For several years, this series on writing a picture book has been available free on this site. It’s now available altogether as a 110 page pdf file, How to Write a Children’s Picture Book.
Book cover via AmazonThe setting of a picture book is important because it determines much of the illustrations.
Picturebook Settings
When writing for kids, you walk a fine line between what is familiar v. exotic. Kids like the familiarity of neighborhoods, homes and schools. Yet, they also need to have their world expanded and literature is a great way to do that. Try to stretch the setting, yet keep something familiar.
- The Wild Thing, by Maurice Sendak, starts at home, sends the character out for a fantastic visit, then bring him back to the comfort of home again.
- Think of the classic picture book, King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood, which uses the familiar ritual of a nightly bath, but turns it into something exotic.
- Or, turn something exotic into something familiar, as in Thy Friend, Obadiah, by Brinton Turkle, which treats a Quaker family and a historical family as just a normal family.
Suggested Reading for Familiar v. Exotic
- Familiar:
- School
Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman - Home (Any suggestions for this one?)
- Outdoors
My Friend Rabbit, by Eric Rohmann
- School
- Exotic:
- Traveling across country:
The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison - Other countries
The Diary of A Wombat by Jackie French - Fantasy settings
The Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
- Traveling across country:
- Combination of Familiar and Exotic:
- 19 Girls and Me by Darcy Pattison (school and imaginative play that takes the kids to exotic spots)
- Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French (Australia)
NOTE: An exotic setting can’t save a “weak” story; but it might give it an extra edge of uniqueness that helps it work better.
Could Diary of a Wombat have been about a squirrel?
Any other suggested titles?

Related posts:
- Stronger Settings
- Did you Write a Picture Book or Something Else?
- Options for Picture Book Characters
- 30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book
- How to Mock-up a Picture Book
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For Home, how about “The Snowy Day”?
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