Hello! I haven't posted on this forum in a long time, and never did much here, but I'm looking for insight and support for the children's book types. It's not one I'd ever considered before, but my professor assigned us to do any creative project to answer one of four questions about education as our final project. It's a Foundations of Education class, so I'm answering what I think is the best educational philosophy in a children's book! I"M SO excited about the idea! But I feel like children's books are a whole different type of writing that I haven't looked at or studied at all. I'm thinking about a picture book really, one of interest to a kid and parent right about starting school's age, so 3-5 years. I feel like there are foundational things that I'm just not aware of, do's and don'ts and best practices as well as tips and... well, community support! Chatty friends rock! Spam me with your thoughts, links, videos, whatever that has helped you know what you know please!
For the age range you mentioned, a socialization theme would be a good choice. This might be of some help Story Theme: Definition and Examples for a Controlling Idea Though it doesn't match your target audience, the basic idea is still valid
That age range is excited by actions-- Anything that they can replicate. For example, a story about puddles has the character splashing in puddles. A story about talking will have the character whisper, yell, and talk in funny voices. These things kids (and their adults) can act out or engage with. Examples: Mo Willem's DONT LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS. It has the titular character, Pigeon, arguing with the readers about why he should drive the bus. LACEY WALKER, NONSTOP TALKER by Christianne C. Jones is another. The text lets the adult know which places to be LOUD at and which places to whisper. For the 3 year old range, they are more impressed by colors. That's why you will see picture books that have very minimal text but vibrant beautiful and expressive colors. The book DRAWN TOGETHER by Minh Le is like that. Some pages have like 4 words total and some have no words at all. The child can interpret what's going on and "tell the story" (the book has its own story.... a grandfather and grandson spending the day together. The grandfather doesnt know English and the grandson doesnt know Vietnamese. So they draw pictures together) DREAMERS by Yuyi Morales is another example. Another popular thing is inanimate objects and anthromorphic characters, especially if it teaches a lesson: Examples: the Penelope Rex books (a kindergarten aged T-Rex that learns different lessons in a number of books. also very brightly and cheerfully illustrated). RAY by Marianna Coppo about a closet light bulb that learns about the world from the things his family leaves in the closet. CALL OF THE SWAMP by Davide Calì , about an axolotl boy who learns about his identity as an adopted child (this book still makes me cry! this is also a book for older children because of the amount of text in it. Amazon says 4-9). POKKO AND THE DRUM by Matthew Forsythe about a quiet frog who is given a drum and becomes so loud, she wakes the entire forest (another brightly illustrated one)
As part of my undergrad major in Literature, I took a Children's Literature class As part of my Masters in Library Science (specializing in Children's and Youth experiences), I also took classes akin to "Children's Literature" but geared less toward writing one and more toward the reader base (i.e. what parents look for in selecting childrens books and what children gravitate to). lastly, when assigned desk shifts in the Children's room, I read/look at the books. I think your best bet is to go to a library and read a couple of picture books at leisure. maybe talk to a librarian about popular picks
@J.T. Woody touched on this with the Pigeon arguing with the reader and whatnot, but when my son was that age, his favorite books were interactive. Our favorite was Don't Push the Button. There's a button on each pair of pages that does crazy things to the adorable monster who's talking directly to the kid the whole time. A favorite of mine when I was little that I got to share with my kid decades later was There's a Monster at the End of This Book starring Grover from Sesame Street. Grover doesn't want to get to the end of the book, so he begs and builds walls and things to keep the kid from turning the page. When the kid turns the page, the wall is destroyed, and Grover has to try something different. These books are loads of fun. Really, any book that talks directly to the child will engage them in the activity, especially if they're asked to do or say something silly. I don't know if any of this works with the themes you had in mind, and there are certainly other ways to write a good children's book, but like I said, these are especially fun.
One of our favorites, too, Our copy has been through two generations of children. We loved the Little Monster Books by Mercer Mayar, too. On the other hand, I hated the Berenstain Bear Books. Preachy moralizing tales are not my thing.
