Space City Scribes

 By Annika Royston     When aiming to be published, it is important to consider which age group can benefit the most from your story’s message. Writing children's books requires packing big lessons into small packages. That’s quite a challenge. An author might have a theme of forgiveness intended for elementary students, unaware that the complexity of their plot is for an older audience.  To avoid this mismatch, it helps to focus on four key story elements that ensure your book is aligned with the grade level of your audience: vocabulary and language complexity, theme and subject matter, character development and relatability, and finally, plot structure and pacing . Adjusting each of these elements is the key to concentrating your book with what publishers are looking for in your target demographic. Let’s take a closer look at three of these elements in action: Vocabulary and Language Complexity   Word choice and sentence structures are huge elements that need ...

By  Margaret Lea    Adam Blackman, like many children's writers, began by making up stories for and with his young son. A specific incident about ten years ago further propelled Adam into the KidLit space. His Kindergartener son picked out pink, light-up, sparkly rhinestone shoes, but when he wore them to school, even in his progressive Brooklyn, NY neighborhood, several kids asked him why he was wearing “girly” shoes. Adam realized that KidLit was the perfect place to let kids know that everyone should have the freedom to express themselves and not be judged for it.        Adam has an MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and worked as a non-profit bookstore manager for seven years. He began engaging with the KidLit community on Twitter after his son’s shoe incident, and he made connections there that led him to writers, agents, editors, mentors and critique groups. Adam stresses that community and networking, especially through SCBWI, can ...