[PB 14:14 in 2015] Guest Blogger #1: Vivian Kirkfield; DAY 1: Once Upon a Twice by Denise Doyen (Word Play and Rhyme)

Read, study, and share 14 picture books in 14 days

Hoppy Valentine's Day! Welcome to day 1 of our blogging extravaganza. Vivian Kirkfield has blogged with us today to kick off week 1. As soon as you have your book ready to share with us, post your blog on your site, and then paste the specific link to that specific post to the linky at the end of today's post. Remember to hop over to everyone else's blog to maximize your learning potential for this event. Take it away, Vivian!

Oh, a quick P.S.

PLEASE PLACE THIS CODE AT THE END OF EACH DAY'S POST SO THAT PEOPLE CAN HOP FROM BLOG TO BLOG MORE EASILY. IT WILL ALSO GENERATE A LOT MORE TRAFFIC FOR EVERYONE TOO. I'LL PUT A NEW CODE FOR EACH DAY.

<script src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=0DF8FC51-2990-4F5A-B7F7-D9FDB2BD65A2" type="text/javascript"></script>

THANKS SO MUCH. AND "HOPPY" VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Thanks for inviting me, Christie! 

Do you ever wonder what makes children choose a particular book to read? Or what causes them to ask for the same story over and over again?

Knowing the answers would probably be very helpful as we write – since our goal is to craft stories that will inspire children, bring a smile to their faces, and have them pluck OUR book off the shelf and say to their parents, “Please, read this one again!”

So I did an experiment with my six-year old grandson. I laid out ten picture books and gave him a bagful of coins. I asked him to put a coin on the books he had enjoyed hearing and add more coins to the ones he would like to hear again. Every book had a pile of coins, so we sat down to talk about why he wanted to hear all of them over and over.

“The aliens are funny and scary!” (CHARACTER) 

“Poor Mr. Tiger missed his friends!” (CONFLICT)

“It was awesome when the policeman didn’t know the frogs flew, but the dog did!” (PLOT) 

“The man in the yellow hat is always telling George to stay out of trouble and George is always getting into trouble anyways.” (DIALOGUE)

“Going to sleep isn’t fun but counting animals is.” (THEME)

“I knew something was going to happen when the lights when out.” (PACING)

“Grammy, do you know that a troop is a group of monkeys?” (WORD PLAY)

“I love when Peter Panda melts down!” (PATTERNS) 

“One big pair of underwear!” (RHYME)

“Little Chick proves he is brave in the end” (BEGINNINGS and ENDINGS)

Each thing he said related to a different element of the story. If a book contains a great mix of these important elements, children will want to read it.

And what are those top story elements? Here is Christie’s list of ten:

1. Character

2. Conflict

3. Plot

4. Dialogue

5. Theme

6. Pacing

7. Word Play

8. Patterns

9. Rhyme

10. Beginnings and Endings

By studying different picture books, we’ll discover in which elements they shine...in doing so, we will be better able to include these important elements in the stories we write.

Another important element that impacts a child’s decision (and a parent’s) to grab a book from the shelf is the cover. As writers, we don’t have much, if any, input on this part of the process (unless you self-publish), which is probably why Christie didn’t include cover or illustrations as important story elements. Interestingly, the cover of one of these books was NOT what I’d think a young kid would like – dark blue and black with a bit of white. Yet Jeremy picked this one immediately when I first brought them home, even before we had read it. It’s considered a mystery...and the cover conveys that idea perfectly.

But it’s no mystery that if we can include these ten important elements in picture book stories we write, editors will be grabbing them for publication and children will be begging to hear them, over and over again.

Right now, I’m off to read some picture books (hurray!) so that I can write my blog posts during the next two weeks of this challenge. I’m looking forward to reading all of yours! Thank you so much, Christie, for having me here today. I hope I shed some light on the importance of those story elements in picture books, from the POV of someone in their target audience.

Thank YOU, Vivian for being here. I loved your experiment. That was SO awesome!

