Day 22: Concept Books

Traditionally, concept books were used to introduce basic ideas or concepts for toddlers: alphabet & basic vocabulary, colors, counting & numbers, etc. Those books had a few words and were mostly written by the publisher’s staff.

In recent years, we’ve seen concept books with broader, mixed topics, and written for older readers as picture books. Fry Bread (2019, Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal) is a superb example. It starts from the simple concept of bread as food, and continues to shed light on the history of native tribes. The book introduced bread as a symbol of unity and cultural resilience.

Since its publication, Fry Bread has inspired many other concept books that explore culture through everyday objects. But the blend of history and identity in Fry Bread is so profound and unique that it still stands out and remains unparalleled.

Hint: A concept book is not a story. So, you don’t see a story structure (beginning-middle-end) and other elements of the story, like character arc or POV.

Writing a concept book is anything but easy. With a story, we have plot points to guide us. With a concept book, the writer often has to rely on gut feeling and trial and error to know when to stop. Without that balance, the book can either overwhelm readers with a wordy text or feel empty—beautiful language on the surface, but not much underneath.

In a story, the reader wants to know what happens next, and that curiosity keeps her turning the pages. Concept books don’t have that built-in momentum. So, how do we keep the reader’s attention all the way to the last page?

There is no single answer. A refrain and predictable pattern can hold the reader’s attention. Evoking an emotion like joy, wonder, or nostalgia can also work. Rhythm and the text’s musicality help as well. Or, like Fry Bread, a concept book could start with a simple object but expand and deepen, which hooks the reader.