This year, KidLit TV founder, Julie Gribble does double duty as a guest blogger for Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) along with Picture Book Month. Discover what she wrote to help inspire authors and illustrators who create books for young readers.
PiBoIdMo
I write picture books. That means that my readers are very short. I remember what it was like to be a kid, but it’s not as easy to remember what it feels like to be little in a world of big people. What do kids notice at that height? And more importantly, what am I missing? It was time for a change of perspective. –Julie Gribble
When you are a picture book author or illustrator it’s always important to put yourself in the shoes of your readers and to take a moment to see the world as they do. Julie captured this vision perfectly when she created a video that shows the city through the eyes of a child. Through Julie’s short video, the viewer is reminded how big and tall everything looks to a child.
Along with Julie’s PiBoIdMo post, she is giving away a prize pack. The prize pack includes a tote bag, pencils, stickers, magnets, temporary tattoos, earbuds, pins, and a party hat just like the KidLit TV kitty’s!
Picture Book Month
Do you remember being read to as a child? I remember. I remember the sound of my father’s voice, the warmth of his arm wrapped around me, and a picture book completing that circle of a hug. –Julie Gribble
For Picture Book Month, Julie wrote about a heartwarming memory she shared with her father. She wrote about how Dr. Seuss’ first children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street didn’t have any girls in the story. So, Julie took charge and changed the book to make it appear to be from a girl’s perspective.
My dad assured me that a girl could be on the police force, she could play in a band, and she could most certainly be Mayor. He told me that I could be anything when I grew up. That was important for a six-year-old girl to hear.
Read Julie’s Picture Book Month post
ABOUT PICTURE BOOK IDEA MONTH (PiBoIdMo)
Tired of watching novelists have all the fun in November with NaNoWriMo, author Tara Lazar created PiBoIdMo as a 30-day challenge for picture book writers. The challenge is to create 30 picture book concepts in 30 days.
You don’t have to write a manuscript (but you can if the mood strikes). You don’t need potential best-seller ideas. You might think of a clever title. Or a name for a character. Or just a silly thing like “purple polka-dot pony.” The object is to heighten your picture-book-idea-generating senses. Ideas may build upon other ideas and your list of potential stories will grow stronger as the days pass.
Daily blog posts by picture book authors, illustrators, editors and other kidlit professionals will help inspire you. By the end of the month, you’ll have a fat file of ideas to spark new stories.
ABOUT PICTURE BOOK MONTH
Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates the print picture book during the month of November. Every day in November, there is a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important.
Founder, Dianne de Las Casas (author & storyteller), and Co-Founders, Katie Davis (author/illustrator), Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author/illustrator), Tara Lazar (author), and Wendy Martin (author/illustrator), put together their worldwide connections to make this happen.
In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) need love. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book.
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