14:14 PB Word Play & 10 Essential Elements in Picture Books

Nana Kathy and Grandson Tobin at play finding eggs at Easter.

Hopping about w/Christie Wild's craft study of 10 Essential Elements, today I choose WORD PLAY. Picture books are meant to be read aloud, They are aural, auditory. They appeal to our ear. The sounds must be pleasing and fun to say. Add the kid element and there's the play. Play is what Mr. Rogers called kids' "work." Kids learn so much through play. 
I choose this picture of my grandson Tobin and I playing last Easter when he was old enough to understand the whole bunny business. Running, spying, gathering eggs, opening plastic eggs, counting eggs, and eating chocolate eggs. All play, all fun. Finding the best word "eggs" is what we do as writers. We want kids to savor them, to explore them, to mimic them and to try them on in order to learn to read, to enjoy and play with language for a lifetime. That's important business for children's writers and kids!
Enter my favorite word play book....FROODLE.

 This imaginative language romp will get you creating words.
Title: Froodle
Author: Antoinette Portis
Illustrator: Antoinette Portis
Publisher:Roaring Book Press
Year:2014
Word Count:262
Top 10 Essential PB Element: Word Play
Go ahead, say it. I know you want to say it. Froodle, froodle froodle. That was fun, right? This ALSC Notable Book is oodles of fun and exhibits as ALSC states in their critia, "notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity." Yup, there is "venturesome" creativity in a book that dares, in its plot, to turn the animal world's speaking patterns upside-down. Why should cats meow, dogs bark and birds chirp? Little Brown Bird knows it's much more fun to make up language, just as little reader do. 
Now read these lines aloud from FROODLE: "Tiffle biffle/just a little /miffle,"and "ickle sickle," and finally, "oobly snobby." My grandson Tobin was splurting all sorts of nonsense babble after we read this book!
 As writers we need to give ourselves permission to make up nonsense words like Little Brown Bird does, too. Our rhyme, onomatopoeia, and lush language makes readers happy and playful. 

Add to your writer's toolbox w/Angie Karcher's RhyPiBoMo, a free "master class" on poetry this April. Right now grab that rhyming dictionary, read a PB with playful language and WRITE. If you have recommendations for great PB word play, add to the comments section, please.

Firebird Bursts with Theme:PB 14:14 in 2015

I am a newbie at this blog challenge that writer Christy Wild put together, but examining picture books from Christie's list of 10 essential elements is a great exercise to sharpen our craft! Be sure to check out the other blogs to learn even more. There are some excellent writers on this blog hop.
My choice for today is THEME. My process of creation usually involves either a pithy title or a theme. I write with the bigger, overarching idea in mind first. Theme informs plot and gives a story heart. Heart is quite appropriate for our kickoff today, Valentine's Day! Universal themes tug at our hearts and add emotional heft to our stories. 

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Title: Firebird
Author: Misty Copeland
Illustrator: Christopher Myers
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons (An Imprint of Penguin Group)
Year: 2014
Word Count: 393 EST
Top 10 Element: Theme
FIREBIRD, 2014 winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, exudes theme. The illustrations blaze and jump off the pages, echoing the theme of a firebird and the energy and determination needed by young people of color to make it in the world of dance, just as Misty Copleand did. This story resonates with the theme of seeing others like us so we can dream and achieve, too. 

Author/principal dancer for ABT, Misty Copleand, extends the theme in her letter to the reader in the back matter. She speaks of her struggle, of how there were no mentors in the rarified world of ballet then for her. From the PB, Misty says so eloquently,"We'll make the night sky our starry curtain/the moon our silver spotlight/as we spin 
across the planets/pirouetting tightly as the curls on our heads."

Now the young girls who read FIREBIRD WILL see ballerinas who look like them as evidenced by this stricking photo of Misty as the firebird herself. The photo of a black ballerina speaks to the accomplishment of what Misty wished for when she was a young dreamer. Also, the dust jacket illustrates the theme- on the front cover we have Misty as the Firebird, and the back shows the young dancer on her own stage.
The symbol of the firebird is comparable to the phoenix, the mythical bird who regenerates after overcoming injury, even death. What better main character for the theme of overcoming obstacles in the world of dance?
From a web site on Russian folklore I found the following which really informs the theme of this picture book: "The Firebird is known to many as the Phoenix. It is a mythical bird that lives in five hundred year cycles, which is able to regenerate from injury and is therefore, immortal. With plumage of red and gold that illuminates its flight, the Phoenix is as much a symbol of divinity as it is of fire and many legendary tales have evolved around its existence. Its most spoken about quality, that has inspired stories of encouragement or been compared to adversities that have been overcome, is that the Phoenix, nearing the end of its life cycle, builds a nest where he sets himself and the nest on fire. From the ashes left behind, a young Phoenix rises, to take the place of the older."

Word choice is another element that carries the through line of theme here: "you are air," "hope to leap the space between," "your beginning's just begun," "fireworks of costumes," and "even birds must learn to fly like me." Theme breathes in these poetic lines.

Our young dancer has plenty of support to make her dreams a reality and to burst forth with success. Christopher Myers color pallet is fiery and full of the warmth of ambition and determination, too. The illustrations and words dance together to make this book a true performance in theme.