She’s six-years-old and the youngest of three. Author Abby Hanlon has taken a universal childhood desire (the wish of the younger sibling for the older ones to play with them) and turned it into a magnificent epic fantasy complete with sharp-toothed robbers, bearded fairy godmothers, and what may be the most realistic 6-year-old you’ll ever meet on a page. Pick up my jaw from the floor and lob it my way because this book is AMAZING! Perfection of tone, plot, pacing, art, you name it. After all, these kinds of stories are enormously difficult to write (or did I mention that already?). I didn’t expect to see another book tread the same path for a while. The last book I saw work this well was the extraordinary Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett, a book that to this day I consider a successor to Where the Wild Things Are. It has to talk about something near and dear to the heart of the kid turning the pages, and if you manage to work in a bit of a metaphor along the way? Then you, my dear, have done the near impossible.
For a really good one there should be plenty of fun art alongside a story that strikes the reader as one-of-a-kind.
You have a bit more freedom with that format, but not by much. And right on the heels of easy books and their level of difficulty is the early chapter book.
You have to take into account not just the controlled vocabulary but also the fact that the story is likely not going to exactly be War and Peace ( The Cat in the Hat is considered exceptional for a reason, people). Now me, I have always felt that easy books must be the hardest to write. Which of the following types of children’s books are, in your opinion, the most difficult to write: Board books, picture books, easy books (for emerging readers), early chapter books, or middle grade fiction (older chapter books)? The question is, by its very definition, unfair.
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