If you’re interested in writing for children, it’s essential to learn what kinds of books different children’s book publishers produce. You need to know if they are the right house to give your story life. But how do you figure out if the publisher is right for you and if you are right for that publisher? You read their books.
There are tons of children’s book publishers out there, but one of my favorite is Lee and Low. Not only do they focus on multicultural content, they also focus on emotional learning and awareness. And they produce incredible reading lists!
Here’s the Lee and Low 2018 diverse summer reading list.
And here is the Lee and Low Social and Emotional Diverse reading list.
Both lists contain books from PreK to 8, so there is something for every reader to read, and something for every writer to read. There really isn’t a substitute for reading as a way to find out what different children’s book publishers want. You can learn about topics, characters, language, and themes. You can be inspired and improve your own writing.
Non-Fiction
Pay I want to write non-fiction books. If you want to write non-fiction, it is helpful to study how the back matter is presented in each book. One thing I find valuable is reading the bibliographies at the back of the book. I like to see what resources an author has used and I challenge myself to check out their reference material and see if my interpretation matches theirs.
If you don’t want to spend a fortune on all these books, I recommend requesting the books from your library all at once, picking them up at the library, and scheduling a read-and-critique session with your fellow writers. Pay attention to what the other readers in your group notice. What did they see that you overlooked? Consider the book from title to end pages and learn all you can.