terrible No Good Very Bad Day (Judith Viorst)
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock (Eric A Kimmel)
Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen)
Bear Snores On (Karma Wilson)
Bread and Jam for Frances (Russell Hoban)
Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? (Bill Martin Jr)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Bill Martin Jr.)
Chicken Butt! (Erica Perl)
Clara Ann Cookie, Go To Bed (Harriet Ziefert)
Click, Clack Moo (Doreen Cronin)
Cookies: Bite Sized Life Lessons (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
Diary of a Worm (Doreen Cronin)
Doggone Dogs! (Karen Beaumont)
Earthquack!, Piggie Pie (Margie Palatini)
Eloise, (Kay Thompson)
Eyes Nose Fingers Toes (Ruth Krauss)
Fancy Nancy (Jane O’ Connor)
Good Night Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)
Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson)
Guess How Much I Love You (Sam McBratney)
Harry the Dirty Dog (Gene Zion)
How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight? (Jane Yolen)
How I Became a Pirate (Melinda Long)
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Laura Numeroff)
In a Blue Room (Jim Averbeck)
Little Hoot (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
Little Pea (Amy Krouse Rosenthal)
Miss Nelson Is Missing (Harry Allard)
Molly Lou Melon (Patty Lovell)
My Little Sister Ate One Hare (Bill Grossman)
Possum Magic (Mem Fox)
Puffling, Piglet and Papa, Piglet and Mama (Margaret Wild)
Runaway Bunny (Margaret Wise Brown)
Skunks (David T Greenburg)
The Apple Pie that Papa Baked (Lauren Thompson)
The Best Pet of All (David LaRochelle)
The Carrot Seed (Ruth Krauss)
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash (Trinka Hakes Noble)
The End (David LaRochelle)
The Gardener (Sarah Stewart)
The Library (Sarah Stewart)
The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper)
The Money Tree (Sarah Stewart)
The Monster at the End of This Book (Jon Stone)
The Other Side (Jacqueline Woodson)
The Ox Cart Man (Donald Hall)
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert Munch)
The Relatives Came (Cythia Rylant)
The Story About Ping (Margie Flack)
The Story of Ferdinand (Munro Leaf)
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Jon Scieszka)
Tiki Tiki Tembo (Arlene Mosel)
Two Little Trains (Margaret Wise Brown)
When Dinosaurs Came With Everything (Elise Broach)
Where Is the Green Sheep? (Mem Fox)
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale (Verna Aardema)
Owl Moon (Jane Yolen)
Does anyone else have any other ‘author-separate-illustrator’ titles to add to this list?
Guess How Much I Love You, Sam McBratney.
Nothing to add, just want to say “YAY” to seeing Jon Scieszka on your list. “The Stinky Cheese Man” and “Math Curse” were huge hits in our household when my son was little.
What a great list of great books!
I have to say that Bill Peet’s The Caboose Who Got Loose is a favorite in our house. But he’s an author/illustrator, so I don’t think he counts.
you could always add The Bible, after all, it is not in the schools anymore (except for private schools) and there are a lot of good character building attitude references in there, but not modern thinking.
My absolute favourite is the award winning “Diary of a Wombat” by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley. I bought one for my niece when I visited Sydney several years ago. Then I bought one for myself. Yes, all for me! Thankfully, you can pick up a copy from Amazon.
The book is based on a real wombat named Mothball who was mauled by dogs and then rescued. The book doesn’t mention the mauling, just the post-recovery antics such as demanding carrots, battling a flat, hairy creature (door mat) and other delights. You can read Mothball’s rather amazing true story at http://www.jackiefrench.com/wombat.html
First of all, thanks for putting me on your list! I’m honored. Second, good advice. I get asked often what people can do to become children’s authors and I always tell them to start by doing their homework. You need to read a lot of good children’s books, and spend a lot of time playing with them and figuring out how they work and why (e.g. visual storytelling, pacing, etc.). Sure, you need to write, and rewrite a lot. But first, you have to read!
Thanks to everyone who suggested their favorites. Many are on my library list for next week!