Write On!
Written By Alicia Potter
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What's the key to inspired storytelling? Ask Eric Carle. Or Mo Willems. Or Jane Yolen. We put the question to nine of our favorite children's book authors and illustrators. Their consensus: The same things that stoke their creativity can work for your kids. We feel a happy ending coming on.
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Marc Brown creator of Arthur
Where I get my ideas is not a mystery: I get them from everyday life. Most of the characters in my Arthur series were taken from people I knew: family members, teachers, third-grade classmates, and friends. I like kids to know that great ideas for stories are around them every day. Try exploring "What if?" scenarios: "What if someone left the rhinoceros's cage unlocked at the zoo?" All it takes is one imaginative question, and you're on your way.
Having lots of paper around helps. My uncle worked at the Hammermill paper company and I would give anything to spend the weekend at my aunt and uncle's house because I could just draw with limitless amounts of paper. And that is a real luxury — forget about the electronic gadgets. Have paper and pens and markers.
Daniel Pinkwater author of The Neddiad and The Yggyssey
I believe that the storytelling skill is something that comes with language and being exposed to stories, and rather than nurture or enhance, I think all we really have to do is not interfere. Very early on, kids understand what a narrative is, and at almost the same time, begin to create their own [narratives]. My approach to writing children's books is to go back into my memory and familiarize myself with the child that I was and who still exists within me.
Reading together offers so many opportunities for discussion. Let your child know that it's okay to vary the story or to make up your own. A lot of kids are very ready to discuss what they think should have been the outcome of a story. Ask, "What do you think should happen now?" Or ask what they think is happening on the page before you read the text. Prereading children will make up a story appropriate to the pictures, having nothing to do with — and in many cases, probably superior to — the written text. It would be a horrible mistake to say you have to give equal value to the text and pictures. You don't. You can do as you please. The same rules apply in reading to your dog.