Vivian Kirkfield loves being surrounded by picture books and children. A former kindergarten teacher, she has a master’s in early childhood education...and when she isn’t scribbling stories, she is hiking and fly-fishing with her hubby, reading, crafting and cooking with kids, and sharing self-esteem and literacy tips with parents and teachers. Although she is not a fan of heights and was always a rather timid child, Vivian is constantly taking leaps of faith. In 2010, she self-published her award-winning parenting resource, Show Me How! Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking...three years ago, she went skydiving with her son...in May of 2013, she flew half-way around the globe to speak at the 2013AFCC/SCBWI conference in Singapore...and she is amassing a respectable pile of lovely picture book manuscript rejections. To learn more about her mission to help every child become a lover of books and reading, you can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on Facebook, like her Show Me How page on Facebook, visit her blog at Picture Books Help Kids Soar or contact her by email. 

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It's funny Vivian should mention the book, Tuesday, by David Wiesner. The first writer's conference I ever went to had an author who mentioned this very book as her "IN" to children's writing. That book turned her into a published author, it affected her so strongly. In addition, I believe it is a wordless book as well. Thanks for the memory. The book I have in mind for today, also has a dark cover of blue and black, with a bright moon shining in the center.

(Remember to post the cover of the book, the year and the publisher, and the word count, which you can usually find at Rennaissance Learning. Otherwise, just estimate, but say est.)

Once Upon a Twice
by Denise Doyen

Title: Once Upon a Twice
Author: Denise Doyen
Illustrator: Barry Moser
Publisher: Random House
Year: 2009
Word Count: 555
Top 10 Element: Word Play and Rhyme

I absolutely love this book! The language is so fun and nonsensical, but also eerily lyrical. A true masterpiece. It can also be a study on rhyme. It's not your typical ABAB metrical rhyme scheme. Lot's of internal rhyme, as well as end rhyme. Let's dive in, shall we?

The first page:

Once upon a twice, 
In the middle of the nice,
The moon was on the rice
And the Mice were scoutaporwl...

Already, you can see what I mean. Here is a list of all the fabulous wordplay examples:

• runtunnel through the riddle
• inbetwiddle
• whilst he goofiddles
• qui-ettiquette
• eldermice
• a riskarascal in repose
• preycautions
• mouse-scallywag
• jammed in the middle (they call him Jam Boy)
• dangershine of Moon
• the elder mouncelors whispercroon
• jaw-claws
• renounce jamfoolery
• the knot of mice comes quick undone
• Jamagination in a flurry
• furry overconfidence
• sneaks un -aware, -afraid, -asham'd
• will fuel bravado, mouse misdeeds (love the alliteration and consonance)
• wisenmouse
• esses 'cross the pond unseen
• espies the furlickt mouse's sheen
• there's a roil!---a coil!---a lash!
• scritchscrambles in a log!
• heart a-poundin', mind a-fog
• grasshadowed halls
• Keeper-of-the-Song
• wanderyonder
• a nightly knightly duel and joust
• dangerouse
• mice-advice

Oh, yeah...!

So for double the fun, here are the rhymes:

• twice/nice/rice/scoutaprowl
• riddle/inbetwiddle/middle/howl
• matter/shattered/chatter/crawl
• repose/rose/knows/all
• drag/flag/mouse-scallywag/anything
• surround/bound/profound/sing
• moon/June/whispercroon/fear
• lettuce/get us/menace/disappear
• wink/pink/brink/play
• pounce/ounce/mouse/stay
• undone/run/fun/fence
• flurry/scurry/worry/overconfidence
• Jam/lam/-asham'd/reeds
• rules/jewels/dewels/misdeeds
• clear/fear/ear/hisssss
• queen/unseen/sheen/miss
• lash/dashes/splash/a-deep
• beach/screech/teach/a-sleep
• a log/a-fog/frog/dawn
• walls/halls/all/gone
• long/song/wrong/ham
• awake/snake/lake/jam
• dangerouse/mouse/joust/mourned
• twice/nice/rice/forewarned

And there you have it folks! Word play and rhyme. Here's a bonus. Denise asked me to read her book for her YouTube channel. So here it is for today, as well. Enjoy!

So, here's the Linky list to add YOUR book for today! Keep on keepin' on... See you tomorrow!