What am I reading now? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
On Sunday, July 10, 2011, CTV aired an episode of Hiccups entitled ”Novel Idea.” Here’s a brief summary:
After the top mystery author at Haddison House casts aspersions on Millie’s Grumpaloo books, she decides to fully explore her authorship by writing a novel.
Ah, sweet ignorance. Some people truly do believe that writing children’s literature is just a matter of stringing a few words together. In fact, you’d be surprised at just how often I am faced with such remarks.
They are always quick to say, “How hard can it be?” Well, at times, it can be impossibly hard. The truth of the matter is that a children’s author is always working with a number of parameters in mind.
An author of picture books is restricted by both page count and word count. Writers of chapter books are constantly aware of their target audience’s reading comprehension level. With young adult literature, comes the concern of darkness. An issue that made waves recently with Meghan Cox Gurdon’s article “Darkness Too Visible” for The Wall Street Journal. And that’s, as they say, just the tip of the iceberg.
A children’s author must forge a connection with his or her reader while operating within the most rigid of boundaries. Sometimes all an author has is eight hundred words to create magic. Therefore, every word must have a purpose. Only a select few possess the skill it takes to write something that will linger in a child’s consciousness long after the book is closed. Those who do, deserve far more than they receive.
