In the previous blog post, I looked at the definition of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and its five components according to CASEL 5. This blog post is about the first components: self-awareness and some examples of picture books that are published in this category. What is Self-awareness? According to […]

              In the first blog post of this series,  I looked at the definition of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and its five components according to CASEL 5. The second post was about self-awareness and this blog post is about the second basic element in SEL: Self-management.  What is Self-management? According

                Once upon a time, stories were meant to teach children to stay away from wolfs, to come back home before the sunset, to warn them of the jungles, etc. Nowadays, living isolated from nature, children face different problems. Besides, our understanding of the importance of mental health

            Introduction: Why an inanimate Narrator? In writing picture books, we often use personification. Personification is when we use a human attribute(s) or a feeling(s) to describe an object. For example, the leaves dance,  the wind whispers, etc. Personification differs from an inanimate narrator. By choosing an inanimate narrator, we

You may have seen some agents, publishers, and people in the movie industry seek high-concept manuscripts/playwrights. For a simple reason, high-concept is a mega-seller. A wide range of audiences love these films/books. Why do they sell so well? Why are they exceptional? What are they, anyway?! Answering these questions is as hard as writing a high-concept

              A concept book, as the name indicates, introduces a basic idea or a concept to the readers. The Alphabet, shapes, colors, telling time and counting are the classical subjects of the concept books for pre-kindergarten children. However, that is not all. Concept books are a way to introduce

                You have built your character and selected your Narrator. The Narrative Structure is done; meaning you know what is going to happen in the Beginning, in the Middle, and in the End of the story. Now, it is time to write (or revise) the story. How are

                It is just enough to google for theme in google and feel more perplexed if you weren’t before! Each author defines theme differently; For an abstract and vast subject, like theme, this enormous variation is understandable. Set the definitions aside, the descriptions of the theme’s importance vary:

In the previous blog post, we went through basic definitions of Point Of View (POV). This blog post is about each type of POV with a picture book example. First-person POV The first-person POV has the shortest Narrative Distance because the Narrator, from inside the story world, directly shares her feelings and observations with the

      Thanks to author Janie Emaus for kindly sending me a copy of her book and offering me this chance to review her book. Get her book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Emtional Social Learning (ESL) The story is about a Jewish girl whose new dad and stepbrother are Christian. She faces a new