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Recently, a
three year-old came to play at our house. When the time came to wash our hands for
tea, she stepped up onto the little stool at the kitchen sink and I passed her
a bar of soap. “What’s that?” she asked. “Soap,” I replied and showed her how,
if you make it a little wet, you can get lots and lots of bubbles out of it.
The delight in her face was a wonder. She had never seen soap in a bar before!
Wow, what
else, will our modern children soon not recognize, I wondered. Already, talk of
CDs
and chalkboards
elicits a mystified gaze.
elicits a mystified gaze.
“Did you have telephones,
Mommy?” I am asked. Well, yes, I did. But we had to borrow our neighbour’s and
making long-distance calls was a big deal.
And I looked stuff up in the Encyclopedia
Britannica,
dusty volumes, also borrowed from our British neighbour in Rio
and pored over the tiny type for various homework assignments. Now, we can
search for anything we like with a quick click on Google. And plan on the
weather (sort of) at a glance on our phones . . .
Recently, I’ve
joined the Non-Fiction Archaelogy course run by Kristen Fulton, and recommended
by fellow blogger, J Clare Bell.
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| (c) Kristen Fulton |
So far, this week, I’ve discovered that:
• Goldie
the golden eagle was a true Houdini, on the run from London zoo for 12 whole days in 1965,
outwitting most adults who tried to capture him and causing a traffic jam in central
London
• Another escape artist was Fu Manchu, the orangutan and late
resident of the Omaha Zo, foiled zookeepers by picking the locks on his
enclosure with a small piece of metal wiring that he kept hidden under his
cheek.
• The
average child wears down 720 crayons by their 10th birthday
• Harrods once sold an alligator as a Christmas gift for the
Noel Coward
• There is a candy desk in the US Senate
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| US Candy Desk as pictured on Wikipedia |
. . . some children have never seen soap!
One of our first tasks in the course has been to find a
topic for a non-fiction picture book. It’s got me thinking about narrating a story that might have happened a long time ago so that
it’s relevant to contemporary children.
Not only do writers need to research how things were in the
past, they need to imagine themselves there so they can show, not tell. Also,
importantly, writers of all
picture books must capture the child
living in the moment. Stories need
to be told in ‘real-time’ and flashbacks are discouraged, because pre-school
children can’t yet conceptualize time in the way that adults and older children
can. This is because they are egocentric; their concept of time is limited to
their immediate world and routine. It's only by having experiences involving familiar
sequences and routines that they can gradually conceptualize events in the
past and future, expanding their world view.
So, when considering their story, it’s important for writers to look
around the world through a child’s eyes, with the same freshness, verve and
excitement. What we need to do is really step into the main character’s shoes and live the story in
the moment, to take the time to envision and describe each scene as if we were there . . .
. . . discovering the wonder of a bar of soap’s bubbles!
. . . discovering the wonder of a bar of soap’s bubbles!
This is
no mean feat if you’re living some 100 or so years after the event you are
researching. But capturing
these little moments of wonder is the key to writing a truly great picture book
story and taking today's child reader with you.
Natascha Biebow
Author, Editor and Mentor
Blue Elephant Storyshaping is an editing, coaching
and mentoring service aimed at empowering writers and illustrators to
fine-tune their work pre-submission. Check out my NEW small group coaching courses!
Blue Elephant Storyshaping is an editing, coaching
and mentoring service aimed at empowering writers and illustrators to
fine-tune their work pre-submission. Check out my NEW small group coaching courses!
Natascha is also the author of Elephants Never Forget and Is This My Nose?, editor of numerous award-winning children’s books, and Regional Advisor (Chair) of SCBWI British Isles. www.blueelephantstoryshaping.com
