A few years ago, I decided to try something a little different to help me branch out as a writer: I wanted to write a children’s book. Specifically, I wanted to write a children’s book for my wife to draw (because she’s great at these things). We batted ideas around for a while, and came up with some basic concepts and a rough plot for one, and I started going to work.
And then I stopped. And then started again. Then stopped again. Then I wrote a documentary instead.
But, hey, that counts. It was something different.
. . .
I was discussing writing another book with a friend last night. It’s something I want to do, obviously, and have been working toward. But that conversation brought me back to this idea of a children’s book. So I went back and re-read what I had done so far (I’d gotten a little more than halfway through it). And honestly, it wasn’t bad as a starting point. It meandered a bit, but it could have some potential if it were tightened up, and were a little more openly goofy instead of subtle.
Y’know, and finished.
As I read it, though, and then later spoke with Emily, I started thinking about some of the kids’ books I adore. Books like Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series,[1. No, that’s not a typo on “Piggie”.] or Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, or⌠well, anything by Mo Willems, really. But Melanie Watt’s Scaredy Squirrel and Chester books, Lauren Child’s Charlie and Lola books, pretty much anything by Robert MunschâŚ
The more I think about these, the more I realize children’s booksâspecifically those geared toward kids between the ages of four and nineâhave got to be the hardest in the world to write! Think about it: these books have to be clear enough in their writing for kids to understand, but they also have to tell a compelling story. They need to have actual plots.[2. I’ve read way too many that don’t.] They generally have to be pretty clever (at least, many of my favorites embrace a more absurdist style of humor). And they have to connect with the parents who have to read them, too!
Basically, you need to be a superhero to write a really great kids’ book.
And a superhero I am not.
But I like the challenge. Not of being a superhero, but of writing something really difficult. I like how it forces me to think differently, and that it frees me to be a bit sillier than I normally am in my work. I might never get there, but I want to keep trying. Because who knows? Maybe I’ll find I’ve actually written a fun book at the endâone my kids might actually want to read.
Photo credit: Dr. Seuss collection via photopin (license)
