A Treasure Chest of Library Books

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Hip hip hooray for public libraries! Our library is finally semi-opened and the 30 nonfiction picture book biographies I ordered in before the shut-down are arriving fast and furious for pick-up.

So that means I’m working fast and furious to read and dissect them.

For starters, I’m picking out the ones that really resonate with me. I want to use them as mentor texts while I’m learning and writing my own picture book biographies. I’m either typing these out by hand, including the Author’s Note at the end (which is frequently soooooo much longer than the picture book text) and the source notes.

Others, however, especially ones that the art is important to me, I’m photocopying. Yes, this is legal. Over the years I’ve checked in with multiple libraries from public libraries to university libraries. Their policy is one and the same. I am permitted to photocopy entire books for my own personal research as long as I don’t share them with others.

Plus, I’m taking the time to evaluate each one before I return it to the library. I’m using the handy worksheet I created to do this. You can use this NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK RUBRIC, too, as you dissect the nonfiction picture book biographies you read for mentor texts.

CLICK HERE to visit one of my websites where I offer free worksheets for children’s writers. Scroll down until you find the link for the NONFICTION PICTURE BOOK RUBRIC and then download the file. Print out a copy for each nonfiction picture book you are evaluating.

Why do I take the time to fill out each of these worksheets/rubrics for the nonfiction picture book biographies I’m reading? For many VERY IMPORTANT reasons. Here are a few:

#1 By learning to look for strengths and weaknesses in published books I learn to look for strengths and weaknesses in my own manuscripts.

#2 By having a rubric to follow to evaluate published books, I now have a list of techniques I can look for in my own manuscripts to evaluate.

#3 With the info about the publisher and copyright, this gives me a handy place to remember what publishers are looking for.

The list of benefits goes on and can be an entire workshop on its own!