Tuesday, March 17, 2015

picture books, picture books, picture books!

I've been reading a lot of picture books lately. . .

on line,
from my bookshelves,
and from the library bookshelves.

Why? To help me in writing picture books!

Here is a list of a few. I have put my comments in italics out from some of them.

Froggy Plays in the Band - Froggy's Sleepover - Froggy's Day with Dad - Froggy's Baby Sister
In the Froggy series of books I noticed the repeated phrase - more red in the face than green
 
Root Beer and Banana

Passing the Music Down - biographical - loved the language used in this one

 Bats at the Library - rhyming

Martha Doesn't Say Sorry - good

Oh, Daddy - very short 

Little Hoot - fun! Little owl wants to go to bed.

It's Not Fair - cute

Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site - rhyming - good one! 

What's Under the Bed? - simple rhyme

This Place in the Snow - loved the language and use of words!

A Silly Snowy Day - a ridiculously cute story about a young tortoise who wants to enjoy winter

the dot - a simple, but lovely picture book about a girl who thought she couldn't draw
 
Duck at the Door - very cute. About a household and how a little duck disrupts it - but they loved him anyways 

The Bumpy Little Pumpkin - a cute story about Little Nell, BIG Mama, BIG Sarah, BIG Lizzie and a bumpy little pumpkin her forest friends helped her carve. Like people, Jack-o-lanterns come in all shapes and sizes!

My Working Mom - Love it. The story, as written by the author, could have been about any working mom, but the illustrator did her magic. Have you read this? Do you know what her mom's job was?

I Took my Frog to the Library - cute. It is not just about a frog, but many other animals the girl brings to the library. They all wreck havoc, except for the elephant. But the elephant is so very, very big! So, she leaves her animals at home and the elephant reads to them.

The Lonely Scarecrow - I love books about scarecrows and have even written my own, which I hope some day will be published!

Owl Moon - One of my very favorites! I love the language in this one.

These are just a few of the many I have read in the last couple of weeks.
Are picture books just for kids?
Of course not, they are for the kid in all of us!


What are some of your favorites?


 






Tuesday, March 3, 2015

What Do You Write?


As most of my followers know, I write picture books, middle grade books and children's articles.


I also write poems and I write about Appalachia.

Recently, I have tried something new. I have written something I never thought I would write.

I woke up one morning with a song in my mind. It was only a few sentences - a start of a chorus. But, I went to my computer and typed it down before it flew from my mind.

Before the day was over, those few sentences evolved into an entire song! A few days later, after tweaking it a little, I emailed it to my cousin, who sings and plays the piano, to see if she thought it had any merit. She liked it - and we are still working on it.

 
 my little hand made Teddy (made from a family quilt that had seen better days) holding an old song book

And, I am considering giving greeting cards a try.

What do you write?

Have you ever wandered into a different writing territory than you are used to?

If not, maybe you should give it a try.