| Writing books for preschoolers presents more | | | | Book Design Considerations. As an author, you |
| challenges than you might think. These books | | | | do not have to worry about laying out the book's |
| may appear easy to do because the writing style | | | | design. Most publishers will handle that. |
| is simplistic, but achieving that simplicity can be | | | | However, as you write your book it is important |
| difficult. Consider the way you normally write or | | | | for you to keep in mind the overall presentation |
| speak. You naturally use complex sentence | | | | of the story and an idea of how the final product |
| structures and a vocabulary which is too | | | | might appear. To make it attractive to the |
| advanced for preschoolers. In order to write a | | | | publisher it is helpful to envision a book that has: |
| book a preschooler will enjoy, you have to write | | | | |
| consciously, with clarity, brevity, and imagination. | | | | —up to three sentences per |
| Here are tips on how to write well for this level | | | | page. Children of this age have limited attention |
| of reader. | | | | spans. They will be interested in the reader's |
| | | | | voice, snuggling up to their mom or dad, playing |
| Language use. Preschoolers are just beginning to | | | | with their toes, looking at the pictures, and, oh, so |
| understand letters and learn new words. Your | | | | many other things in their new world. It helps |
| use of language can help them discover more | | | | focus the attention on the book when there is a |
| about these important concepts. When writing | | | | reason to turn the page and find something new. |
| for this age group, it is important to remember | | | | —between 20 and 52 |
| these stories will be read aloud. The following | | | | pages. This is a general rule for picture books. |
| guide lines will help you write such that | | | | It goes back primarily to attention spans, but |
| preschoolers can follow the story and learn new | | | | the page count also impacts production costs. |
| words. Some of the offered suggestions will | | | | The page count includes all front and back matter, |
| improve the readability of your story, making it a | | | | so the story must fit within a smaller page count |
| pleasure to read to young ones. | | | | than the entire book's page count. |
| | | | | |
| a. Use short declarative | | | | Let the publisher handle the illustrations. Most |
| sentences in the simple present tense ("I see | | | | publishers prefer to work with illustrators directly |
| white clouds." as opposed to "I am seeing white | | | | because they can control the technical aspects of |
| clouds.".) or past tense ("I saw white clouds." as | | | | the art work submitted, negotiate with the artist |
| opposed to "I have seen white clouds.".). | | | | for publishing rights, and create a consistent look |
| Preschoolers do not have a sophisticated | | | | which fits their publishing program. |
| understanding of time. The brain develops the | | | | |
| capability to grasp time concepts at about the | | | | Preschooler themes. When preschoolers begin to |
| age of 5 or 6 years old. | | | | explore the world, they start with themselves. |
| b. Use words of less than | | | | They move on to explore the people and animals |
| three syllables. The average child entering | | | | with which they live, their home, their |
| kindergarten has a working vocabulary of | | | | neighborhoods, and they gradually work |
| between 500 to 1000 words. Their vocabularies | | | | outward. Their interests are naturally focused in |
| consist largely of the most common one- and | | | | these areas. Your story will be relevant and |
| two- syllable words in the English language. To | | | | interesting to preschoolers when it builds on things |
| learn these words, the child has to hear them | | | | they see, hear, touch, know, do, or feel. Here |
| used many times. Kindergarten children who | | | | are some of the most popular themes in early |
| possess larger than average vocabularies tend to | | | | childhood literature. |
| be those who have been read to steadily | | | | a. Animals. Children are very interested in |
| throughout their preschool years. | | | | animals in books, especially ones that talk, interact |
| c. Use simple punctuation. | | | | with humans, or show other human |
| Skip sentence structures which require hyphens, | | | | characteristics.b. Children. If you have ever |
| dashes, semi-colons, and colons. Use commas | | | | seen a two-year old catch sight of a baby, you |
