writermag.com • The Writer | 25Examples:
- Dan Santat’s The Adventures of Beekle
features an imaginary creature look-
ing for the right child. On option No.
3, he finds the perfect one. - Tammi Sauer’s Princess in Training
shows Princess Viola Louisa Has-
senfeffer failing at being a “good”
princess at Camp Princess in three
ways, but with her next attempt to
do something right – when a hun-
gry dragon shows up and needs to
be dealt with – she wins the day,
and the respect of the entire king-
dom, too. - Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo fea-
tures a mouse who is threatened by
three animals (and then the mouse
frightens off all three right in return).
PARALLEL STORIES
This structure presents two stories at
once in a mirroring fashion. Often,
these two stories come together at the
end to create a powerful, unified con-
clusion. Why is it so popular? Because
it’s two stories for the price of one.
Examples:
- Beverly Donofrio’s Where’s Mommy?
shows how Maria and Mouse Mouse
both have missing mothers at bed-
time. Where those moms are brings
Maria and Mouse Mouse together
in a unified and emotionally satisfy-
ing manner. - David Macaulay’s Black and White
uses double-spreads broken into
quadrants to tell four – yes, FOUR! –
different stories that (sort of ) oper-
ate independently.
BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL
The fourth wall is the “wall” that
keeps readers a safe distance from the
action of a book. Yet this type of pic-
ture book smashes right through that
wall and features characters who
interact directly with readers or go so
far as to take over the story. Young
readers love this kind of “rule break-
ing,” which so often has a laugh-out-
loud sensibility. (The fancy-pants
term for this is “metafiction.”)Examples:- Kelly Bingham’s Z Is for Moose shows
how Moose throws quite the fit
when this ABC book uses M for
mouse instead of moose. - Deborah Underwood’s The Panda
Problem has a narrator who wants
the story to go in one direction, but
a feisty panda has other ideas.
CIRCULAR STORIES
Quite simply, these stories end right
back at the beginning. Readers enjoy
the “Uh oh, here we go again!” feeling
when they read the last line that sends
them all the way back to page one. You
can also create a “full circle” feel by
ending with the same phrase, noise,
figure of speech, or even place and
time as you use at the start.Examples:- Laura Numeroff ’s If You Give a
Mouse a Cookie starts with a boy giv-
ing a mouse a cookie, and then the
mouse wants a glass of milk. The
book ends with this same mouse get-
ting thirsty and having a glass of
milk, and the boy realizes he’ll prob-
ably want a cookie to go with it. - I Am Jazz is a picture book memoir by
celebrity transgender activist Jazz Jen-
Think of structure as
the skeleton of your
story – it’s what gives
it its overall shape. It’s
also what organizes it
and defines it. Without
structure, a story is
just a big ol’ mess.nings. The story begins and ends with
the powerful statement: “I am Jazz.”Literary agent Abigail Samoun reminds
us that structure has to work hand-in-
hand with theme. “For instance, if
you’re working with the Pattern of
Three,” she says, “each time we revisit
the situation, we have to develop the
theme just a little bit further. Each time
Beekle finds the wrong child, we learn
a little bit more about the relationship
of an imaginary friend in a child’s life.”
In short, the most effective structures
amplify and develop a story’s theme.
Here’s the good news about struc-
ture. You don’t have to stick to the
choices listed above. It’s perfectly OK
to invent your own theme-amplifying
option or variation, as Stemple did
with her award-winning picture book,
Counting Birds.
“With that book, I wanted the story
structure – the narrative arc – to be
exactly like the history of the subject of
the book,” she explains. “So, if you look
at that story structure, it starts with
one incident (point) and grows larger
and larger and larger (if you were to
graph it, it’d look like a cone). What is
truly satisfying to me is how the last
line returns the reader full circle to the
first page.”
Samoun offers this final bit of advice,
which I’ve heard versions of from other
industry professionals in the picture
book world: “Think of structure as the
skeleton of your story – it’s what gives it
its overall shape. It’s also what organizes
it and defines it. Without structure, a
story is just a big ol’ mess.”
Let me put it plainly: no literary
agent, editor, parent, librarian, teacher,
or child is going to get excited about a
picture book that’s a sprawling mess.
But a thoughtful choice in your struc-
turing options can help make it all
come together.Ryan G. Van Cleave is the author of 20 books
and a frequent contributor to The Writer. Visit him
at ryangvancleave.com & onlypicturebooks.com.