EDUCATION

When my two children were preschoolers and I was a fledgling author, my mother, who lived out of town, sent a small package containing a treasure. It was a picture book she’d made herself by handwriting a beloved bedtime story. The story was one she’d often told my kids, about when she was six years old and mistook a skunk for a kitten. She illustrated the book with some line drawings and pictures from magazines, and then she tied the booklet together with a red ribbon. Although my kids could have chosen from dozens of beautifully illustrated bound books, they were as likely to ask for Oma’s skunk story as The Paper Bag Princess.

It’s been two decades since I wrote my first book about a flawed but lovable little turtle, and my mother, who proudly claims the title of Franklin’s grandma, freely offers my services as a mentor-writer to her friends, neighbours and strangers on the train. (“Yes, of course, Paulette would love to help you with your manuscript. Here’s her phone number.”) And so I’ve spent a fair amount of time helping aspiring writers with a few tricks of the trade. Here are some of the most common questions new writers ask about writing a book for children — whether it is the mom, dad or grandma who wants to create a family story, or the dedicated writer who wishes to publish.

Originally published in Today's Parent, August 2005