1. How to Write a Children’s Book
…and make it good

2. Material Make sure to work with concepts children understand
Difficult ideas are NOT off limits, but they need to be simplified
Yours may be holiday-themed or not.
This
NOT
THIS
This is Teddy Roosevelt. He lived in ND for a little while. Later, he became president
Many historians agree that the impetus to place Roosevelt in the vice presidency came from a desire to do away with him politically rather than any hope of his further ascendency to power.

3. Layout Use big letters that are easy to read.
Don’t put more than a couple sentences on a single page.
The dragon was excited to be invited. He began practicing his dance moves.

4. Sometimes, even fewer words.

5. Appearance Make pictures big and brightly colored
Yours will all be drawn by hand.
There are lots of different drawing styles. It’s okay for pictures to be simple!

6. More about Appearance Keep lines of text straight. Use the whole page.
It looks silly when your picture and words are tiny and there’s a ton of white space.

7. “Rar! I’m hungry!” the bear yelled.
Composition
You can use Kid-friendly strategies like:
Rhyme
Repetition
“Sound effects”
Changing text appearance
Color-coding words
Interactivity
Letting pictures help tell the story
“Rar! I’m hungry!” the bear yelled.
“Shhh,” the mouse said. “Everyone else is still sleeping!”

8. Editing
Children learn about language and how to read it from looking at children’s books
That’s why it’s really important that you write correctly!
Misspelled words and run-on sentences will really affect your grade!
I didn’t know monkeys was spelled with a Z!

9. Grading
You’ll be graded on the quality of your story and how well you follow the guidelines here, NOT on your artistic ability per se.