Writing for Children

Writing for Children

Understanding the Needs of Young Readers

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 Writing for Children

Copyright 8 Linda Jackson 2004

First published: 2004

Reissued: 2009
Launch Point Blainslie

http://www.writingcourses.eu

ISBN: 978-1-907138-05-8

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 Writing for Children

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Writing effectively for children and young people places unique demands on the
author. Good quality children’s writing is simple (but never simplistic), accessible and
engaging.

Books and articles for young readers are often much shorter than books for adults,
but this does not mean that they are easier to write. Quite the opposite - as they
require an even greater focus and clearer sense of direction than when writing for
adults.

Think about your favourite book as a child. Do you

still have a copy? Do you still enjoy reading it?

Many people continue to enjoy their childhood favourites throughout their lives.
According to his biographer, Cole Lesley, when Noel Coward died a copy of his
lifelong favourite, The Enchanted Castle, was found by his bedside.

A quick poll around the Launch Point office revealed the enduring popularity of the
following books:

" The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame;

" Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl;

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 Writing for Children

" James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl;

" Watership Down - Richard Adams;

" Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome;

" Black Beauty - Anna Sewell.

I still enjoy reading The Enchanted Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. It

was my all-time favourite as a kid, and I was over the moon when
I found a copy of it in a secondhand bookshop. When I'm
feeling ill, stressed or tired there's nothing I like better than to
curl up in bed with the Faraway Tree. Probably because it's so
comforting and familiar, and because a part of me would still like
to believe that there really is an enchanted word somewhere!

Sophie, teacher and writer.

Children as Readers
Children are rewarding readers. They have an amazing ability to lose themselves in
an imaginary world and will happily go along with the most extraordinary ideas in
the books they read. They are also much less cynical and judgmental than older
readers.

It is difficult to imagine either of the following scenes working well for an adult
readership! The first is from Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach, and the
second is from J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

James and the Giant Peach :

The centipede, who had begun dancing wildly round the deck
during this song, had suddenly gone too close to the downward
curving edge of the peach, and for three awful seconds he had
stood teetering on the brink, swinging his legs frantically in
circles in an effort to stop himself from falling over backward
into space. But before anyone could reach him - down he went!

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He gave a shriek of terror as he fell, and the others, rushing to

the side and peering over, saw his poor long body tumbling over
and over through the air, getting smaller and smaller until it was
out of sight.

"Silkworm!" yelled James. "Quick! Start spinning!"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin.

"Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks - I
once met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This
one moved in yesterday afternoon and I asked the Headmaster if
the staff would leave it to give my third-years some practice.

"So the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a

Boggart?"

Hermione put up her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever
it thinks will frighten us most."

At the same time, children appreciate fiction that reflects the reality of
their lives. Even in the most astounding of stories, young readers will
find much that they can identify with on a personal level:

... Everything is so deadly quiet, and the shadows are so long and
black, and they keep turning into strange shapes that seem to
move as you look at them, and the slightest snap of a twig makes
you jump.

James felt exactly like that now. He stared straight ahead with
large frightened eyes, hardly daring to breathe. ...

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And then all at once, little shivers of excitement started to run

over the skin on James's back.

James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl.

What child would not recognise these feelings!

In order to write effectively for children you need a good awareness of the way
children think and speak, and the way they live today. If you have regular contact
with children - perhaps as a parent, grandparent, teacher or carer - this will be
relatively easy. Otherwise, you will need to find some other way of learning about
today’s children.

Films and television programmes written for children can be a good starting point.
What you are looking for is an understanding of:

" The child’s world view - which is quite different from that of adults, and usually
quite different from your own world view as a child (depending how much time
has elapsed)!

" What is important to children - what do they worry about? What do they think
about key issues (indeed, what do children see as key issues)? Research
suggests that some of the issues children most often worry about include:

x bullying

x the environment

x crime and violence

x examinations

x friendships

x pocket money.

" How do children use language? Each generation of children uses language in a
slightly different way - they have their own favourite words. This is particularly

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true for adolescents. Nothing will date your work as much as getting the
language wrong.

" What is the modern child’s life like?

One of the most common errors made by new children’s authors is to write
stories of the sort they enjoyed as children, often an Enid Blyton-type adventure.
Although Blyton’s work still sells extremely well and can be found in almost every
bookshop, this is not the sort of story publishers want from today’s authors.

They are looking for work, whether fiction or non-fiction, that reflects the reality
of life for today’s children, which includes the following facts:

" Almost two in three married couples divorce, which means that many children
have experience of living in a single parent family or a step-family.

" Over eighty percent of children live in an urban area - many of them have never
visited the countryside and a substantial number have never seen a real cow, pig
or chicken.

" Children live in a multicultural society and attend school with children from a
wide range of other cultures and religions.

" Similarly, young readers may themselves be drawn from a wide range of
cultures and religions, and stories should reflect this.

Publishers also like to see stories that deal with the issues children might face in
everyday life - including going into hospital, bereavement, starting school or
secondary school, relationships, living in a stepfamily.

