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Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book: A step-by-step revision guide
Help your nonfiction book stand out from the pack.
Are you struggling with a nonfiction picture book draft?Is there a gap between the book in your head and what poured out onto the page?Does your story feel flat or lack the emotion and excitement you know could be there?
Whether you’re a seasoned, nonfiction author or someone exploring nonfiction for the first time, award-winning author Kirsten W. Larson provides the tools you need to get your passion onto the page.
This book will help kid-friendly hooks and takeaways, ensuring re-readability.Understand a variety of narrative and expository nonfiction picture book structures and how to apply them to your own work.Craft scenes and arrange them to build tension and drive page turns, no matter your story structure.Break down the components of both humorous and lyrical voice to discover how to add musicality to your language and punch up your prose using poetic techniques.Improve your visual-storytelling abilities to understand what can be shown by illustrations on the page.Increase your book’s marketability with back matter and text features.Understand the importance of critiques partners and where to find them.Craft a query letter and build your agent or editor submission list.Provide practical revision tips and techniques for forging ahead when you feel stuck.
What writers are
“Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book is a must-have for every nonfiction picture book writer’s bookshelf. Chapter after chapter helps demystify the process of writing and revising a nonfiction picture book [to] help it stand out in agents’ or editors’ inboxes. Larson’s conversational tone is easy to understand yet in depth enough to help every writer. …”
—Debra Shumaker, author of Freaky, Funky Fish, Peculiar Primates, and Tell Someone
“Fact-loving kidlit writers will love Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book. Kirsten W. Larson delivers detailed information, examples, and hands-on exercises in these inspiring pages. Larson comes alongside writers who are ready to take their nonfiction manuscript to new levels as they explore structures and scenes, voice and tension, text features and so much more. She packed the wisdom, inspiration, and experience of a writing conference into these pages. Highly recommend!” —Annette Whipple, author of The Truth About series
Are you struggling with a nonfiction picture book draft?Is there a gap between the book in your head and what poured out onto the page?Does your story feel flat or lack the emotion and excitement you know could be there?
Whether you’re a seasoned, nonfiction author or someone exploring nonfiction for the first time, award-winning author Kirsten W. Larson provides the tools you need to get your passion onto the page.
This book will help kid-friendly hooks and takeaways, ensuring re-readability.Understand a variety of narrative and expository nonfiction picture book structures and how to apply them to your own work.Craft scenes and arrange them to build tension and drive page turns, no matter your story structure.Break down the components of both humorous and lyrical voice to discover how to add musicality to your language and punch up your prose using poetic techniques.Improve your visual-storytelling abilities to understand what can be shown by illustrations on the page.Increase your book’s marketability with back matter and text features.Understand the importance of critiques partners and where to find them.Craft a query letter and build your agent or editor submission list.Provide practical revision tips and techniques for forging ahead when you feel stuck.
What writers are
“Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book is a must-have for every nonfiction picture book writer’s bookshelf. Chapter after chapter helps demystify the process of writing and revising a nonfiction picture book [to] help it stand out in agents’ or editors’ inboxes. Larson’s conversational tone is easy to understand yet in depth enough to help every writer. …”
—Debra Shumaker, author of Freaky, Funky Fish, Peculiar Primates, and Tell Someone
“Fact-loving kidlit writers will love Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book. Kirsten W. Larson delivers detailed information, examples, and hands-on exercises in these inspiring pages. Larson comes alongside writers who are ready to take their nonfiction manuscript to new levels as they explore structures and scenes, voice and tension, text features and so much more. She packed the wisdom, inspiration, and experience of a writing conference into these pages. Highly recommend!” —Annette Whipple, author of The Truth About series
- GenresWriting
204 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 11, 2023
11 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Kirsten W. Larson
36 books82 followersAuthor of WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: EMMA LILIAN TODD INVENTS AN AIRPLANE illustrated by Tracy Subisak (Calkins Creek, 2020), A TRUE WONDER: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything (Clarion, 2021), and THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle, 2022), THE LIGHT OF RESISTANCE, illustrated by Barbara McClinktock (Roaring Brook, 2023), as well as more than two dozen nonfiction books for young people. Represented by Lara Perkins of Andrea Brown Literary.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 9, 2024
Engaging writing and actionable advice makes Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book an easy-to-read guide that I reference over and over. Kirsten breaks the writing and revision process down into managable sections perfect for both beginner and intermediate nonfiction writers. In each chapter, she expertly balances general recommendations and best practices with specific examples based on her personal experiences. Since reading this book, I recommend it to every nonfiction writer I encounter. It truly is a "must read!"
February 4, 2024
It's hard to believe that this book hadn't been written before! As a nonfiction picture book writer this THE book that will be at my side as I craft and re-craft my manuscripts. And I am so glad Kirsten is the one who wrote this!
Kirsten is a skilled teacher and a talented writer who is invested not only in the craft of writing but also in the success of her fellow authors and students.
From the beginning of the book we are asked BIG questions and then introduced to the nuts and bolts of how to create the book we want children to have in their hands. Filled with examples, exercises and a plethora of resources there is enough here for anyone curious about how to craft a meaningful nonfiction picture book. Although if you are writing for children in any genre, you will find necessary and useful advice on what makes any story sing.
Encouraging, practical and comprehensive. Highly recommended!
Kirsten is a skilled teacher and a talented writer who is invested not only in the craft of writing but also in the success of her fellow authors and students.
From the beginning of the book we are asked BIG questions and then introduced to the nuts and bolts of how to create the book we want children to have in their hands. Filled with examples, exercises and a plethora of resources there is enough here for anyone curious about how to craft a meaningful nonfiction picture book. Although if you are writing for children in any genre, you will find necessary and useful advice on what makes any story sing.
Encouraging, practical and comprehensive. Highly recommended!
January 31, 2024
Such a wonderful craft book for children's writers! Much of it is specific to nonfiction picture book writing, but a good deal of the content is just good, good writing technique and practice. This book is the perfect length--it's sections and chapters are well-organized, concise, and clear. Everything is so helpful that although you can skip around by topic, you won't want to. Kirsten is very relatable and often I felt as if I was chatting with her in person as I read this book. I feel as though I now have the tools I need to craft and then revise any picture book manuscript I envision!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews