How to write a children’s book

Every decision after this one depends on who the book is for. A board book for a two-year-old and a chapter book for an eight-year-old share almost nothing, from the length and sentence size to the role of the pictures. Pick the category first, then write to its limits.

Pick your category in the next section to see what changes for yours.

Picture books are the focus of the steps below, because many first-time children’s authors start there. If you’re writing something else, here is what changes.

“Bedtime” is a topic. “A girl can’t sleep because the house keeps making noises” is an idea, because it has a problem in it, and a problem is what pulls a child through the pages.

Good ideas usually share three things:

• The problem is one a child really has. Fear of the dark, a new sibling, a lost toy, a first day somewhere new. Adults’ problems don’t hold a four-year-old’s attention.
• It fits in one sentence. If you need a paragraph to explain the idea, it’s too big for 32 pages.
• There’s room for surprise. The best picture books set up an expectation and then turn it over on the next page.

Before you commit to an idea, check three more things:

• It hasn’t been done the same way. Search Amazon and your library catalog for books like yours. If you find one, that’s fine, but your angle, character or ending has to be different enough to stand out.
• The adult buying it wants it too. Parents, grandparents and teachers choose many children’s books. An idea that makes a child laugh and gives the adult a reason to read it again has both audiences.
• The message lives in the story. If your book has a lesson, let the character learn it by what they do. Children switch off when a book lectures them, and so do the adults reading it.

Need a starting point? Try these 50 children’s book ideas by age. Then read a stack of picture books published in the last few years, in the same category you chose. They show you the current length, tone and humor better than any rule can.

Children want to read about someone like them who does something. A common beginner mistake is a story where an adult steps in and fixes the problem. Let your main character make the choices and solve the problem, even when they get it wrong first.

• Give them one clear want. Mira wants to sleep. Everything in the story either blocks that or brings her closer.
• Give them a flaw or a fear. A character who is scared, grumpy or stubborn has somewhere to grow.
• Make them a little older than the reader. Children look up to characters a year or two older than they are. A five-year-old happily reads about a six-year-old, and rarely about a baby.
• Keep the cast small. In a picture book, one main character and one or two others is plenty. Every extra name costs words and confuses young listeners.

The character can be a child, an animal or a talking teacup. What matters is that a child reading it recognizes the feeling.

Every guide tells you a picture book is 32 pages. Here is what that means for your manuscript.

A 32-page picture book gives you up to 16 illustrated spreads. The title, copyright and dedication take the first two or three pages, which leaves 13 to 14 spreads for the story itself. A spread is two facing pages, seen together when the book lies open. Every time the reader turns a page, a new spread appears, and that moment is your best tool for surprise.

Below is a short sample story of ours, written for this guide and mapped onto all 32 pages. It runs about 150 words, short on purpose so the whole map fits on one screen. The arrows mark page turns that hide a reveal.

What the map shows

1. The problem arrives on the first spread. Mira can’t sleep by the first line. A picture book has no room for scene-setting, so open on the problem and let the pictures show the setting.
2. Every reveal sits after a page turn. Each noise ends a spread, and the answer waits on the next one. A child gets to guess before they see.
3. The rule of three builds the pattern. Tap, stairs, cat. By the third reveal, the child expects “It was only…”, which is why the fourth noise lands.
4. The ending turns the pattern over and settles the child. The owl is the one noise Mira can’t switch off, and she doesn’t need to. She falls asleep safe, which is the kind of ending the youngest readers need.
5. Each spread has one job. If a spread has no picture you can describe in one line, it doesn’t have a job yet.

To map your own book, put each spread of text on its own line, then check where the turns fall. The free planning kit in step 7 has a 14-spread beat sheet that shows what each spread usually does, and a blank map with all 32 pages laid out for you.