| only in the case of designating dialogue. | | | | know what I mean. Children are fascinated by |
| d. Repeat phrases, words, or | | | | other children. c. Every day activities. Activities |
| story points on purpose. This helps a child learn | | | | such as bedtime preparation, getting dressed, |
| words and reinforces a story point. An example | | | | mealtime, snowy days, looking out the window at |
| of a repeating story point accompanied by a | | | | a busy street, and working around the farm are |
| repeating phrase is in Goldilocks and the Three | | | | good topics for preschool books.d. Scary |
| Bears. As Goldilocks moves through the house | | | | things. Things that go thump in the night, what is |
| and tries the chairs, porridge, and beds, she finds | | | | hiding under the bed – addressing children's |
| the parents' items unsatisfactory but the baby | | | | fears helps the child deal with scary situations.e. |
| bear's items are "Just right!" Children also enjoy | | | | Vocabulary primers with pictures. Many |
| these repeating phrases because they can soon | | | | successful books for preschoolers are not stories |
| say them along with the reader. | | | | at all, but introductions to a category of words |
| e. Use rhyming. Rhyming | | | | (parts of the body, clothes, farm animals, fruits |
| phrases tend to capture a child's attention. | | | | and vegetables, rooms in a house, or colors).f. |
| Rhyming can be read with rhythm, which helps | | | | Holiday stories. Christmas is number one of all |
| children learn new words. | | | | the holiday themes, but all holidays have stories |
| f. Use alliteration. Using the | | | | you can retell upon which they are based.g. |
| same first letter repeatedly for a few words in | | | | Methods of transportation. Trains, fire trucks, |
| succession makes for compelling reading. Think | | | | busses, cars, tractors, planes, heavy construction |
| about tongue twisters which are simply long | | | | equipment, and other forms of transportation can |
| alliterative phrases. "Peter Piper" and "Sally sells | | | | all be used as the basis for a fascinating |
| seashells" capture the imagination as well as the | | | | story. h. Humor makes reading fun. Whether |
| tongue as you try to say them quickly three | | | | the humor is the tummy-holding-roll-on-the-floor |
| times. You will find alliterative phrases in songs, | | | | type or the gentle kind which wreathes a face in |
| poems, and stories intended for the younger | | | | a smile, preschoolers appreciate funny things. |
| crowd. Part of the attraction is how well these | | | | |
| phrases trip off the tongue and the rhythm they | | | | Any story can be written for various levels of |
| create as you read them aloud. | | | | readers. When writing for preschoolers care |
| g. Spell out contractions. | | | | must be taken to keep the prose within the |
| Readers at the preschool level are learning to | | | | intended reading level. In reviewing manuscripts |
| distinguish letters, associate sounds with letters, | | | | for authors hoping to publish preschool-level |
| and identify groups of letters which correspond to | | | | books, I frequently find writing which is too |
| a word. Contractions have two features which | | | | advanced for the reading level of the intended |
| confuse an early reader. They combine two | | | | audience. |
| words into one and they eliminate a letter and | | | | |
| replace it with an apostrophe. Although | | | | Knowledgeable authors work hard to submit a |
| commonly used in everyday speech and informal | | | | manuscript which publishers can easily envision as |
| writing, contractions are considered a higher-level | | | | fitting into their product line of books. This is |
| reading skill. Contractions do not show up in | | | | determined by the sentence structure, the word |
| school curriculums until the second or third grade. | | | | count, vocabulary choices, the use of punctuation; |
| h. Use simple numbers and | | | | in fact all of the guidelines mentioned in this |
| colors (i.e. green rather than celadon). The | | | | article. Employing them will increase your |
| numbers one through ten and the names of the | | | | chances of being selected by the publisher, shrink |
| colors in a rainbow are parts of the body of | | | | the number of re-writes, and magnify your |
| knowledge a child should possess before starting | | | | chances of having your book gripped by the |
| kindergarten. | | | | happy hands of wide-eyed preschoolers. |
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