Kevin Lewis: The Truth About Trucks, Trains, and Toddlers: Creating Enduring Works for the Very Young
Kevin Lewis! Kevin Lewis! Kevin Lewis! I'd never heard him speak before and he's been one of the highlights of my conference. He's a former editor, current agent and author, so he really knows every facet of the market as well as cares about craft. Run don't walk to any Kevin Lewis talk you can attend, he's also like Mem Fox in giving you a master class on how to read a story out loud. Here're a few of my favorite things I learned from Kevin about writing for toddlers: Keep it short. Understand that your audience is going to exhibit their cognitive abilities. You think your manuscript can be longer than Eric Carlie’s Very Hungry Caterpillar? Think again. Make the reader (the parent) the star, and make it easy for them to star: Sound it out, toddlers are just getting to know rich language, sound words are delicious and fantastic to include. Study Denise Fleming 's (and Kevin's ) books for great sound words and onomatopoeia. Act it out. Give the parent ac...