A picture book is heard before it’s read. The adult reading it at bedtime is your performer, so every line has to sound right out loud.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

• Read every draft aloud. A sentence can look fine on screen and still trip you up when you say it.
• Use sounds and repetition. “Drip. Drip. Drip.” gives the reader something to perform and the child something to join in on.
• Keep sentences short and concrete. Children follow actions and things they can picture more easily than explanations.
• Only rhyme if you can keep the rhythm. Rhyming books fail more often on meter than on rhyme. If you rhyme, every line needs the same beat, and the rhyme can’t bend the story. Our children’s book editors check rhyme and meter beat by beat if you want a second ear.
• Check the reading level. For early readers, compare your words with sight word lists such as Dolch and Fry, and use a readability checker to catch long sentences and hard words.

Tense, point of view and dialogue

• Tense Present tense feels immediate (“Mira hears a noise”), past tense feels like a story being told (“Mira heard a noise”). Both work. Pick one and keep it.
• Point of view Many picture books use third person, which gives you room to show things the character can’t see. First person suits books where the child’s voice is the charm.
• Dialogue Make it sound like real children talk, in short bursts. Read it aloud, and cut any line that sounds like an adult talking.

In a picture book, the words and the pictures split the work. Your text shouldn’t describe what the art will show: if the picture shows a red coat, the words don’t need to say it. What you tell the illustrator depends on how you’ll publish.

Make a book dummy

A dummy is a rough copy of your book that you can hold and flip. Fold 8 sheets of paper in half and staple them along the fold: that’s 32 pages. Paste or write your text onto the pages where you think it falls, then turn the pages as a reader would. You’ll find the spreads with too many words, the turns that fall flat and the pages with nothing to draw.

While you’re at it, think about two layout choices:

• Shape A tall book suits character stories, a wide one suits journeys and big scenes, and a square one suits concept books for the youngest readers.
• Where the text sits On the art, set into a quiet area of the picture, or beside it on a plain panel. Tell your illustrator early, so they leave room. Both layouts work with our picture book formatting.

How to write and illustrate a children’s book yourself

If you’re illustrating your own book, sketch small, rough thumbnail drawings in your dummy before any finished art. Rough boxes and stick figures are enough to test whether the pages turn at the right moments. Our guide on how to illustrate a children’s book takes you from character sheet to print files. If you’re hiring an illustrator instead, the spread notes above become your brief, and our book illustration services start from that same brief.

A children’s book manuscript looks plainer than many people expect. Here are the two formats, one for each path.

A first draft of a picture book can take a few days. A good children’s book takes many drafts, because in 500 words every word is visible.

• Cut first. Take out anything the pictures will show, any line an adult would say to a child as a lesson, and any character the story can do without.
• Read it aloud to a child who doesn’t know you. Children who love you will be polite. A stranger’s child will wriggle, and the wriggle tells you where the story sags.
• Watch the page turns. If a child doesn’t want to turn the page, the spread before it needs a stronger ending.
• Get feedback from other children’s writers. A critique group, including those run through the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), will catch what family won’t.

A successful children’s book is one a child asks for again, so keep revising until yours passes that test.

Once the manuscript is finished, there are two paths.

Writing the book costs nothing but your time. The costs come with editing, illustration and publishing, and our guide to children’s book publishing covers both paths, the formats and what each step costs. For every step from a finished manuscript to a book in stores, see how to publish a children’s book. If you plan to query agents, see how to get a book published.

8 mistakes that sink first children’s books

1. Too many words.A picture book well over 800 words is usually a story that hasn’t been cut yet.
2. A lesson instead of a story.If the ending explains the moral, the story didn’t do its job.
3. An adult solves the problem.The child in the story has to do it.
4. Forced rhyme.A rhyme chosen for the sound, not the sense, is the fastest way to lose an editor.
5. Describing the pictures.Words that repeat the art waste your word count.
6. A slow start.The problem belongs on the first spread, not the fourth.
7. Too many characters.Every new name is one more thing a four-year-old has to hold on to.
8. A flat ending.The last page should land a feeling, a laugh or a twist, not fade out.

How to write a children’s book: FAQs