Choosing a Breakthrough Topic Based on Current Picture Books

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Yes, I had found my BREAKTHROUGH topic for a picture book in the general market. THE VERY OLDEST PEAR TREE. It’s book birthday will be on August 20, 2020.

You can use this idea to help guide you in your search for a BREAKTHROUGH topic. THE VERY OLDEST PEAR TREE is about a tree, is about the founding years of our nation, and had a holiday tie-in with Thanksgiving, Arbor Day, and Earth Day. This is a BREAKTHROUGH topic because classrooms and homeschooling families all across America study these topics every year. So they are always on the lookout for a new picture book they can read with their kiddos.

Here are several other current picture books that are BREAKTHROUGH topics that can help you as you’re exploring the children’s publishing world to look for the next BREAKTHROUGH topic you want to write about.

Evelyn, the Adventurous Entomologist

Why is this a BREAKTHROUGH topic? Because it combines two ingredients teachers, librarians, and homeschooling mamas (and therefore editors!) are looking for: 1) biographies about girls doing amazing things, and 2) STEAM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, or Mathematics) for kids.

Picture book biographies about little known people doing big things (especially if they’re girls) are on nearly every editor’s wishlist.

The Ocean Calls

Why is this a BREAKTHROUGH topic? Because it combines two ingredients teachers, librarians, and homeschooling mamas (and therefore editors!) are looking for: 1) authors from a diverse background who write about something related to their background…the author of THE OCEAN CALLS is Tina Cho and Tina currently lives in South Korea where this nonfiction story takes place. 2) It also has a STEAM tie-in.

So if you have a background in a certain speciality or ethnicity, you can write with a REAL voice because you are REALLY part of that experience.

Grace for President

Why is this a BREAKTHROUGH topic? Because it combines three ingredients teachers, librarians, and homeschooling mamas (and therefore editors!) are looking for: 1) Girls doing big things. Yes, this is a current trend! 2) American history…kids learn about presidents in early elementary 3)It has a holiday tie-in that it can be read on President’s Day.

Right now I’m working on writing my next BREAKTHROUGH topic. But this time, my children’s book is for the CHRISTIAN market. I spent the last 2 months exploring the CHRISTIAN market to choose my new BREAKTHROUGH topic. The journey was a little bit different than the journey I took to choose a BREAKTHROUGH topic in the general market.

In my next post, I’ll share some of the unique trails I traveled on to choose my newest picture book topic for the Christian market.