Writing for Children

Over 35 years of working with children – I was an elementary school teacher until I retired three years ago – I developed a love of children’s books. I’ve also developed a desire to write books for children.

I’ve written several picture book texts as well as several novels for older children; all remained unpublished (but my day will come). I’ve had six books published; two were teachers’ curriculum guides and the others were children’s workbooks linked to the curriculum. I’ve also written many children’s poems, mostly unpublished too.

Many would-be authors think they will start by writing children’s books “because they are easier to write.” WRONG. Writing for children is a very demanding and difficult genre. As with many artistic endeavours, the easier it looks, the harder it is to do well.

Eugie Foster is a published author who has written a short guide called Writing for Young Readers on the Writing World website. She outlines the things to remember and things to avoid when writing for children.