One of thecraft elements that affects how we respond to a book is voice. Is it goofy or sassy?Is it calm and cozy? Or does it fall somewhere in the middle of the lively-to-lyrical voicecontinuum? Writers choose a voice based on their topic and their purpose forwriting.

My newestbook, From Bam! to Burp! A CarbonAtom’s Never-ending Journey Through Space and Time and YOU, illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns, has alively, playful voice that I hope kids will love.

A straightforward book about the carbon cycle could be a bit dull, but Iwanted my book to delight readers as well as inform them, so I chose anapproach that could achieve that. Following a carbon atom through time allowedme to highlight all the wonderful creatures and objects it could be part of—fromvolcanoes and dinosaurs to pumpkins and butterflies and, yes, even toilet paper.

So the potential for fun was there, but only if I crafted text to supportthe “personality” I had in mind. And that’s where voice comes in.

According to uber-talented author Linda Sue Park:

voice =word choice + rhythm

rhythm =punctuation + sentence length

I lovethis brilliant explanation because it makes a craft move that often seemsmysterious and elusive instantly manageable. All three of these textcharacteristics are easy to control and vary and play around with.

Today, I’mgoing to focus on how word choice allows writers to exploit different languagedevices, such as alliteration, vivid verbs, and especially onomatopoeia, to infusetext with the voice they have in mind.

As I waswriting From Bam! to Burp!, I looked for opportunities to includefun words. And that began with the title, which features onomatopoeiaplus alliteration. Those two words (which are also vivid verbs) are pulled fromthe book’s main text. One marks the beginning of the carbon atom’s journey, andthe other is at the end.

In between,I use onomatopoeia as a repetitive device that moves the story forward. It connects differentadventures along the carbon atom’s journey and fuels pages turns.

My hope is that, during read alouds, kids will anticipate these fun exclamations and think of them as mini-rewards for staying engaged.

This isthe first book I’ve written that onomatopoeia as a key text element, but I hopeit’s not the last because they’re just as much fun to write as they are to read.