Reading For Research Month, Day 7

Day 7 of Reading for Research Month is by Sterling editor Christina Pulles and deals with second- person point-of-view. The benefit of second-person point-of-view is that it draws readers into the story. "You're a part of the action." Because you are the you of the story. Additionally, authors can write a variety of stories with it.

I believe this is the first day for which I was able to read all the suggested picture books.

Day 7 Picture Books

If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson was used to illustrate how-to books on Day 5, but Pulles describes it as a cause-and-effect book. If you do X, Y will happen. Which is different from how to do something.

 

Your Alien by Tammi Sauer with illustrations by Goro Fujita  and When a Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore with illustrations by Howard McWilliam are both stories. The you in the narrative makes readers a character in these stories. 

Pulles calls How to Read a Story by Kate Messner with illustrations by Mark Siegel a how-to book, and, like If You Plant a Seed, it was part of the how-to books post on Day 5. The second-person point-of-view would be good to discuss in relation to how-to books.

Love by Matt de la Pena with illustrations by Loren Long is, indeed,
a message book, as Pulles says. The second-person point-of-view allows the author to bring the message directly to readers. 

Can I use the second-person point-of-view in my picture book manuscript? I don't know. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do a draft in second person as an exercise. Or maybe a second-person narrator is something I should save for another book.

ReFoReMo Books I've Read To Date: 20

I am caught up with this project for a few hours, maybe a day.

Another nor'easter expected here tomorrow or the next day!

November Is Picture Book Month

Okay, people, Octoberfest is over and Picture Book Month begins today. No, I'm not a picture book writer, but I enjoy a picture book as much as the next person. Plus we have family members who are into them. So Original Content is supporting Picture Book Month with links to articles, blog posts, and the like on the subject, as well as my own reader responses to picture books.

Today I'm directing to you to the article Persons of Interest: The Untold Rewards of Picture Book Biographies by Barbara Bader, which was published in the September/October issue of The Horn Book. I tend to obsess about definitions and to me a "biography" has always been the story of a whole life. So what's with calling these nonfiction picture books that can't possibly cover decades "biographies?"After reading Bader's article, I'd have to say that these bits and pieces or flash overviews of lives are biographies because all lives are made up of a whole array of stories, not just one lengthy one. As Bader says, "Why one picture book biography after another about the same person?...Because, especially in picture-book form, it's always possible to tell a different story, to express different feelings."

A story is the point here. We're not looking for the story.