40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge: What to Read

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Welcome to the 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge! This challenge will take place during the month of November here on my blog.

For starters, what should you read during this challenge? Well, it depends on your goals.

Goal #1: Familiarize yourself with the PB genre.

For one thing, you could read any picture book you can get your hands on. A variety. From all sorts of publishers and on all sorts of topics. From classics to the newest title. This will give you an overview of the genre. This is especially helpful if you want to write picture books but aren’t really sure what a picture book is all about.

Goal #2: Target a specific publisher

If you want to land a contract with a certain publisher, however, a great idea is to search online for the publishers most recent catalogs. Look over their catalogs and collect a list of current titles of the picture books they’re publishing. Plan to read as many as you can find for this 40 x 4 Picture Book challenge.

Goal #3: Target a specific niche or topic or subgenre

Want to write a bedtime story? Want to write nonfiction? Want to write a biography of a famous female? Recently I wanted to write a book on dealing with grief for kids. So I searched online for “The Best Books on grief for children.” Amazing lists came up!

Goal #4: Other goal

Perhaps you have a different goal in mind. You might want to write a book that would win a certain award. Or you might want to write a book that uses a similar style or voice as a successful kidlit author you know. Just search online for lists of those picture books and that will be what you want to read.

In my next post I’ll share some great places you can find these books to read during our 40 x 4 Picture Book Challenge!

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay