Show Me a Story: Writing Your Own Picture Book

by Nancy Loewen, Christopher Michael Lyles (Illustrator)

Ready to build a picture book? First, you’ll need the right tools. Open this title in the Writer’s Toolbox series and discover plenty of tips and tools to get you started. Soon you’ll be writing and showing stories like a pro!

Genres: Picture Books, Writing, Nonfiction, Childrens, Books About Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She's published more than 140 books for children. FOUR TO THE POLE (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) and THE LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her WRITER'S TOOLBOX series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers.

Nancy lives in Saint Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She has two adult children and a cat who sometimes bites her knees under the table as she writes.

Reviews

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introduction to writing picture books that does a good job of covering most of the writing basics. It uses the example picture book story of a goose who wants to fly in a different letter shape than a V to comment on and point out certain aspects of story telling like dialogue, creating a problem, how to build the climax, etc.

This did a pretty good job going over all the basics necessary for writing a good picture book. It doesn't cover anything about illustration beyond the fact that the pictures fill in some of the story telling points (like setting) so you can skip that in writing. The lack of illustration pointers may disappoint some young potential author/illustrators. I was trying to see if this would help me in my yearly presentation to the high school design studio class before they make picture books, but it doesn't quite meet those needs. This would be good for elementary or possibly middle school. It could also be a good tool when talking about plot diagraming as it covers the various parts of a story well.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a clear and concise book on how to write picture books - perfect for kids (elementary school aged) and adults with short attention spans or little time.

[Zalila Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ketika mencari modul penulisan untuk pemula (pelajar sekolah), saya menemui buku ini dan ternyata boleh menjadi panduan asas penulisan buku biasa atau bergambar. Saya baca versi terjemahan BM oleh ITBM.

Untuk penulis pemula, buku ini boleh dijadikan panduan dalam memulakan penulisan - Permulaan, isi dan penutup merangkumi watak, idea, mengenal pasti masalah yang menggerakkan plot serta hal-hal berkaitan penulisan yang lengkap dan bersekali contoh yang jelas.

Buku yang sangat bagus untuk anak anda yang mempunyai bakat dan kecenderungan dalam penulisan.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a book that was more focused on the how-to of writing a story, but this was pretty cool as well. It tells the story of a duck with a problem and on each page explains the basic elements of a fiction story.

[createitlibrarian (Amanda) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good intro for children wanting to write their own picture book. Not earth-shattering, but gets the job done.

[Lynne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a nice tool for teaching picture book writing to children

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This writing company, Picture Window Books is one of the best for teaching kids how to write different types of stories and poetry. They always include about 10 tools to focus on per type of story. They also write a story making use of the techniques they are talking about. The 15 tools this time:
Beginning, characters,problem, setting, illustrations, take action to solve thier problem, have good dialogue, Middle, plot, turning point scenes, suspense, climax and of course, the ending!

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, simple book about writing picture books, illustrated by a picture book within the book. I might not have gotten this book if I had realized it was for kids, but sometimes kid books are the best because they boil things down to their essentials and remove all unnecessary complications.

To write a picture book, you need:
- The beginning: introduce the main character, the problem that will move the story, and the setting.
- Illustrations. Not everything in the pictures will be in the text and vice versa.
- The middle: characters take action to solve their problems. There is dialog to inform the reader and move the story along. Events/plot happen, building the story. There's a turning point where it looks like the characters may make it and solve their problems. Suspense builds to the climax.
- The end: should be satisfying, answer all questions that came up in the story.

Places to look for story ideas:
- Characters: could be anything (people, animals, lamps, cheese). What is this character like? Strengths? Weaknesses? Friends? What do they do? What kinds of problems might they have?
- Problems: ask people about their worst meals, vacations, holidays, etc. Could these be a story?

[Ch_jank-caporale · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Show Me a Story" is a picture book with step-by-step notes on the side of each page that instruct readers on the qualities and characteristics of picture books. Nancy Loewen, with the help of illustrator Christopher Lyles, outlines 15 steps for writing a good picture book and uses the story "Webster's Wish" as examples to illustrate each step. She also includes writing tips: number one is to "read lots of picture books, then read them again, and again!"
This is a good reference book for students and teachers in a writing workshop, especially for young writers. There are other books in the series, too, including "Once Upon a Time: Writing your own Fairy Tale", "Sincerely Yours: Writing yyour own letter," and "Words, Wit, and Wonder: Writing your own poem."

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really cute book-within-a-book that I read while babysitting. I was initially reading it for me, as part of my "books about writing books" kick. But when my charge saw what I was reading, he really wanted to read it too! After all, he sees geese flying overhead a lot and was interested in a book about geese flying in different letter formations. It was a really neat experience to read that story to him while reading the writing tips to myself.

[Jessica Vandrovec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful to use in writer's workshop. It offers lots of "ways" to write a story. My students have benefited from me reading this and they have tried different kinds of crafts in their writings because I have read this book to them.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a clever two-for-one: a picture book with its own story, plus fifteen tools of how to write a picture book. I like this concept and think this is a useful book for young writers (and adults who want to see concepts like character, dialogue, turning point demonstrated).

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picture book that is 1) about a goose who doesn't want to be limited to V shaped flight patterns and 2) meant to show young authors all the essential aspects of a picture book story. Very simply constructed and clear. Will be interested to read this with students...

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, and simple and what you need for structure to get started writing a picture book. Would be easily done from the viewpoint of this book. Not so easy. Cute and to the point.

[Nisah Haron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Antara buku yang baik untuk penulisan buku bergambar kanak-kanak. Saya baca edisi terjemahan oleh ITBM. Recommended!

[Jie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice book about how a picture book is structured.