My children turned six recently, and they were given some brilliant books for their birthday. (I'm pinching myself that I'm mum to the wonderful chaos and anarchy of twin six-year-olds, but that's another story.)
I'm so excited to see them developing a love for books and reading on their own. I remember that joy so well - the worlds they get to disappear into, the fantastical things they'll learn, and, right now, their pleased little giggle every time they recognise a new word. Hearing them read stories aloud makes my heart sing. It's honestly thrilling to witness, and is renewing my own love for reading, and appreciation for the craft of writing. (And reconfirming how anti-AI I continue to be, but that's also another story.)
Children's writers have been telling stories so well for so long – especially stories for young children like mine.*
They know their readers – they don't patronise kids (or their parents). They make powerful concepts and big ideas easily understood. They have fun with language. They understand pacing, playful alliteration, powerful analogies. The value of repetition and rhythm. They know how and where to put the emphasis in a sentence. Exclamation marks in the right place. Oxford commas used properly, (or no commas at all for out-of-breath enthusiasm). Capitalisation for the IMPORTANT bits. How to use chatty em dashes and brackets. The fun of phonetics (how many ways can you spell the sound a fart makes? I'm still learning). They know how to pair illustrations with words – no duplications, nothing superfluous.
And most of all, they write stories that we all love to read aloud – silly, thought-provoking, profound.
I'm not a fan of 'here's how I turned this personal experience into a business lesson' type content, but as a content writer and copy editor, rediscovering children's books has been a bit of a game changer for my professional work lately. I'm not quite at the point of recommending Oliver Jeffer's back catalogue to my clients, buuuut. Maybe I should?
* Granted, some older content can be a little problematic viewed through my contemporary intersectional feminist lens – I'm looking at you Roger Hargreaves – but still good conversation starters. (And Mr Tickle needs an intervention, not a wizard.)
Pictured – one of my kids’ bookshelves #shelfie