This post was originally sent via email on August 16th, 2023.
A favorite prima recently asked me what would be a watershed moment for a children’s author. For the career-minded writer, this is a tantalizing question: is there a particular keynote, award, or list that could really change my trajectory?
But it was the word moment that stuck out to me. If I know anything about picture books, it’s that you have to learn to write in moments. To write a picture book is to tell a story as a series of moments, distilled in images. It’s different from other types of writing, complicated while appearing easy, and it’s the reason many seasoned writers stumble when they tell themselves they can surely write “just a picture book.”
Maybe because I’ve spent so much of my professional life learning to write picture books, when I look back at my career, I do see a series of moments. Here is just one:
I was visiting an elementary school, and after the school day ended I headed to the school library to wait for the school librarian, who was going to give me a ride to the airport when she finished up. With no kids around, it was unusually quiet.
Then a fourth-grader ran into the library. She was supposed to be in the bus line, and she was admonished accordingly. But she ran into that library, backpack straps flapping wildly behind her, and asked the librarian:
“Is the author still here?”
The librarian pointed to me, and I waved hello.
All in one breath, the girl said, “I wanted to tell you that my teacher is reading Sofía Acosta Makes a Scene and it’s–probably–my favorite book ever.”
I knew she was speaking honestly because of the insertion of the needless “probably.” I knew it mattered to her because she really wasn’t supposed to run back to the school library while in line for the bus. I thanked the heavens for that teacher. And as for me?
Now that was a watershed moment.
