Writing and Illustrating Children's Books

Over the years, after going to countless SCBWI Children's Books Writing and Illustrating Conferences and Workshops, I have assembled this large list of books on craft. Please share with me your favorite books on craft in the comments. Check out my blog post: Paths to Publication on the different ways to get your book produced for readers.


Writing Craft
A Kick in the Head, by Paul B. Janeczko
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott
Characters and Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
Crafting Stories for Children, Nancy Lamb
Picture Writing, Anatasia Suen
What’s Your Story: A Young Person’s Guide to Writing Fiction, Marion Dane Bauer
Writing it Right, by Sandy Asher
Writing Picture Books, by Ann Whitford Paul

Illustration Craft
Cartoon Animation, by Preston Blair
Children’s Picturebooks–The Art of Visual Storytelling, by M. Salisbury and M. Styles
Comic and Sequential Art, by Will Eisner
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards
Drawn to Life, by Walt Stanchfield
Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative, by Will Eisner
Film Directing—Shot by Shot, by Stephen D. Katz
Illustrating Children’s Books, by Martin Salisbury
Picture Book Primer, by Denise I. Matulka
Picture This! by Molly Bang
Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Feature Shorts, by Nancy Beiman
The Art of Animal Character Design, by David Colman
What They Don’t Teach You In Art School, by Will Terry
Writing with Pictures, by Uri Shulewitz

Author and Illustrator Platform and Social Media
Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market
Create Your Writer Platform, by Chuck Sambuchino
Get Known Before the Book Deal, by Christina Katz

FAN MAIL!

Who doesn’t like getting fan mail?! Recently, Rep. Deb Haaland became the Secretary of the Interior in the Biden Administration. She will be the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary in a presidential administration. I was so excited for her, that I sent her a signed copy of my picture book, TAKÓŽA: WALKS WITH THE BLUE MOON GIRL, written by Tara Perron. And today, Rep. Haaland sent me a thank you note!

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Takóža (granddaughter) is an endearing, lyrical, illustrated children’s story about a young Dakota girl, Walks With the Blue Moon Girl, and her Kúŋši (grandmother). The grandmother teaches her Takóža through story while making star quilts, and planting seeds and caring for a garden.

“A Laguna Pueblo member, Haaland, 60, said she had learned about her culture from her grandmother’s cooking and participating in traditional ceremonies, and had learned about the importance of protecting the environment from her grandfather.” (Source: The Guardian)

“Our way of life, our survival is interconnected to the land, water and animals. Today we honor the woman set to be the first Native American in history to fill a presidential cabinet position, and look forward to working with her to ensure that indigenous voices are heard and our human rights respected.”
—Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the steering committee for the Gwich’in people in Alaska.

What I'm Reading

Congrats to all the SCBWI 2021 Golden Kite winners!

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I read Uri Shulevitz’s book CHANCE, ESCAPE FROM THE HOLOCAUST, a beautiful harrowing memoir of Uri’s childhood escaping (by chance) the Nazis occupation of his homeland.

During all those years he developed his love of making art which helped fuel his determination to survive his nightmarish existence.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48589549-chance

And, I read Carole Lindstrom’s, WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS, a gorgeous picture book with art by Michaela Goade. Many years ago, I designed and illustrated a German adult non-fiction book MENSCH, WASSER! (Engelman/LeRoy) about protecting water for future use. I’m so glad that Carole and Michaela are continuing to voice urgency about this vital resource. We cannot live without clean water.
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/44581496-we-are-water-protectors

I love books. I love making books. I have wanted to make books since I my mother began reading them to me when I was very small. I have been drawing and communicating with pictures my whole life. I have a sibling who had speech delay and was encouraged to draw in order to find the words to say. I have been smitten with this way of communicating ever since.

~Peace