picture book creators
PB Writers & Illustrators
Picture book writers and illustrators — published & pre-published — are invited to join Karen on her private facebook forum at PB Writers & Illustrators (link in page footer) to connect with other creators and find free content of interest to picture book creators.
PB Writers & Illustrators content includes A - Z resources on the elements of story and the craft of writing, with a focus on picture books. A sample - “A” for alliteration - is set forth below.
Current projects at PB Writers & Illustrators include building a publisher-by-publisher Titles & Topics Library to assist picture book creators in finding comp titles and tracking recent trends.
Alliteration
How you use alliteration, and how you pair it with other poetic devices, sets a tone.
Alliteration is the repetition, in close proximity, of the same initial consonant sound (not necessarily the same letter; e.g., “found / phone” “captain / kitten”).
Picture books with alliteration are often funny, punny, and silly. Masters at this craft include Pamela Duncan Edwards (SOME SMUG SLUG, FOUR FAMISHED FOXES AND FOSDYKE, etc.), Dr. Seuss, and quite a few of Sandra Boynton’s board books. (See what I did there?)
Why is that? Using over-the-top, back-to-back-to-back alliteration tends to create a tongue-twisting, laugh-out-loud tone . . . “peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” “how much dew do dewdrops drop if dewdrops do drop dew.”
But the emotion you convey might be dramatically different if, for example, you pair it with softer vowel and consonant sounds.
Notice the gentle tone these soft, sibilant, “s” sounds evoke. “This is the moss, softer than suede, stolen from stones cool in the shade . . .” from THIS IS THE NEST THAT WREN BUILT, by Randi Sonenshine, illustrated by Anne Hunter.
Compare that to the tone established by these harsher “n” sounds. “Neighbors were nosy, a nuisance, annoying.” SWASHBY AND THE SEA, by Beth Ferry, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal.
In Carter Higgins’ masterful EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR A TREEHOUSE, illustrated by Anne Hunter, notice how alliteration, used sparingly and paired with carefully chosen vowel and consonant sounds, creates an anticipatory, wondrous mood.
1st spread:
“Everything you need for a treehouse starts with time and looking up and imagining a home of timber and rafters in wrangled, gnarled bark.” (t, g, r, n = alliteration and consonance)(ee and ar = assonance)
2d spread alliteration:
“Balconies of branches . . . burrows . . . binoculars . . . Scout skunks . . . Moles in the meadow . . . Ten tippy toes . . .”
The sounds depicted in bold are examples of consonance, i.e., the repetition of consonant sounds, which includes alliteration (repeated initial sounds). Sibilance (repeated soft “s” and “sh” sounds) is another form of consonance.
The sounds depicted in italics are examples of assonance (repeated vowel and vowel combination sounds).
Challenge: Play around with alliteration. Might it amplify the emotional tone of your work-in-progress? — kg