📌 How I Read Picture Books

I am finding picture book writers have dramatically different processes for reading, and processing, picture books--not just how they write them!

Of course, NOTHING is standard in our creative industry. We each have our own way of doing things. With that in mind, here is the process I seem to have settled into over the past couple of years for reading, and learning from, picture book texts. If you have a process that you are happy with, feel free to share it in the comments!

1. I get almost all my “new to me” reads through the public library. The remainder comes from swapping out at Little Free Libraries, yard sale/thrift store purchases, or (when I really trust the creator or recommender) retail.

2. If I love the borrowed book, I buy it retail. Even though I mostly read library books, I make a point to buy the books I love, even if it sometimes seems a bit silly after reading them—because it’s those creators and publishers I most want to support!

3. I find at least one every week that I am dying to share. Some weeks, if the recommendations or creators I’m working off are just <chef’’s kiss>, that may only take a few books! But, most weeks, I read 5-10 already pretty curated selections. I read every picture book I borrow or buy at least twice, with subsequent readings spaced days, or sometimes even weeks, later than the initial reading. Once I find that book each week, I review them, using the process outlined below.

4. Similarly, I make notes for myself on picture books I deem “interesting,”—knowing I don’t have to love a book to find it interesting. These notes create a kind of writing craft interest journal, which I outline further on.

---

Reviews

For public-facing reviews, I do follow a few self-imposed guidelines.

• I review books I love. If I’ve read it (a big if! my TBR piles are legendary!) and I don’t think it’s five stars, I don’t review it. For me, there’s no point in reviewing a book I didn’t connect with (at least in some significant way—major enough for me to want to share it). So instead, I focus on explaining what I love about the ones I love, making it more fun for me and anyone who pays attention to my reviews.

• I post weekly reviews. First, I post the review on Amazon and Goodreads; then, I share the Goodreads link (and a screenshot of my specific review) on Twitter. Then I post my review and interior spread shots on Instagram and clip the book's cover shot to Pinterest. The main gist of the reviews is the same across platforms, though I do tailor them a little.

• Also….sometimes…I don’t share the books I love publicly. ONCE in a while, I read a book I love so much that I don’t feel comfortable sharing it publicly yet because it sparks an idea (maybe it has a very unusual structure—or something like that) I want to explore in my own writing before sharing with the creator community. (I can be a little tender/protective about early-in-the-pipeline ideas. What can I say?)

You can peruse my picture book reviews on Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, and even Pinterest.

---

Notes for Myself

The notes I write for my eyes only follow very few self-imposed guidelines but do have commonalities. I’m not going for a reading log with these notes—I couldn’t be less interested in that. Instead, for only the picture books I find interesting in some way…

• I note the title, creator(s), publisher, and publication date.

• I try to articulate what I find interesting about the book—especially the writing.

• I try to figure out precisely what I like—and why.

• Sometimes, I try to figure out precisely why I don’t like particular aspects. (This is interesting to do with books that bug me after I read them.)

• Sometimes, I take photos of spreads for personal reference if they spark something in me.

• In short: I try to figure out what it all means to me and my writing.

So far, I’ve written “notes for myself” on 482 picture books (as of this morning). I have only done so many because I genuinely find them invaluable.

You can see my personal notes… nowhere, and never. 😂 It would be rude to share how my unvarnished view of how I would have done someone’s amazing creation differently (I mean, truly…the gall!). And honestly, that’s not what I’m trying to do with these notes—they are not about second-guessing others’ creative choices. Instead, I’m trying to pinpoint my OWN taste—what I respond to and want to try myself—or, perhaps, try to avoid. Weirdly, this ongoing journaling is not about the books at all—it’s my reaction to them and why that I’m trying to capture. I’m just trying to better know myself as a writer through what I love (or sometimes loathe!) to read.

These personal notes also are a great source of mentor texts for me—for all aspects of the craft. Since they’re in Evernote, when I want to think about, for example, “dialogue,” I can just search for that, and any notes I’ve written about that are all at my fingertips, forming an impromptu mentor text list for any topic I’ve mentioned.

---

So that’s it! That’s what I do when I read picture books!

Reading back through this, it feels very involved, but it’s a natural rhythm to me, and it allows me to spend lots of time reading—but not so much that I never do any writing (which would be easy enough for me to do, otherwise).

Still, it’s not clear this kind of process would work well for anyone else! What about you? How do YOU read picture books?

Yours in the stacks,

Elayne

My posts are always free, but my focus isn't; if you found this post interesting or useful, please consider ♡’ing it so I know. Thank you!