By Jennifer S. Wilkov, Your Book Is Your Hook
www.YourBookIsYourHook.com
As authors and writers, we’re always learning about resources and industry tools that we can use to improve our book project performance and the enjoyment of our writing and marketing experiences.
Today let’s talk about children’s books and how precious they really are.
When an author of any age sets out to write a book for children, something strikes them as an important lesson, experience or story that they’d like to share with someone younger.
Perhaps you’ve had an experience with your own child and want to share it with other children and their parents.
Maybe you’ve decided to educate children about a particular topic like proper hygiene and cleanliness or about a particular experience like riding a bike, playing baseball or making friends. Your book may address simple communication skills, hand-eye coordination, interactions with another reader or other skills for children to enjoy learning by having fun reading.
Your book could be about talking animals, stuffed animals, kids of any age or even mommies and daddies and brothers and sisters. It can be about school, sports, dancing, playing, the land of make-believe, magic tricks – anything!
The beauty of children is that their worlds are so big that we as children’s authors become enamored with the child’s imagination and, for just a moment, we get to tap into the freedom they enjoy. We get to make a meaningful contribution to their lives – sometimes ones that will last a lifetime.
Imagine the amazing, meaningful and life-long lesson of Natalie’s book – friendships. Think about the childhood experience of loving a favorite stuffed animal until its fur has been loved off – like in Cathleen and Dad’s book, Best Friends.
Every child deserves the opportunity to enjoy a rich experience with your book.
Write it well, open your heart and you’ll find that they’ll open theirs.
At Your Book Is Your Hook, we believe that children everywhere in any situation, circumstance or condition deserve to have access to books. That’s why we support Project Night Night.
Project Night Night helps underserved children from birth to pre-teen who need our childhood and educational essentials to feel secure, cozy, ready to learn, and significant. Their work is carried out through Night Night Packages, each of which contains a new security blanket, an age-appropriate children’s book, and a stuffed animal — all nestled inside a canvas tote bag. Project Night Night has distributed over 100,000 Night Night Packages since 2005.
I encourage you as a children’s author or a children’s book reader to donate a book to Project Night Night and contribute a book to the life experience of these children.
What can you as an author contribute to a child? Your inspiration, love and your book could be the ultimate contributions you can give. These are the kinds of gifts that will last kids a lifetime – perhaps even beyond your very own life.