Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul

I ordered Ann Whitford Paul's Writing Picture Books as recommended by Harold Underdown, editor and creator of “Writing, Illustrating, and Publishing Children’s Books: The Purple Crayon” http://www.underdown.org/writing-picture-books-review.htm 

 

Amazon.com says of Paul’s book: 

Writing picture books is not easy. Picture books are a unique form of writing with a large audience of 2- to 8-year-olds, and they must appeal to both the adult purchaser and the child listener/reader. They are generally 32 pages long and must be tightly focused and told partly through illustrations. And novice picture book writers make a lot of mistakes--and get a lot of rejections from publishers flooded with inappropriate manuscripts. From this book these writers will learn the writing and revision process that will lead them to creating more salable picture book manuscripts. Ann Whitford Paul covers researching the picture books market, creating characters, point of view, plotting, tips on writing rhyme, and the lessons writers need in order to write great picture books that will appeal to both editors/agents and young readers/parents. She uses a mix of instruction and hand-on exercises, often asking readers to cut, color and paste their way through revision.

Many of my picture book stories have won writers’ awards, but I’ve yet to have one published.  With this book, I’m hoping to learn more and to get closer to the goal of publication.