This past week I've been working a lot on my picture book assignment for class, so my reading and writing have been primarily focused on picture books. I did read a few chapter books, adult books (readers will know this as I commented on them in a previous post) but I also read 10+ picture books and analyzed one of them.
I also wrote several drafts for a picture book. The first one was a story about an intrepid little kid who's showing a new baby sibling the ins and outs of the world as he knows it. The older sibling teaches the very young "rookie" baby how to fight tigers (house cats), find treasure behind the couch, and avoid the monster (teenage brother) sleeping in his room. "That was close. Keep by me, kid, and soon you won't make rookie mistakes like that" the big sib says after the baby wakes up the cranky teen. But I didn't like this story much, so I found a better one.
The other one I wrote and spent time revising was titled "Princess Charming" and was a reversal of Cinderella. Princess Charming can do anything. She can sew, sing, and rock climb. Her fairy godmother tries to make her fit the traditional princess role and get rescued by a prince, but the princess keeps saving herself. Cinder, a young man oppressed by his stepbrothers, wants to meet her. The fairy godmother quits and the king decides to throw a ball for his daughter.
Cue skewed fairy tale: Cinder goes to the ball with the help of Princess Charming's weary fairy godmother. This is my favorite part:
He arrived just in time to see Princess Charming escaping from her own birthday party.
“Why are running away?” he asked. “It’s not even midnight yet!”
The princess looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I can’t dance,” she said. “It’s the only thing I can’t do.”
Cinders smiled. “That’s okay,” he said. “Neither can I.”
The princess and Cinders ditched the ball and went exploring instead.Much better than the first. So, a lot of writing done this week, in a genre I'm not used to. But I think I got somewhere in the end.
I think the sibling one is a fun idea too.
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