In addition, writing successfully for children means writing for them as if writing for
equals, not writing down to them.

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Identifying Your Target Readers

Age Group
A key issue for both publisher and author is the target age group. Children of
different ages have very different requirements of their books:

Under 2s

Highly illustrated, board and cloth books, often showing everyday objects and their
names, rather than telling a story.

Under 5s

Children of this age enjoy listening to stories. They may also be learning to read for
themselves. There are thus two main types of book for this age group:

" books for adults to read to children

" books for beginner readers.

Both types of book are highly illustrated. ‘Interactive’ books that allow the child to
physically engage with the book - perhaps by lifting a flat or rotating a disk - are
also popular with this age group. For example, one version of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar by Eric Carle has a long, chunky green string attached. The child can
thread this through holes in the thick card pages to represent the caterpillar’s
journey through various types of food.

Books for this age group often reflect seemingly quite mundane, everyday activities
- getting washed, using the potty, visiting the shops. When you write for this age
group remember that everything about the world is new and fascinating. These
children don’t need imaginative fantasy to capture their attention.

Other books for this age group explore the natural world, as in The Very Hungry
Caterpillar where the child learns that a caterpillar eats and eats until it is finally big
enough to transform into a beautiful butterfly.

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 Writing for Children

6 - 8 years old

These children are developing their own reading skills, and many beginning, and
more advanced, reading books are aimed at this age group. In addition, they still
enjoy listening to stories. They are now able to enjoy more complex story lines than
their younger brothers and sisters. They may enjoy adventure, fantasy, science
fiction and other stories.

Central characters tend to be children who are the same age as the target reader or
slightly older - an individual with whom the child finds it easy to identify and, often,
to admire.

9 - 12 years old

These children usually have good reading skills and enjoy quite complex plots.
Stories that reflect real life experiences remain popular, but children of this age also
enjoy fantasy, science fiction, and adventures.

Stories for this age group are usually much shorter than for older children and adults
- typically 20,000 - 30,000 words, compared to an average 75,000 words in an adult
novel.

The plots also tend to be simpler than in adult novels as children of this age group
find it difficult to follow time shifts and other complex plot manipulations. Examples
of stories ideally suited to this age group include:

" the Goosebumps series,

" J K Rowling’s Harry Potter stories.

These children also enjoy non-fiction, and much of it is chosen and purchased for
them by adults. (A significant point when planning a book - it needs to appeal to
parents as well as children!)

12 - 16 years old

These young people are developing rapidly as readers. Their reading skills are often
as sophisticated of those of adult readers, and many of them enjoy stories written
for adults. Unlike younger children, by this age boys and girls show markedly

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different preferences in fiction and many books are geared either to one gender or
another.

Publishers also produce ranges especially for this age group, as a quick trip around
your local bookshop will reveal. Popular among this age group are romances, horror
stories, fantasy and science fiction. Many of these novels are slightly shorter than
the average adult novel, but they vary considerably, so check requirements carefully
before you submit an idea.

Writing for Education

Schools purchase a massive number of books each year and represent a significant
market for publishers. Books for schools can be classified broadly into the following
categories:

Reading Schemes

Most educational publishers have their own ‘reading scheme’ of books, with books
ranging through a series of levels depending on the ability of the reader. Older
students will remember Peter and Jane books and the Ladybird reading scheme,
while younger readers might be more familiar with Ginn. The most popular reading
scheme today is The Oxford Reading Tree.

These books are often developed by a fairly small team, including one main writer
and several other contributing authors. Before approaching a publisher with ideas
for a reading scheme you need to have a good awareness of the scheme and the
sort of material the books contain. The publisher will be particularly interested to
hear from you if you have educational qualifications and experience.

Reading Books

As well as reading scheme books, children’s publishers produce a wide range of

general reading books. Teachers are always keen to encourage children to read as
widely as possible and these books are the ones that will fill the school library.

Teachers are particularly keen to find books that entertain and engage children.
They work within tight guidelines which mean that they are always on the lookout
for books that also:

" recognise and celebrate difference - this might be differences in ability,

appearance or culture;

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" encourage tolerance of other cultures and religions, and the differently-able;

" encourage gender equality among children - this does not necessarily always
showing boys and girls as the same, but it does mean recognising that they are
equally able and should have equal opportunities as they grow up;

" encourage safe behaviour (for example a story in which a child sneaks out of the
house alone at night and wanders around town is likely to send shivers down
every teacher's spine);

" for older children, stories that address inequality directly.

A note on language in educational reading books

Publishers usually have quite firm guidelines about the words writers should and
should not use. They may, for instance, work with a restricted word list which helps
to ensure that books support and reinforce the main reading scheme. Check out
publishers language guidelines on their website or by writing to their editorial
office.

