Want to write books that appeal to the young and young at heart? Read on . . .
Guardian Angel Publishing has issued nine kids/family-oriented books for me with three more in the works. Each is unique. Yet "kids" from pre-school through senior adults enjoy and praise.
Here are some keys to help unlock doors to success.
1. Appeal to the kid within readers. Every age responds to stories that entertain, inform, and/or inspire.
2. Let Your Imagination Soar. I did, in three full-color illustrated picture books.
Christopher, my Nine Tail Kitten, learns that what makes him different becomes a blessing to others. Katy Witherspoon in Katydidn't learns from large green grasshoppers (katydids). People of all ages, sizes, and ethnic backgrounds star in God Loves You Whoever You Are, co-authored with Julie Reece-DeMarco and told in rhyme.
3. Include a problem with a believable solution and giving real events. Two girls separated by World War 2. Pat cannot understand why God allowed her best friend Mike (Yoshi Mizuki) and her Japanese-American family to be sent to a desert prison camp. When the war finally ends, Pat promises to "give God another chance, if He will make everything right." But a long, hard road filled with prejudice and persecution lies ahead.
4. Base stories on actual, exciting happenings. Busted and banished: Tyler and Caitlin face consequences of bad choices and end up in the wilds of eastern Oregon. No electricity. No running water. No cell phones, TV, Facebook, or Twitter, just hard work, homeschooling, scary noises in the night, and no neighbors for miles around. Will thirteen-year-old Tyler and his twelve-year-old sister survive a year as Wilderness Warriors? (Sorry, no photo available.)
5.Make use of your life experiences and what you know. My Colleen Reece Chapbook Series does just that. Recalling special incidents from my life as like re-living them.
Book 1: The Appleby Family Adventures. Unlike Mother Goose, who had so many children she didn't know what to do," there is always something happening with the Appleby family. Places to go. Things to learn. And knowing God is with them in good times or bad.
Book 2: Christmas Caroling Classics. Nine-year-old Dennis and seven-year-old Sarah want to know where the Christmas carols they love to sing came from. Their favorite story is about a naughty mouse that may well have been the reason for one of the world's best-loved Christmas hymns!
Book 3: God's Answer Book. Aaron (5), his sister Lacey (7) and their friends Ali and Umeko (6 and 7), are happy and thankful for the good things in their lives. But when sad things happen to them and their neighbors, the children find help in their Bible
"answer book."
Book 4: NEW. Good Neighbors. Until Hunter and Alice learn the names of their new neighbors, they secretly call them names like Mrs. Woman-in-a-Shoe, Mr. Doggie-Go-Home, Mr. FIx-it-and-His Wife, and Grandma Flower-Grower. The children soon learn that God makes people of all sizes, shapes, and colors, all with joys and problems.
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Book 5: Mudpuppies to Mountains. It's a long way from Michigan mudpuppies (small lizards) to the mountains of western Washington. Every mile is filled with new experiences, True story of my mother (Pearl Towne Reece) and her large family who left their Michigan home and came west in the early 1900s.
Book 6: Vagabond Summer. Ready for adventure? Come along with me and my family (I am Carol in the story) as we make like gypsies and explore the western United States. Highlights include deliverance from car trouble, ending up in a western parade, seeing a prairie dog town, and +encountering a bear at Yellowstone Park.
Book 7: Wishbooks and Promises. My brothers and I loved going through the Christmas catalogs that came to our home each fall. Although we knew there wasn't money in our family to get what we saw and listed, we had hours of fun pretending.
Then Mom and Dad taught us about a far greater ‘Wishbook’ than all the catalogs.
Mom reached for the big black family Bible. “Wishes are fun, but promises are
better. God promises us
all the joy and love and happiness there is if we will only follow His Son." She pointed to the words SATISFACTION GUARANTEED on the cover of the Sears
catalog. “God stands behind all His promises. His Word can never
fail.”
Available at
Available at
3 comments:
My granddaughter loves NINE TAIL KITTEN and KATYDIDN'T, and I'm sure she'd enjoy your other books, too. Thank you for sharing helpful tips for writing children's books.
Thanks, Sandy. They were pure joy to write.
I especially like the advice about basing a story on something true. I enjoyed Nine Tail Kitten and Katydidn't, too, but my favorite of your books for young people are Wilderness Warriors and Last Page of the Diary. Btw, Susan Meissner's latest book deals with the WW2 internment issue in a slightly different way. Her heroine, looking back from her 80s, remembers when her own family was interned for being so-called German sympathizers. There she meets a girl of Japanese descent and later determines to reconnect with her before she loses the memories they share. It's called The Last Year of the War. I think you'd enjoy it.
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