Writing For Children

I've just written my first picture book. I don't know if it's any good. It may never appear in print. But I had to write it. I've been feeling the burblings of it for a while. Every time Addie chooses a bed time book, I hope she'll pick one with great rhythm and evocative imagery. Usually, she picks something with Elmo in it. That's how it is with toddlers. Their appreciation of poetry is somewhat less developed than their appreciation of red furry puppets. But that's okay because it's parents who buy books. We're the ones who have to read them.Over and over again.That's why I love Goodnight Moon and almost anything by Sandra Boynton. They sing. They skip. They bee-bop along. They have rhythm and, dare I say it, even rhyme. This is a literary element I once dismissed as tacky and cheap. Real poetry didn't rhyme. Rhyming was for kids. Now I know why. Rhyming helps new speakers compare sounds. Rhyming helps a kid who can say "boo" attempt to say "shoe." And what's more, it's fun to read. It makes reading a book feel like singing a song.So it was with great pleasure that I took a day off from the grind of my novel (no rhyming there!) to the grind of finding words that rhymed with "finally," "tummy," and "teddy."It could be a short-lived career. Who knows. But I can't wait to read it to Addie. If I can only find a way to shoe-horn Elmo into the story I know she'll love it.