The Three Essential Elements of an Unforgettable Children’s Book
Many children love to read books. Children’s books primarily cater to the creative and learning needs of children whose thinking skills and imagination are only beginning to develop. To put it differently, children’s books tend to open portals to various worlds of imagination, creativity, and knowledge for children.
The Patchwork Princess: Adventure of Ra-Me, the Traveling Troubadour by Connie S. Arnold is an example of a beautiful children’s book that fosters creativity and encourages learning among its young readers. It contains a unique fairy tale set against the backdrop of the medieval period. Both the story and the characters of The Patchwork Princess provide riveting elements that make the book absolutely fun to read not just for children, but for adult readers as well.
In as much the same way as they are fun to read, children’s books are also very fun to create. In addition, they can be incredibly profitable when they are successfully published and marketed. However, creating a children’s book can be more challenging and difficult than it first seems. Even so, aspiring children’s authors should not be discouraged by this. Many successful children’s books share some things in common that budding authors of the genre should learn and keep in mind – these are the three essential elements of an unforgettable children’s book.
Totally lovable characters
Characters serve as the most important part of a children’s book. When children love a character, they will most likely read every book that has thatspecific character in it. Indeed, children tend to feel a certain kind of attachment to the characters that they read in books. Children either see themselves in these characters, or they see these characters as their heroes. For this reason, great characters are an essential element of a memorable children’s book.
To be quite effective, however, the characters of a children’s book must be totally lovable. They must possess kind and adorable traits that children will want to emulate. In The Patchwork Princess, for example, the main character, Ra-me the traveling troubadour, possesses the characteristics of bravery, helpfulness, and heroism. These characteristics make Ra-me an absolutely lovable and exemplary character for children.
Fun and fascinating plot
While it is true that lovable characters are the key to an unforgettable children’s book, one must not overlook the important role that the plot plays in glamorizing a book. The plot serves as the backbone of a book. It narrates how the story develops, unfolds, and moves in time. In essence, the plot determines the overall tone and impression of the readers on a certain book. When the plot is confusing and dragging, the readers will most likely discredit the book as a waste of time and money.
In children’s books, particularly, the quality and execution of the plot is very important. It should be fun and fascinating to keep children, who often have a shorter attention span than adults, from becoming bored and uninterested. To keep the children engaged all throughout the book, its plot should include several revitalizing elements such as narrative hooks, red herring, temporary setbacks, and more. More importantly, the plot should be unique enough to make children remember the book even after reading it.
Striking moral lessons
The ultimate purpose of children’s books is not just to entertain children, but also to teach them some valuable lessons in life. Indeed, children’s books are a great source of learning for the young readers. These books usually contain strong messages that inspire, challenge, correct, uplift, motivate, and delight children. For a story to remain memorable to children, it should teach them a lesson that they can bring with them until they grow up.
Striking moral lessons are the ones that stick to the mind and heart of children for a long time. Children tend to act, think, and connect with others according to the lessons that they have learned in books. For this reason, it is important for a children’s book to contain some lessons that teach children about the value of goodness, and inspire them to be the best version of themselves. In The Patchwork Princess, for example, the most important lessons that children can learn are that bravery and heroism always go a long way, and that true beauty is not always found in the outside appearance.
Overall, creating a children’s book can be really challenging, especially for new authors. Even though children’s books generally seem so simple, the process of coming up with a story that sticks to children is more complicated than it seems. It requires a great amount of creativity and knowledge to create an unforgettable children’s book. As previously stated, however, the challenges of writing a children’s book should not discourage aspiring authors. The process can be learned and practiced, and the things mentioned in this article are the most important ingredients that one needs to work around to come up with a stirring children’s book.