While most picture books have 32 pages, that is not an absolute rule. In this post, I’ll show you several picture books, and I’l show you that page one of a picture book really isn’t page one. I’ll begin with my own picture book The Donkey’s Song. The Donkey’s Song Jacki Kellum Illustrated by Sydney…
Author: jackikellum
Write The First Draft of Your Picture Book – Write First, Edit Later
Write the First Draft of Your Picture Book. Don’t Title Your Story Until You Have Finished Writing It. Write the book in your natural voice–pretend that you are simply talking. Write the First Draft of Your Picture Book In A Stream of Consciousness. Don’t stop writing to edit or to check your spelling. Just Write…
How My Intuition Wrote My Picture Book The Donkey’s Song
When I am painting and when I am writing, I consider it a great day when something within myself takes over and essentially completes my project for me. This gentle urging is intuition. It is the spark that helped Michelangelo release his sculptures from a piece of rock. Janis Joplin – Jacki Kellum Watercolor My…
Picture Writing – How Jacki Kellum Wrote Her Debut Picture Book The Donkey’s Song
I am a painter, as well as a writer, and perhaps that is why I mentally “see” what I am writing before I begin to write. For years I have heard that children are either visual learners or verbal learners. I am both, but I am probably more visual than I am verbal. I Call…
How to Create Stronger Settings for Your Picture Books – Visualize the Details of the Story
in my debut book The Donkey’s Song, I wrote very few words about the setting. That book has 150 words, and I did not feel that the lyrical, magical tone of the book could bear a lot of “spelling things out.” But as I wrote the book, I was fully aware of where that story was…
Picture Books that Celebrate Black History Month
When I think about black history, I initially think about Africa, the cradle of black people, but I also think about the black people who currently live in other lands now, like here in the USA. In my opinion, Black History Month is about all black people. Here is a list of the Black History…
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People – A Picture Book by Verna Aardema – Fabulous Illustrations by Leo & Diane Dillon
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears Verna Aardema Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon Dial Books 1975 A Retelling of West African Tale Before I show you this book, I want to say that this is one of my all-time favorite picture books. I love the story, but the illustration are absolutely masterful. “One morning…
Trombone Shorty – A Picture Book by Troy Andrews
Trombone Shorty Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews Illustrated by Bryan Collier Abrams Books for Young Readers “Hailing from the Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews got his nickname by wielding a trombone twice as long as he was high. A prodigy, he was leading his own band by age six, and today this…
Rent Party Jazz – A Picture Book by William Miller
Rent Party Jazz William Miller Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb Lee & Low Books, 2001 “In New Orleans in the 1930s, young Sonny Comeaux has to work before school to help his mother make ends meet. When Mama loses her job, Sonny is worried. Rent day is coming soon, and if they miss paying by just…
Hula-Hoopin’ Queen – A Picture Book by Thelma Lynne Godin
Hula-Hoopin’ Queen Thelma Lynne Godin Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton Lee & Low Books, 2014 I like Hula-Hoopin’ Queen for several reasons, but I mainly like the book because it offers the readers a glimpse of a rather contemporary African-American community. Although it is not historical yet, I am listing Hula-Hoopin’ Queen as appropriate for Black…