A project close to my heart – YOU’RE A POET is a book made to help beginner writers find ways into writing poetry.
It’s five stories featuring a young piglet poet, his mum and dad, and his best friend squirrel.
Each adventure is followed by prompts to inspire young children to write different kinds of poems.
Research from The National Literacy Trust shows that children’s interest in writing has reached “a crisis point” with just a third of young people saying they enjoy writing in their free time.
YOU’RE A POET is my best attempt to create an inviting book that makes first steps into writing poetry possible, even for the smallest of children.
It’s written for 4-8 year-olds and featurers scenery and characters beautifully brought to life by illustrator Sam Usher.
“An excellent book for enjoying and exploring creative writing, ‘You’re a Poet’ is a wonderful book for home, for school, for everywhere and anywhere, offering really practical ideas which will make everyone free the poet inside!” Through The Bookshelf Blog.
My latest picture book is about new friends, unwelcome predators, and a packet of very noisy biscuits. It’s NATTERJACK TOAD CAN’T BELIEVE IT! (illustrated with panache by Kathryn Durst.) And to celebrate its arrival, I’ve come up with some tips on funny writing for young readers. You’ll find the tips one by-one on Instagram (here).Or you can read the whole shebang below…
There are seven rules for writing a funny picture book. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.
Like a lot of jokes, the above has truth running through it. There won’t ever be a set of instructions for doing funny writing for young readers. You can’t treat it like assembling a chest of drawers. And if you tried arriving at comedy from a set of instructions, it would work against the spontaneity, unexpectedness, and (you might say) wildness which often sparks what’s funny.
The British writer and comedian, Barry Cryer, summed this up nicely by saying, “Analysing comedy is like dissecting a frog. Nobody laughs and the frog dies.”
So is there any help I can offer to those who want to write funny (or funnier) picture books?
What I can do is look back at NATTERJACK TOAD CAN’T BELIEVE IT! now the book’s written, and try to spot some of the things going on in terms of the comedy. Read on for those things. And here’s hoping they’ll provoke creative (and funny) thoughts of your own.
[1] EXAGGERATION
The water sparkles with pleasure.
Lakeside reeds that sway in the breeze like friends on a climbing frame.
This isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. But I’m exaggerating the imagery right from page one. It establishes an engagingly tongue-in-cheek narrative voice. And because everything is exaggeratedly perfect, when the trouble comes (as it must, in some way, in a story) it’s all the more comical.
[2] LANGUAGE
There’s humorous delight in the language here. It’s in the music of all those crunchy CH sounds. And there’s linguistic funniness in pastiching the ubiquitous language of advertising, with its catchy/corny slogans.
[3] SLAPSTICK DISASTER (physical or otherwise)
This isn’t Stan Laurel being hit on the head by a falling ladder, but it’s the emotional equivalent. Everything is fine. Everything is even finer than fine. Then it comes crashing down. Children find that funny. We all do (probably because we recognise it as one of life’s ever-repeating dynamics!)
[4] REPETITION
We’re in the middle of the book now. The comic patterning of the opening spreads is repeating for a third time. And I’ve written the exaggerated imagery LARGER each time it comes around. So both the funniness and the expectation that something’s going to happen are growing as the text repeats and the pages turn.
[5] STRONG EMOTIONAL REACTIONS
In the silent movies of the 1920’s (my favourites are the ones made by Buster Keaton) the slapstick incidents themselves are hilarious. But watch carefully and you realise there’s almost as much funniness in the strong emotional reactions of the characters. It can be wonderfully comic, seeing someone consumed by love, hilarity, pain, frustration or, as here, anger!
[6] TROUBLE
Natterjack Toad is doing what he’s been warned not to do! So we have a strong sense of trouble coming. I’ve mentioned two classic elements of slapstick comedy: the disaster and the strong emotional reaction. Here’s a third: the anticipation of trouble. It’s another thing that can make children fall about laughing.
[7] QUICK-WITTEDNESS
And there’s comic delight in a main character outfoxing a fox (or, as in NATTERJACK TOAD CAN’T BELIEVE IT!, out-hungry-forest-hogging a hungry forest hog.) The plot twist that sees a much-loved protagonist make a smart escape may lead to a warm sort of laughter. It’s the laughter of resolution. We recognise quick-witted escapes from trouble as one of life’s repeating dynamics, just as we recognise falling off a bicycle into a duck pond.
There you are. Have I named the seven rules for writing funny picture books, AFTER ALL?
Not likely! What I’ve come up with aren’t rules. They’re just seven comic writing elements that I can spot, looking through NATTERJACK TOAD CAN’T BELIEVE IT!. Someone else might read the book and come up with a whole different set. Pick up other picture books, and you’ll probably soon have 777 other comic writing elements that work as well.
And maybe it’s daunting to be told there’s no neat set of rules for writing a funny picture book. Or maybe it’s freeing to know it’s a dance you can do in umpteen different ways!
WHEN DINOSAURS WALKED THE EARTH has won this year’s Oscar’s Book Prize, for the best UK book for young readers published in the past 12 months.
It’s a story for 3-to-6 year-olds, with uproarious illustrations by bright-eyed Zehra Hicks.
Smallasaurus is a dinosaur with a plant-based diet. She’s after some sweet and juicy ferns for breakfast. But Badasaurus is after a dinosaur with a plant-based diet for breakfast. And what does Worseasaurus want?!
