Fiction for children, especially younger children, comes in the form of picture books. This series of 30 posts explains how to write and edit the basic picture book, and goes on to discuss specific types of picture books.

Messages, Morals, Lessons

In a recent comment, MR asked, “It seems there are many picture books with “messages,” such as Cowboy Camp by Tammi Sauer, Edwina the Dinosaur by Mo Willems, and even Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. And I’ve heard over and over that a writer shouldn’t hit the reader over the head with a moral or message, so I’m wondering if there is an objective way of measuring didacticism in an PB manuscript.

• If we could rewrite Sylvester and the Magic Pebble as too didactic, how would it read?
• Are there any questions writers can ask themselves to ensure they aren’t hitting the reader over the head?
• How do you show the main character’s growth in the story without making the mc’s lesson a blatant lesson for all who read the book?
• Where is the line?”

It’s a hard question.
We want stories that kids want to read over and over.
We don’t want stories that adults think the kids need read over and over to them.

What’s the Takeaway

For me, it helps to change the question from, “What’s the lesson?” to “What’s the takeaway?”

Read More

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Related posts:

1. Putting the Picture in Picture Books
2. Picture Books: Those Confusing 32 Pages
3. Playing with Words for Picture Books
4. Rhyming picture books bibliography
5. The Dual Audience for Picture Books

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