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One of my last steps in writing a picture book is go through and find areas where I can cut text. Yes, that is a writing step. Because I’m not cutting meaning. I’m merely eliminating redundancy in instances where the art can show rather than the words tell.

Here are examples from Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman:

The name of the pivotal character is revealed in the picture. Technically, it is done with words, but the words are part of the art.

In March 2011, I posted an explosive series that peeled back the curtain on the enigmatic process of picture book writers and artists. Well, it wasn’t exactly explosive. And maybe the process isn’t all that enigmatic. (But it was a series.)

One of the posts discussed the cold open, a device commonly seen in television. As an example, I showed the pre-title page sequence of The Enemy by Davide Cali and Serge Bloch. 

The idea of doing a cold opening in one of my picture books had not really occurred to me for some time even though I probably encountered this play in form with many favorite picture books. I guess it pretty much went unnoticed. I’d always gone with the typical approach: endsheets-copyright-title-story-endsheets.

Then one day I picked up what would become a favorite picture book, The Enemy by Davide Cali, illustrated by Serge Bloch. I’m a big fan of Bloch. The design of this book is very clever and sophisticated. And it uses a cold opening. It really became clear to me that this could be a cool thing to do.

Then I saw your blog post pointing out cold openings in some of your favorite pic books, and that pretty much sealed the deal. I had to do it. Some time later, my idea for hello! hello! came along and I knew this had to be the book to explore a cold opening. Early on, I had plans for weaving in many layers of subtle intricacies with the design of this book, so it was immediately obvious to me it could also benefit from this little tweak to the form.

Part 4.

In the term “picture book,” the “picture” comes first. Some argue the same should be true in the execution. It’s said that however long a picture book manuscript is, it’s always too long. There’s always a little more that can be cut to further demonstrate the economy of words.

I suspect some authors are afraid to let a scene speak for itself—wordlessly. Fears: Will the story lose momentum? Will my meaning be clear? Will it seem out of place?

To that I say an emphatic no. A purely visual scene can have great impact and often approaches poetry without the usual tools of that trade. Most that I can recall come toward the end of the book, and often are the climax itself. Two of my favorites are from Green Eggs and Ham and Hubknuckles (one of my favorite ghost stories, period, and a great title, too):




You have to learn the significance of this scene. So you have to read this book.

I want to mention a picture book I recently discovered even though I don’t believe it uses any of the tricks I’ve discussed here. It’s called When I Am Old With You, and though technically nothing sad happens in the course of the book, it’s one of the most bittersweet stories I’ve come across. I heartily recommend it.


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