Notes from Picture and Word with AYA GHANAMEH, author/illustrator of These Olive Trees, illustrator of Dear Muslim Child by Rahma Rodaah, and designer of children’s books at Penguin Random House
https://www.amazon.com/These-Olive-Trees…/dp/0593525183
https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Muslim-Child…/dp/0063091992
• Board books – babies, children who can’t read yet
• Picture books – 3-6, children who are just learning to read
• Middle grade / chapter books – 7+, children who can read
• Graphic novels – older children
- A picture book fosters acts of radical imagination.
- Usually read by adult reader to nonreader (want to open a conversation and foster some sort of dialogue between the adult and the child)
- Usually 32 or 40 pages long (includes any glossary or end notes)
- Limit words to the bare essentials – don’t need to describe the house, the appearance of parents, of what character is wearing. Descriptions, unless crucial to your story, should be eliminated. Focus on the action and dialogue of your story.
- If a story makes sense without a certain sentence, take it out.
- Graphic narratives can become a ready medium for visual protest due to their availability, intimacy, and ability to exaggerate reality.
- Publishers hate having text touch the art (artists, leave blank space!)
Some of her recommended recent picture books:
- The Journey, Francesca Sanna — https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Francesca-Sanna/dp/1909263990
- Elefantastic, Jane Yolen — https://www.amazon.com/Elefantastic-Story…/dp/1452176817
- Homeland, Hannah Moushabeck — https://www.amazon.com/Homeland-My-Father…/dp/1797202057
- Small in the City, Sydney Smith — https://www.amazon.com/Small-City-Sydney…/dp/B07L7SD8SG
- Thank You, Omu!, Oge Moru — https://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Omu-Oge-Mora/dp/0316431249
- Have You Ever Seen a Flower?, Shawn Harris — https://www.amazon.com/Have-You-Ever-Seen…/dp/1452182701
