Publishing a Children’s Book—Better Get a Child’s Opinion First

When writing a children’s book, the most important element to consider is your audience. Many first time authors never get kids involved in creating their manuscript—they will write a story and publish a book without a child even seeing it. Then they are astonished when they receive negative reviews from children. While parents, teachers, and librarians may like the book and purchase it, if a young reader does not enjoy the book, there will be no repeat or positive word-of-mouth sales.

Writing a children’s book is not a solitary activity. In fact, many of the greatest children’s books were not originally intended to be books but simply stories told to children. Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” began with stories he told to a little girl named Alice and her friends. L. Frank Baum reportedly told his children and their friends many stories, and it was their reaction to his stories with expressions of “oh’s and ah’s” that inspired the name of Oz, and so “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was born. Without the children’s reactions, Carroll and Baum would not have realized they were on to something or have written books that have delighted generations of children.

Here at Reader Views, we value reviews by kids for kids. Our Reader Views Kids page (www.readerviewskids.com) is full of reviews by children. The site is family-friendly and an excellent place to find books that are sure to appeal to children because children are having their own say about what they like. The value of children reviewers for authors is an honest opinion and for parents and teachers a reliable recommendation of what children will enjoy.

Children can be very discerning readers, and they can be brutally honest. They are eager to pick up on every typo or grammatical error and any place where the logic breaks down. We all know children are infamous for asking “Why?” So when they ask, “Why did that character do such and such?” the author had better have an answer. No writer wants holes found in his storyline, which is why a smart author will ask children’s advice before the manuscript goes to a publisher.

Here are a few examples of complaints children have had about books they have reviewed. These are clues for what authors should watch for and avoid.

One thirteen-year old reader complained about lack of logic in a book. The example she gave referred to a boy standing over a girl whose eyes were shut. The girl opened her eyes when she realized the boy was standing over her. The thirteen-year old reviewer asked how the girl knew the boy was there if her eyes were closed.

We have also received negative comments about books being too preachy. Children want to be entertained, not forced to read something that’s “good for them.” One of the worst complaints a child reviewer will give is “This is something my mother would want me to read.”

Children also don’t want the same-old same-old. We often get complaints about how a book is too much like another recently popular children’s book. Kids appreciate originality.

One of our ten-year old reviewers resigned because she had to review four books in a row she thought were bad. Here are just a few more negative comments we have received from our child reviewers:

  • “I just don't get it.” – This was a book that got rave reviews from adults and teachers.
  • “We get a lot of non-fiction/self-help type of books to read for school so I want to read fantasy.”
  • “The illustrations don't look good. It's hard to tell what the pictures are.”
  • “I was shocked that the book said it was for twelve-year olds. Some parts are for a bit more mature audiences.”
  • “To me, X and X fall in love unrealistically and too quickly. I love the author’s other heroines but X lacked depth and the story was over too fast for me really to get to know her.”
  • “Plot-wise, I had a few issues. Sometimes, I felt that there was just too much going on at once and so many subplots that they were rather hard to keep track of.”
  • “I would like to see the grammar and spelling mistakes fixed.”
  • “It is confusing and the sequences are poorly-written. Some books should just have an ending.”

Of course, we get positive responses as well. When kids love a book, they show their appreciation:

  • “…a hilarious book which had me laughing from cover to cover.”
  • “Reading this book was like doing all the things the children did right along with them…was a lot of fun to read and was like being in another world.”
  • “Once you pick up this book, you will really want to keep reading it. I hope you will like this book as much as I did.”

Authors can receive such positive responses if they get feedback from children before their books are published. I asked two authors whose books have been positively reviewed by Reader Views for Kids how they involved children in writing their books.

Debbie Glade, author of “The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica” wrote and illustrated her picture book about a millipede who travels to Costa Rica. She included a read-along CD with the book. Debbie, also a mother, knew she needed to have children enjoy the book she was writing. Before beginning, she started asking children what they liked.

“I made sure to talk to kids of several ages about their book likes and dislikes even before I wrote the story,” says Debbie. “I had children read different drafts plus look at the illustrations, and I learned something new from readers every time. Children see the world from completely different perspectives than adults, so essentially I had to be able to think like a child in order to write a book kids will love. The most valuable insight I received was from avid readers who were a few years older than my target audience.”

One change Debbie made was to delete a detail about Lilly. “Kid reviewers all had different opinions on the age the main character should be,” says Debbie. “I originally had Lilly's age in the book as 10, then changed it to 12. In the end I just left her age out, letting the readers imagine Lilly's age as they wish. One thing I did learn for sure is that readers always want to read about someone a bit other than they are, and Lilly definitely fulfilled that wish.”

The children also helped Debbie in illustrating the book. Debbie created all the illustrations on her own, using watercolor pencils and pan watercolors and then outlined many figures with ink so they would stand out. Despite her artistic talents, Debbie still asked for children’s feedback. “I completely redid the illustration of Lilly on her bed when she was talking about her fears because several kids said the picture I painted was way too dark and scary. I changed the color of the background, which was formerly a deep red/pink, and lightened Lilly up a little bit. But I kept the four fears the same.”

Perhaps most importantly, Debbie made a point of reading the book out loud to children and watching their reactions. “I watched kids as they were listening to see their emotions and facial expressions and to make sure they were not losing interest.” Reading out loud gave Debbie a good indication of what was working in the story and what parts still needed work.

When the book was published, Debbie sent a copy to Reader Views for Kids. Our seven-year old reviewer, Matthew Feliciano, commented “I liked ‘The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly: Costa Rica’ a lot. It was educational and showed me new things about a new country…this book was really good.”

When I interviewed Debbie, I asked Matthew to join me. Matthew surprised Debbie Glade with a question she had never thought about. In the book, Lilly goes to Costa Rica with her grandparents. The book never mentions Lilly’s parents. Matthew asked Debbie, “Where were Lilly's parents and why didn't they go on the trip too?” Debbie kept her cool by replying, “That is a great mystery that will be revealed some time in the future.” Later, Debbie admitted to me, “I actually had never thought about anyone asking me what happened to Lilly's parents. When Matthew asked me about it, I was both surprised and impressed by his curiosity. It left me with a great opportunity to resolve the mystery in a future book.”

Melissa Strangway also knows the value of having children read her manuscripts. Her novel “56 Water Street” tells the story of two children who solve a mystery concerning an old house the children can see but which is invisible to everyone else. Again, seven-year old Matthew Feliciano was asked to review the book. He commented, “I couldn’t put the book down and it kept me wanting more. The kids were just like any other kids and were curious about this house. It made it easy to read a story with regular kids doing interesting things.”

Matthew identified with the characters because they were regular kids like him. Melissa was able to make sure her kid readers would identify with her main characters, Derek and Ravine, because she got children’s comments before she published the novel.

Melissa told me she decided to get children’s advice as the result of her friend, David, asking her why she wrote. She replied that she wrote to share stories with children. He challenged her then to show children her writing, and she decided to take his advice.

The process began for Melissa when she brought the manuscript of “56 Water Street” to her son’s school for an evaluation. “The principal handed it out to five students. It was the hardest thing I had to do,” says Melissa, “but the wisest. Children are honest, brutally honest, which is what you need when sharing your story with them. Plus, who better to evaluate a children’s story, other than a child? After you get over the fear of having them read it, you realize it’s the best thing you can do. After all, the worst that can happen is they say they don’t like it. Which means heading back to the computer and making it a better story.”

It turns out the students did like Melissa’s book. “The students sat down with me after they read it and gave me great feedback,” Melissa recalls. “Some constructive criticism and some praise. Everything that was very valuable in making ‘56 Water Street’ the best it could be. One suggestion was to make sure that even though Ravine and Derek are experiencing the same things, almost at the same times, it was important to make sure their personalities were completely different.”

While Melissa says she benefited from the criticism she received from children, she feels they also benefited from the process. “The children in turn always seem pleased when I ask for their opinions and input. And why not? The story is for them.”

In getting feedback, authors can begin with their own children, their children’s friends, or their nephews and nieces. Children love to be read to. Visiting a classroom to read the story and have children respond to it is a great way to get responses from the potential audience and make children feel important as well.

Authors can also seek out children’s evaluations. For manuscript evaluations, Reader Views sends children’s stories to both an adult and a child reader. And of course, Reader Views will assign a child reviewer if a book is already published.

Children should be included in the process and joy of writing. It helps them become better analytical thinkers, and it helps an author prepare a book children will enjoy for a long time to come. If you’re writing a children’s book, go find your audience. They’re ready to welcome you and give you all the help you need.

Contributor

Tyler TichelaarTyler R. Tichelaar is editor and contributing author of Authors Access: 30 Secrets for Authors and Publishers, the regionally bestselling Marquette Trilogy and the newly published Narrow Lives. He is the Associate Editor of Reader Views  and has interviewed many children’s authors, often assisted by children reviewers.

 

 

 

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