Oscar’s Book Prize is awarded in memory of Oscar Ashton, a boy who loved stories and who died aged just 3 years old. It’s a great way to honour a boy who loved books.
These are times of much talk about creating artificial intelligence, but we know reading books creates REAL intelligence. So here’s to the memory of Oscar Ashton. And here’s to giving children lots and lots and lots of HAPPY READING!
My newest picture book, WHEN DINOSAURS WALKED THE EARTH, launches on the 6th of July. And I’ll be doing bookshop signings in London, Surrey and Bristol.
Join me for riddles, rhymes, a reading of the new book, and the chance to buy a signed copy!
NOMAD BOOKS, 781 Fulham Road, London, SW6 5HA. 11am Saturday 1st July 2023. WITH THE ILLUSTRATOR, ZEHRA HICKS.
WATERSTONES EPSON, 50 High St, Epsom KT19 8AJ. 11am Sunday 1st July 2023. WITH THE ILLUSTRATOR, ZEHRA HICKS.
Hold tight! Monster’s thirsty … and he’s off on another wild ride!
Hot on the heels of last year’s hit picture book MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE! comes a bright, bold, laugh-out-loud new story featuring our hilarious little hero.
Launches 5 Jan 2023.
Vibrantly illustrated by Fred Benaglia and perfect for all monsters aged 2-6.
‘Vividly imagined … highly entertaining’ ― Julia Eccleshare on MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE!
‘A shouty, colourful picture-book romp, begging to be read aloud with gusto’ ― The Guardian on MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE!
‘A high-energy read’ ― The Observer on MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE!
The first book I published, back in 1992, was a collection of poems for adults. Now (30 years on) a second book of poems has arrived…
THE DREAM TRAIN contains 30 poems for bedtime, written for children aged 3-8. The poems range from the cosy to the funny, and from the musical to the magical.
Each captures something about night-time, sleep or dreams.
Described as “a keep-forever hug of a book”, THE DREAM TRAIN takes readers on a journey into dreamland and beyond, and showcases the warm, inviting artwork of Anuska Allepuz.
I’m looking forward to sharing poems from the book at a number of family events in the months ahead.
You can catch me at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sunday 9th October. Details here.
And I’ll be at the Wokingham Children’s Book Festival on Sunday 16th October. Details here.
It was great to see Waterstones in Bradford bursting with young readers all day on Saturday – and to join the fun with events around MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE! and WHERE THE BUGABOO LIVES.
Here are two poems written by the bright-eyed young readers who were there with me…
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?
Here comes the monster
and he’s feeling very hungry.
It’s time for lunch
and he wants to fill his tummy.
He wants some saucy, crispy, spicy, hot pizza!
He wants some stretchy, stinky, orange, square cheese!
He wants some munchy, crunchy, gooey, tasty MONSTER MUNCH!
FEATURES OF SPRING AND AUTUMN
Down the spring path
there are big bluebells,
red, orange, black and blue butterflies,
birds flying, tweeting and chirping.
Down the autumn path
a strong wind is whistling.
The leaves are swishing and swirling
and they are orange, brown and red.
We will choose the spring path.
If you get the chance, give the one and only Bradford Literature Festival a try.
It’s a treat to be a part of this warm-hearted, inclusive festival, in this warm-hearted, inclusive city.
If you’ll be in or around Bradford on Saturday 2 July 2022, please join me for one of the family events and book signings I’ll be doing as part of the city’s Literature Festival.
Both events will be at Waterstones (The Wool Exchange, Hustlergate, Bradford BD1 1BL.)
From 9.45-10.30am there will be lots of lively picture book fun for children aged 3+, and I’ll be reading and signing my latest book, MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE!.
Full details and how to book, here: https://www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/monster-hungry-phone/
Then from 12.45-1.30pm I’ll take young readers (if they’re feeling brave enough) on a lively, laugh-out-loud journey into my interactive book for 5-9 year-olds, WHERE THE BUGABOO LIVES.
Full details and how to book, here: https://www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/where-the-bugaboo-lives/
Sunny days are on their way. HOW TO BE COOLER THAN COOL is out in paperback. And here’s our trailer…
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‘HOW TO BE COOLER THAN COOL by Sean Taylor is a reminder that the coolest thing is to be yourself.’ ― The Daily Telegraph
‘This 3 year old thought this book was hilarious! Before we read it together, she sat down and looked at the pages on her own and giggled away loudly at the pictures … When I asked her what she liked best she said ‘the silliness’. It’s a wonderful book.’ — Parent on Toppsta
‘Taylor and Jullien’s joyful, zingy and high-colour graphic picture book is brilliant fun for reading together – the high contrast and thick black outlines as well as the nice clear font make it super accessible while being stylish and silly with plenty of great phrases to copy. There’s also a lovely message about enjoying yourself and not worrying what other people think.’ ― BookTrust
Young people across the UK are spending Saturday mornings at their local university, college or museum discovering subjects they love.
Saturday Clubs are open to 13–16-year-olds of all abilities and are free to attend.
I was pleased to run a Poetry Masterclass for the ‘Writing and Talking’ group at London Metropolitan University this year.
We had a memorable, creative morning. Some beautiful poems were written.
Joining a National Saturday Club is a way of learning new skills, making friends, and finding out more about further education and careers. If you are interested in finding out more, follow this link: https://saturday-club.org/ .
