Scholastic Report: Write Funny, Imaginative Stories

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
PB&J: Picture Books and All That Jazz: A Highlights Foundation Workshop
Join Leslie Helakoski and Darcy Pattison in Honesdale PA for a spring workshop, April 23-26, 2015. It's a great Christmas present to yourself or a writer friend! Full info here.

COMMENTS FROM THE 2014 WORKSHOP:
"This conference was great! A perfect mix of learning and practicing our craft."—Peggy Campbell-Rush, 2014 attendee, Washington, NJ
"Darcy and Leslie were extremely accessible for advice, critique and casual conversation."—Perri Hogan, 2014 attendee, Syracuse,NY

It’s often hard to predict what books kids, from first grade through Young Adult novels, will like to read. Scholastic will release in January a research report that clearly expresses a kid’s point-of-view. They’ve released this infographic to advertise the report.

Click image to see full size.

This research has lots of implications for those writing children’s books.

Write funny. Kids develop a sense of humor slowly and in stages. Here are 3 ways to write funny, 5 ways to add more humor, and tips on running gags.

Use imagination. Kids like to be transported to a different time and place. When you create stories, think about interesting settings, historical time periods, or made-up worlds. Create these in enough detail that the kids will understand the actions, but leave room for their imaginations.

How else will this research affect your writing and the focus of your next story?