[ginny-wiehardt Posts: 6 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking for books or articles about writing nonfiction picture books and not coming up with a lot. Anyone have resources that have helped them?

Thank you!
Ginny

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,274 Status: Offline WWW]

Ginny, I read and write a lot of NF PBs. I just love them. So far have not been successfully published, but hopefully one day I will!

Here are some blog posts I have saved that I have found helpful:
https://lernerbooks.blog/2017/07/nonfiction-picture-books-surprise.html

https://medium.com/chronicle-books/the-surprisingly-complex-principles-of-a-successful-picture-book-da7b0b041fbd

http://www.hbook.com/2013/09/using-books/todays-picture-book-biographies-back-matter-matters/#_

http://scbwi.blogspot.com/2016/05/did-you-know-beethoven-loved-maracroni.html

https://eerdlings.com/2015/11/12/from-the-editors-desk-four-tips-for-writing-nonfiction-plots/

https://eerdlings.com/2016/01/14/from-the-editors-desk-three-tips-on-theme-in-nonfiction/

http://www.tinamcho.com/blog/picture-book-biography-beginnings

The Eerdlings blog posts are the ones I return to frequently. I think there may have been a few more in that series, so when you go the "From the Editors Desk" blog, check out to see if there are more.

And you didn't clarify if you were looking at more of a bio/history NF slant or science. If it's science, I highly recommend subscribing to Melissa Stewart's blog, Celebrate Science: http://celebratescience.blogspot.com/

Another blog I follow is The Nonfiction Detectives for reviews of popular NF children's books: http://www.nonfictiondetectives.com/

I hope this helps! Good luck!!!!!! I just LOVE NF.

[HaroldU Posts: 744 Status: Offline WWW]

Those are all great resources, and I just want to add a book--The Anatomy of Nonfiction. It's a general guide to writing nonfiction for children--not specifically focused on PBs, but very useful.

I reviewed it here: http://www.underdown.org/anatomy-of-nonfiction-review.htm

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,274 Status: Offline WWW]

Oh yes. GREAT book!

[Vijaya Posts: 6,877 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

I too, love NF, and Deb has a great list. I'll add the INK blog--interesting nonfiction for kids. It's no longer active but you can still search through the archives: http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/ 

For books, I'll add The Giblin Guide to Writing Nonfiction, as well as Zinsser's book On Writing Well.

[ginny-wiehardt Posts: 6 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thank you all so much for your responses. These look that great resources, and I'm excited to delve into them! Good luck with your own books!

[kwlarson Posts: 176 Status: Offline Books for curious kids WWW]

Ginny,

If you don't have a lot of experience with researching nonfiction, ANATOMY OF NONFICTION is very helpful.

In terms of the craft of writing nonfiction, I think FINDING THE HEART OF NONFICTION (Georgia Heard) is really the best. And one of the best things you can do is look at nonfiction published within the last three years and really dig into its structure at the book level, sentence level, etc.

Best of luck,

Kirsten

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,274 Status: Offline WWW]

I have not read Heard's book. I'll have to go find a copy!

[barbara-hare Posts: 3 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thank you to those who shared these resources. I find myself drawn to nonfiction as well.

[ginny-wiehardt Posts: 6 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

Thanks once more, everyone. These are great resources--I'm very glad to have them!

[ginny-wiehardt Posts: 6 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I also stumbled upon another SCBWI blog post that was very helpful--for others like myself who are just finding their way: http://scbwi.blogspot.com/2017/09/melissa-stewarts-nonfiction-resource-on.html