Review: Forty Winks

 

 

 Forty Winks

Written by Nancy Allen
Illustrations by Diane Brown

Reviewed by Wayne Harris-Wyrick

              Generally, picture books for kids have one of two primary purposes: to entertain or to inform. While these two ideas don’t begin to cover all the variations in picture books, virtually all picture books articulate these two qualities in some proportion.

             Virtually all children’s books have a moral or help the child reader understand good choices. The best children’s books both teach and entertain. In Forty Winks, Nancy Brown offers what seems, on the face of it, a bedtime story to entertain young readers. Joey has trouble getting to sleep. Although he tries some methods to bring on sleep, his imagination keeps him from becoming drowsy. That is until he meets Sir Nod, a book-loving monster living in his closet.

              Sir Nod shows Joey his “magical book.” “Read it,” Sir Nod says, “ and you can travel anywhere,” then immediately falls asleep. Joey takes the book and reads a story about a pirate adventure, but is soon fast asleep, dreaming about pirates.

Joey wants to keep the book, but Sir Nod cries that it is his only book. Nod tells Joey he can read his own books, but Joey complains that his books aren’t magical. Sir Nod replies, “The magic happens when you read a book.” Joey and Sir Nod settle their disagreement about using the book and come to a mutual, and sleep-inducing, solution.

As is common with picture books published by 4RV Publishing, the book contains an appendix with discussion questions and extra “fun facts.” Here, Nancy Allen continued her mix of entertainment and information.

Diane Brown’s illustration nicely captured Joey’s adventures on a pirate ship, traveling through space, and more. These illustrations will trigger the imagination of young readers as well as the story does.

This book may help a child go to sleep, but even better, it encourages children to experience the magic of books. I applaud any book that encourages children to read, whether or not it helps them sleep. 

 

This book, Forty Winks, can be purchased from the 4RV Bookstore, as well as from other online stores and through physical book stores.

Writing Children’s Books: Genre Differences P1

Writing Children’s Books: 

Genre Differences Part One

By Karen Cioffi

There are a number of genres within the children’s book arena. The target audience ranges from babies right on through to young adults. This provides a unique situation for writers to pick and choose a genre that feels comfortable to write in, while still remaining within the children’s book market.

Each genre is geared toward a specific age group and has its own set of rules and tricks.

Children’s Books: An overview of the different genres and a description of each:

Bedtime stories: These stories are simple and soothing. They are written to help lull little ones off to sleep and are in the form of picture books. The age group can be from newborn to five or six years of age.

An example of a bedtime story is Day’s End Lullaby by Karen Cioffi. The classic Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is another example of a bedtime story.

Board Books: Board books are simple picture books geared toward babies and toddlers. They are designed to hold up to a toddlers prying and pulling fingers. Board books can be black and white or very colorful. These books usually teach simple concepts, such as numbers from one to ten, days of the week, colors, and simple words.

An example of a classic baby board book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is also a board book.

Picture books for the 2 - 5 year old group: These books are meant to be read aloud the child. Rather than simply concept themes, simple story lines can be written with short sentences and words. These books are for children in the ‘pre-reading’ stage and the word count can range from 100 - 500 words.

An example of a very young child’s picture book is The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.

Picture books for the 4 - 8 year old: This genre makes up most of the picture book market. These books are also meant to be read aloud to children, but  the older child may read them by him/herself. The pictures will give a visual element for children learning to read, helping with the comprehension of the text. The wording and themes can be a bit more interesting, but still rather simple.

For the writer, in this genre you will need to use introduce ‘showing’ to create an engaging reading experience for the child. The average picture book is 32 pages and under 1000 words.

Two examples of picture books for this age group are Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Owen by Kevin Henkes.

Be sure to stop back on Sunday, April 21, for Part Two of Writing Children’s Books: Genre Differences. It’ll discuss Chapter, Middle Grade, and Young Adult books.

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