Textbooks

Workbooks and textbooks are widely used at all educational levels. From the
handwriting workbooks of the reception class to A'level and degree textbooks. All of
these books need to be written by someone, so if you have some educational
experience and specialist subject knowledge this may offer you a good market for
your work. You will need a good awareness of the National Curriculum, or any other
syllabus your book is intended to cover.

General Non-fiction

As well as textbooks designed to meet the needs of a particular syllabus, schools

also purchase many general non-fiction books. Again, books are needed to suit all
levels of reading ability. Most non-fiction books below A’level are highly illustrated.
Again, a good understanding of the national curriculum, which is reflected directly in
the book's contents, will make it even more appealing for teachers and therefore
also to publishers.

Subjects include:

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Geography - for instance, how people live in other countries, the weather, the
climate, map-reading, investigating local geography.

History - for instance, how people lived long ago, key events in history, how we
investigate history.

Science - for instance, the natural world, electricity, physics, chemistry, human
biology.

English - handwriting, using words, grammar, for older children - key examination
texts.

Mathematics.

Religious Education - different religious beliefs, key festivals.

Personal and Social Education - sex education, interpersonal skills, bullying, drugs,
alcohol, accepting individual differences.

Picture Books
Many books for children are highly illustrated. When you plan such a book you need
to think carefully about how the illustrations and text will work to make a complete
package.

Just as when writing a book for adults, the most effective way to approach a
publisher is often to put together a ‘sales package’ which explains the target
readership for the book and also tries to give the publisher a complete picture of
how the finished book will look. If you are working on an illustrated book, this
means in part showing how the text and pictures will work together.

You should not attempt to produce your own illustrations, or ask a friend to do it for
you, unless your work is of the highest professional standard. Editors do like to see
‘complete packages’ but not at the expense of quality. However, as well as sending
in the complete written text, you can also send in a ‘mock-up’ of the book showing

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how each page could be presented. This is only an initial idea and it will almost
certainly be amended during the development process - its purpose is simply to give
the editor a clear picture of how the idea might work as a finished book. The
illustrations only need to be shown in rough outline, perhaps just as a rough sketch,
so don't worry if your artistic skills are not up to much!

If you do decide to produce your own illustrations, you can also send in one or two
original illustrations to give the publisher a better idea of the quality of your artistic
work.

In summary, when sending a publisher your picture book idea, you should include
the following:

" a sales page, outlining the target market (age group - place in book shop, etc.),
why your book is different from any of the other titles currently on offer, how
you see the final book (Hardback or softback? Thick pages?) and the sort of
illustrations you envision in the final piece;

" a complete copy of the book's text;

" a mock-up of the complete book, showing how illustrations and text will work
together on each page (usually 16 or 24 pages for a picture book, but check the
precise requirements of your target publisher). See overleaf for a sample page.

The Mind of a Young Reader

Lie down on the floor. Imagine what it would be like if

you were dependent on another person in order to
move around (just as a small baby is). How do you
feel? What kind of control do you have over where
you are and what you can see?

Now stand up and walk around the room. Have your feelings
changed?

Is there a difference in the kind of control you have over what

you can see and where you are?

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As freezing drops of rain began to fall from the sky

Herbie sheltered beneath a giant toadstool. How would
he ever find his way back to the pond now? And what
would his brothers say? He felt sure that toads were
supposed to like the rain.

A sample mock-up page

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Some of the best children’s writers seem always to have retained the ability to reach
the child within. Michael Woods, a psychologist who analysed Enid Blyton through
her books, wrote:

She was a child, she thought like a child and she wrote as a
child....

While Paul Hodder-Williams, a publishing executive who had worked with Enid,
noted:

She really loved children and understood instinctively what

would interest them. It was with children that her gift of
sympathy had its greatest flowering... That is why they have
loved and will continue to love the best of the books which she
wrote for them and them alone...

Writing effectively for children means not only writing about what a child is doing
and thinking, but also seeing the world through the child’s eyes. There is an
important difference here. In the first case, you are writing about the child’s world
through adult eyes. This sometimes works but often it is too sentimental and
appears unrealistic to the child reader. In the second case you are actually sharing
the child’s world view and allowing the reader to share it too.

In the following example we share the child’s experiences directly:

Suddenly a hand reached out from the blackness and grabbed his
arm!

“Aaaaah!”

The scream scared him badly. Who was it?

Then he realised the scream had been his own.

“Shh!” A voice whispered. “It’s Heidi!”

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Josh spun around, breaking the hand’s grip on his arm. He could
barely see the dim form standing next to him. But he recognised
the voice. He’d always despised Heidi’s high, irritating twang,
but he was glad to hear it now.

Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner? M D Spenser.

Spend time with children, really listening to what they

have to say. Try to remember how you felt and thought
as a child. Reading old diaries, stories and school work
can be a good trigger here, if you still have them.

Jot down any points that you feel may be useful in your
writing.

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Copyright: Linda Jackson

This is a short extract from our self-study course: Writing for

Children: Understanding the Needs of Young Readers

For more information on our writing courses please visit our

website at:

http://www.writingcourses.eu

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