Other Books

Books with creativity exercises:

Create This Book, Moriah Elizabeth. A great collection of writing prompts and exercises.

The Imaginary World of…, Keri Smith. A workbook to help you build a world from scratch.

Let the Crazy Child Write: Finding Your Creative Writing Voice, Clive Matson. Exercises designed to help you unleash your creative self.

The Observation Deck: A Tool Kit for Writers, Naomi Epel. Tips and exercises to help you get past a writing difficulty.

Web resources:

Kristy Dempsey, Crystal Allen, Gwen Hooks, and Kelly Starling Lyons share writing tips in this Highlights faculty interview

Padma Venkatraman talks about finding voice in this audio podcast

A list of writing resources at KIDLIT 411. A long list, but sorted by topic

Books from Leah's presentation:

Leah's memorable protagonists:

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
• Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren
• The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
• Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie
• Paddington, Michael Bond
• Eloise, Kay Thompson

Leah's "voice" books:

• Front Desk, Kelly Yang
• Scythe, Neal Shusterman
• A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd
• The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
• George, Alex Gino
• Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• Patina, Jason Reynolds
• The 57 Bus, Dashka Slater

New Resources

Leah's Highlights blog post: Investing in Your Writing

Jane Friedman (publishing expert): 

• What's More Important: Author Websites or Social Media?
• Why You Should Join All Social Media Networks (a.k.a., claim your name.)

Manuscript Wish List (official website)

RUCCL website, for the Rutgers One-on-One Conference

Soaring 20's: an example of a debut group.

Her final resources list (you've seen some of these before):

• SCBWI
• The Purple Crayon
• Fuse 8
• Cynsations
• Kidlit 411
• Kate Messner
• Book Riot
• The Children's Book Podcast
• The Kidlit Women Podcast
• ReFoReMo
• Nerdy Book Club
• Tara Lazar and Storystorm
• Julie Hedlund's 12 x 12

Additional resources:

Doing School Visits When You're Not an Extrovert

You're Never Too Old to Write

New List

Resources for Further Reading

General

• Getting Out of the Slush Pile: Harold's article, mentioned in opening video.

1. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books, 3rd edition. Harold's book, a useful resource for much of what we present in the course. Chapters 11 and 12 are the relevant ones for this session.

Reading Picture Books with Children, Megan Dowd Lambert (Charlesbridge, 2015). Mentioned in one of the discussions, this is not a writing guide but a guide to sharing picture books with children that has a lot to say about the elements of a picture book and how a picture book "works."

Websites

ALA award-winners:

• Newbery Medal
• Caldecott Medal
• More award-winners
• Booklist: This magazine is put out by the American Library Association, and reviews many children's books. It's a good place to read up on the latest titles. 
• Cooperative Children's Book Center:  The CCBC publishes good lists of recommended books in a variety of areas on their website.
• The Horn Book:  This magazine not only reviews children's books but also covers developments and trends in the children's book world, and looks more deeply at books both past and present. 
• Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People: An example of one of the many general and specific annual lists available. 
• Publishers Weekly:  PW is the weekly magazine of the publishing industry. You can find many articles on their site, read reviews, and sign up for a free daily email newsletter.
• The SCBWI:  The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators is the national organization those who write and illustrate books for children. They have a newsletter, a useful website, freebies for members, a comprehensive and well moderated discussion board, and local conferences all over the country. 

Writing How-Tos

• From a list of “Writing How-tos” that Harold compiled as a supplement to his Idiot’s Guide. Titles with links go to reviews by Harold.
• Anatomy of Nonfiction: Writing True Stories for Children, by Margery Facklam and Peggy Thomas (Writer’s Institute Publications, 2011). This is the book to get if you are writing or want to write nonfiction for children. It covers everything you need to know.
• The Giblin Guide to Writing Children's Books (4th edition), James Cross Giblin (Writer's Institute Publications, 2006). A how-to by a noted editor and writer of nonfiction. This covers writing nonfiction, novels, and picture books from the valuable perspective of someone who has been on both sides of the desk.
• The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults, Cheryl B. Klein (W.W. Norton, 2016). Cheryl works at Lee & Low, and this book provides insight into her work as an editor and thoughts about the business as well as offering a comprehensive guide to the writing and revision process. Especially useful if you are writing novels.

Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books, 2004). Recommended by Tracey, who says she uses this regularly. Intended for writers of novels.

Self Editing for Fiction Writers, Renni Browne & Dave King (William Morrow, 2004). Recommended to help you edit your own work.

Take Joy: A Book for Writers, Jane Yolen (Writer, 2003). Jane is to some a guru of children's writing. Her words on writing will inspire you, prod you, move you, irritate you--and get you writing.

• Writing It Right! How Successful Children’s Authors Revise and Sell Their Stories, by Sandy Asher (Writer’s Institute Publications, 2009). Twenty-one “case studies” of manuscripts ranging from picture books to novels, showing an early draft and showing (and explaining) how they were revised – and published.
• Writing Picture Books: A Hands-on Guide from Story Creation to Publication, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Ann Whitford Paul (Writer's Digest, 2018). This is a comprehensive and practical guide to writing and revising picture books--highly recommended.

Revision

• Find recommended books and online articles on revision in the Revision Resources page at Kid's Book Revisions.

For "Getting Feedback from Others": 

The Writing and Critique Group Survival Guide, by Becky Levine (Writer’s Digest Books, 2010)

• Beta readers compared to critique groups
• Finding a critique group

Markets

Writing for Other Markets: Resources

We mentioned other markets in this session. To cover them fully would require another course. Here are resources and tips on writing for magazine and educational markets.

Writing for the Educational Market
 
Writing for the magazine market links:

Sell Your Story to a Magazine
Know What a Magazine Wants
Magazines: Reaching Child Readers (with links to children's magazines)

Writers

Writers Are Readers

Instagram: @thechildrensbookpodcast

Some questions to consider:

• Outside of this workshop have you ever heard a book read to you in the past month? 6 months? year? • Can you name 5 children’s books you’ve read in the past month?

• Have you ever read something you’ve written to a class of children?

• Have you ever read something you’ve written to a group of adults?

• Has an adult ever read aloud something you’ve written?

 • Can you name 5 contemporary children’s book authors? Illustrators? Authors of color? Independent publishers? Imprints? Indigenous authors? Authors of rhyming books? Authors of nonfiction? Cartoonists? Novels in verse?

The books he reads from: All Are Welcome, by Alexandra Penfold, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman

The Remember Balloons, by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte

 When We Were Alone, by David A. Robertson, illustrated by Julie Flett

 Hands Up!, by Breanna J. McDaniel, illustrated by Shane W. Evans

 Shh! We Have a Plan, by Chris Haughton

This Is Sadie, by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad

 Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Jared Andrew Schorr

 BunnyBear, by Andrea J. Loney, illustrated by Carmen Saldaña

The books he shows later: The Sound of Silence, by Katrina Goldsaito, illustrated by Julia Kuo

 They Say Blue, by Jillian Tamaki

You're Snug with Me, by Chitra Soundar, illustrated by Poonam Mistry

Flashlight, by Lizi Boyd

Adrian Simcox Does NOT Have a Horse, by Marcy Campbell, illustrated by Corinna Luyken

 Not Quite Narwhal, by Jessie Sima

 She Spoke: 14 Women Who Raised Their Voices and Changed the World, by Kathy MacMillan and Manuela Bernardi, illustrated by Kathrin Honesta

Links Lesson 2

“Writers Are Readers,” Matthew Winner video: Next in the sequence for this session, this optional video introduces you to more children's books.

Two useful books:

• A Family of Readers: Read Harold's review of this helpful general guide to children's and YA books.
• Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature, Leonard Marcus, (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). The only available history of children's book publishing in the United States, and an excellent one at that. Marcus covers the business, the companies, the editors, and the books in a thoughtful narrative packed with interesting anecdotes.

Online resources mentioned in the videos, where you can learn about different kinds of books online (similar resources exist for other kinds):

• The Geisel Award: The award for “beginning readers” (aka easy readers)
• New for New Readers: As mentioned in the class, this is about easy readers.
• Series Made Simple: From School Library Journal, this is another example of a resource that focuses on a particular type of book.
• Accelerated Reader Bookfinder: Information about books, including word counts.

Beginning Lesson Links

The Purple Crayon: Harold’s website, with more information about him and many useful articles.

The Highlights Foundation Blog

Highlights interview with Leah Henderson