ReFoReMo Day 4: Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen Rocks Rhyme

by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

I love writing in rhyme – even though we all still hear publishers talk about how little they like rhyming picture books. But in the years I’ve been working in publishing, I’ve realized that it isn’t rhyming books that are despised – it is badly written rhyming books that give the entire sub-genre a bad name. The books I’ve listed here are some of the best examples of picture book rhyme that I’ve seen (well, nine of them are. Then I added one of my own titles because, well, you know…I wanted to make the cut!).

Read these books. Study them. Enjoy them! Sing them to yourself under your breath while you’re making dinner. And while you’re absorbing them, here are a few things to think about that these authors are doing particularly well – because a lot of what works for them can work for you, even if you don’t write in rhyme. Hopefully, some of these techniques can be incorporated into your own work!

Rhythm is Gonna Get You: The best thing about these books is how well the authors use rhythm to drive the story. There is consistency to the rhythm – except for when a deliberately extrametrical line is used for emphasis (like “One dark night…” in Lisa Wheeler’s book of the same name). This rhythmic consistency is possibly the most important thing to recreate in your own rhyming picture books.

Unusual Rhyming Pairs: It’s very important in this market to make sure every aspect of your story is fresh and interesting, from the plot to the language. No one needs to read another book about a fat cat with a bat and a hat, or a duck who is out of luck while stuck on a truck. Instead, bring the freshness level way up by incorporating new language, rhymes no one has thought of, words that might be unfamiliar to a picture book age child but sound beautiful enough to entice him or her to learn their meanings. With everything I love about Sandra Boynton’s BUT NOT THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, what stands out the most is how she rhymes “lot of us” with “potamus.”

Rhyme Into a Refrain: Refrains – repeated elements that reinforce story plot points – are very effective in picture books because young children respond so well to repetition. So many rhyming books use this technique to drive the plot forward – think “The Bear snores on” from Karma Wilson’s BEAR SNORES ON or “Those chicks run wild!” from my own CHICKS RUN WILD.

Saying More with Less: Rhyming picture books are almost always shorter in word count that their prose counterparts – because reading 1,400 words of rhyme before bed would be truly taxing! Authors who write in rhyme keep their word counts low by doing a couple things:

·       Utilizing strong language: Poetry is famous for using powerful imagery and lyrical phrasing. Study these books and see how the authors do in one verse what a prose author might do in a paragraph!

·       Working cooperatively with the art: Because the word counts are sparser, rhyming picture books often utilize the art for storytelling very effectively. Make a mental note of this and try to consciously do that in your own manuscripts.

My List of Ten:

1.     SNOOZEFEST by Samantha Berger

2.     THE THREE NINJA PIGS by Corey Rosen Schwartz

3.     ONE DARK NIGHT by Lisa Wheeler

4.     BUT NOT THE HIPPOPOTAMUS by Sandra Boynton

5.     BEAR SNORES ON by Karma Wilson

6.     LLAMA LLAMA RED PAJAMA by Anna Dewdney

7.     HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOODNIGHT by Jane Yolen

8.     OLLIE AND CLAIRE by Tiffany Strelitz Haber

9.     OVER AT THE CASTLE by Boni Ashburn

10.   CHICKS RUN WILD by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Happy World Read Aloud Day!  Let's read!

PRIZE ALERT
Sudipta will be giving away a 20 minute phone critique at the conclusion of ReFoReMo!  To be eligible, please leave her a a comment here, read consistently, and record your efforts.

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is the co-founder of Kidlit Summer School and an award-winning author whose books include DUCK DUCK MOOSE, TYRANNOSAURUS WRECKS, ORANGUTANGLED, and over thirty more books. Her books have been named to the Junior Library Guild, the California Reader’s Collection, the Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year lists and the Amelia Bloomer list. Find out more about her by visiting www.sudipta.com or her blogs www.NerdyChicksRule.com and www.NerdyChicksWrite.com.

In April 2015, Marcie Colleen, Susan Hawk, and Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen will be teaching a course in picture book revision through Kidlit Writing School. For more information about this course, please click on this link: http://www.kidlitwritingschool.com/picture-book-a-to-zs-revision.html

Twitter: @SudiptaBQ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SudiptaBardhanQuallen