Authors and publicists send me picture books for review. I always warn them that I’m a recommender. That means if I don’t like the book, it won’t be on my site.
Right now I have a stack of five that make me wonder, what were you thinking?
One talks about and shows characters painting the other characters. Just what a preschool/kindergarten teacher wants in a classroom—a paint free-for-all. And don’t parents have enough trouble with siblings painting/drawing on/coloring each other as it is?
The four others use song lyrics from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I thought it sounded like a cute idea. Until I got the ARCs.
- One book screamed cultural appropriation. Those words may have been acceptable in 1977, but not now.
- Another was an antiestablishment song. Let’s teach our toddlers to resist their parents. I don’t think so. Especially when the illustrations put the babies in a dangerous situation.
- A third was about tomorrow being better, which gave me a lot of hope. Yet some of the lyrics just don’t work for children, so it ended up with a thumbs down.
- The best of the bunch is a great song, but I’ve always felt the lyrics have strong sexual connotations. The illustrations have toned that down by making the singer a girl’s dog. That works if the adult readers don’t know or never hear the song. But otherwise?
Were the song lyric books meant to be for the grandparents and great-grandparents who lived during the ‘60s and ‘70s? Although there is no back matter. I’d think a collection of the songs with information about the singers would be more appropriate. At least I’d find that interesting.
Perhaps, these publishers needed to ask themselves, “What will a child get out of this story?” Or “What will this encourage children to do?” Or “Is this age appropriate?”
What does this mean for us as picture book creators?
- Remember who your audience is. Make sure your words and pictures fit the age range.
- Think about the takeaway. Is it one you’d want your little one to get?
- Consider how a child might act the story out.
- Get feedback from other writers.
- Make sure you read great picture books being published now.
My beta readers (and especially my agent) are quick to correct any such misses if and when I stray into the sort of unwanted territories you mention above. Storytellers can get so enthralled with an image or a scene that we lose our connection to the intended reader or (more likely) to the buyer, which is the adult in charge. It’s essential to have other readers go over our fictional sojourns and catch these what-was-she-thinking sort of blind spots.
Yes!