What's at the Heart of a Picture Book - Paeony Lewis

I suspect it was seeing all the Valentine hearts in shop windows that provoked this blog. It got me thinking that good picture book stories tend to be written on more than one level. At the heart of the story there will be an emotional truth. This can add inner strength to a story and make it more than just a series of events. It gives a story purpose and a writer will usually know this 'heart' when they first start writing.

I remember reading *Winnie the Witch to my children. It's enormous fun and at the heart of the story Winnie learns to appreciate and accept people (i.e. a black cat) for who they are. Even though the 'heart of the story' wasn't too obvious, without this underlying purpose, a delightful book would have been weaker and not so satisfying,

Julia Donaldson’s *The Snail and the Whale is also subtle about its heart. Without banging us on the head, the story tells us to be happy with who we are and that even if you're small you can do big things (and it’s within your power to save a giant whale).

Whilst Lauren Child’s amusing *Maude: The Not-So-Noticeable Shrimpton has the same theme, although this time it’s much more overt and there's no question that you shouldn't be happy with who you are. Why? Because being unobtrusive and quiet can be a talent (stops you being eaten by tigers – bet you didn’t realise that!).

Michael Rosen’s gloriously naughty *Little Rabbit Foo Foo is another book in which the theme is clear. Without any saccharine we appreciate that everything has consequences (and don’t ignore people with power!). When the out-of-control rabbit ignores the admonishments of the adult and keeps bopping everyone on the head, he’s finally turned into a real little monster. Eek! Even very young children understand and enjoy this story.

So when I write a story I ask myself, ‘What is this story about?’ I look for two answers to my question. For example, on the surface, *Best Friends or Not? is about two little polar bears who don’t want to play the same games. Below the surface, the story is about how friendship sometimes needs compromise.

Another example is my *I’ll Always Love You, in which a young bear breaks his mum’s favourite honey bowl and worries that now she won’t love him. At its heart the story is about the unconditional love of a parent, although everything has consequences.

Sometimes I think that the heart of these two stories is too obvious (I do write subtle stories too!). And yes, to an adult they might seem that way. That’s where it gets tricky. How deeply do we want a child to think about a story? How much is realistic? A child of three or four has little experience of the world. Therefore perhaps not all books need to be so subtle that they’ll only be understood once they’re discussed. Plus some children are further along in their development than others, and some rarely see books. Also, do most tired parents have philosophical discussions about picture books? Don't the majority simply read the stories aloud and make the most of that gentle time together at the end of the day?

Thus should all picture books be clearly accessible to all children? No, I'm not saying that. Picture books for older children, that make everyone think, are appreciated by teachers, emotionally mature children, and those parents who don’t focus purely on the number of words in a book. Recently republished, *The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer is not a cuddly bedtime book. It’s stylish, vicious and disturbing and includes pepper spray and a gun. At the same time we see that perhaps good can come out of evil, that we’re all redeemable, and that people can be more valuable than glittering treasure. The illustrations also hint at hidden themes and it’s a book that could be discussed at length in a primary school. I must admit I can’t make up my mind about this book.

A less controversial book that’s aimed at older children is *The Black Book of Colours by Menena Cottin. Yet again, here’s a book that fundamentally is about being happy with who you are. Thomas is blind and through poetic description, braille, and all-black embossed pictures, we discover there are other wondrous ways to see the world. I think it’s a shame the braille isn’t raised enough for non-sighted readers, but it’s still beautiful and  a great book for discussion.

So whether you want to read or write an accessible book for young children, or a thought-provoking book for older readers, at its heart there must be an underlying purpose. Something to give strength to the story. Mind you, sometimes authors (and illustrators) don’t see all the themes and inner meanings in their own books. I’ll admit that when I wrote I’ll Always Love You, I never saw the parallels with Christianity and never anticipated its popularity with churches. Even the author doesn’t always see everything!

This blog post is by Paeony Lewis
www.paeonylewis.com

*Picture Books listed:
Winnie theWitch by Valerie Thomas, Illus Korky Paul
The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson, Illus Axel Schaffler
Maude: by Lauren Child, Illus Trisha Krauss
Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen, Illus Arthur Robins
Best Friends or Not? by Paeony Lewis, Illus Gaby Hansen
I'll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis, Illus Penny Ives
The Three Robbers by Tomi Ungerer
The Black Book of Colours by Menena Cottin, Illus Rosana Faria

Thanks to Marc Falardeau for the heart photograph.

How do you write picture books if you're not an illustrator?

By Paeony Lewis

I write picture books and I don’t illustrate. Below you can see proof as to why nobody sane would let me illustrate. I suspect you've guessed that the bunny on the left is by a real illustrator (Sarah Gill, from our book Hurry Up, Birthday). And the bunny on the right? Yikes!

I envy those who both write and illustrate. They can be ambitious and meld words and pictures into amazing books. However, that doesn’t preclude non illustrators from writing picture books. No way! I've seen wonderous picture books where the author and illustrator aren’t the same person.

So how can you write picture books if you don’t illustrate? The simple answer is that you must think visually. For example, don’t include excessive descriptive detail in a story because this will be seen in the illustration. Think how words and images could work together to produce something that isn’t simply an illustrated story. Plus there must be opportunities for varied illustrations throughout the book.

Dividing up your story text into double-page spreads makes it easier to visualise the structure of the book (twelve is a good number of spreads). It also helps you to see if there are enough varied illustration possibilities. Some writers even make rough dummies for their own use (with scruffy line drawings for their eyes only!). I think it's important to remember that the turning of the page forms part of the story telling. It’s another form of punctuation: a huge anticipatory pause.

Oxford Reading Tree

It’s a weird thing that although most editors in the UK are happy to accept texts divided into spreads, this isn’t the case in the US. I’ve never understood that. With spreads, I find it easier to visualise not just my own text, but also other texts by other writers. Perhaps some editors feel the writer is stepping on the toes of the designer and illustrator? After all, we’re not allowed to give illustration notes unless something vital can’t be interpreted from the text alone. And then there is the strange exception to all this: educational publishing. If we write reading scheme books (eg Oxford Reading Tree) then we’re supposed to give detailed illustration notes for each page. The first time I did this I felt naughty, as though I was doing something forbidden!

If I haven’t bored you senseless in this blog, then you might be interested to see an excerpt from Best Friends or Not? (Piccadilly Books). Here’s the text and there are several illustration possibilities:

Spread 8  (pages 18/19)

Outside the cave, it had begun to snow.

Nanook stood alone and watched the falling snow. Gusts of wind swirled the snowflakes into shapes.
“Dancing snowbears,” whispered Nanook.
Nanook danced. He danced with her silent snow friends.

At the publishers there will be input from the editor, art editor, designer, illustrator and maybe even marketing. Often texts are reworked. It really is teamwork, and in theory the writer should see black and white roughs of the page layout and illustration before final illustrations are produced. This allows the writer to make comments, although the writer never has the final say.

Below is the published double-page spread from Best Friends of Not?, illustrated by Gaby Hansen.

Did you imagine something different when you only saw the text? Can you see why writers don’t divide the text into individual pages? It would be too restrictive as there are so many layout possibilities. In this case there are three separate images, but there could easily have been just one. And guess what? When I wrote this I had a clear image in my head of snowflakes swirling in the shape of bears. The illustrator, Gaby Hansen, interpreted the story differently, and that’s absolutely fine. She even has the bear sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and I think that’s delightful and I hadn’t visualised that.

Often the final book looks nothing like the writer had originally imagined. This doesn’t have to be a problem, unless you’re a control freak! The writer is the catalyst. Our stories must overflow with illustration possibilities, and then we must take a step back. Though I hope writers are never completely ignored in the later stages, because even if we can’t illustrate, we've seen pictures in our heads whilst we've been writing the words. Picture books are teamwork.

Paeony Lewis is a children’s book author and writing tutor.

www.paeonylewis.com