The Llama Llama series of books by author/illustrator Anna Dewdney is about a baby llama that endures various adventures and challenges, but above all, Mamma must remain nearby. Children this age, even while playing and having fun, need to know their parents are there for them with love, protection, and life’s necessities. Here are the issues the main characters usually deal with for each category: It didn’t deal with a child’s issues or problems, so I never considered submitting it to children’s publications.
Two years ago, an adult fantasy anthology published my dark/horror short story about a little boy almost drowning in a well. (New Adult, Young Adult fiction geared toward college-age readers, is becoming popular). Main character’s ages high school freshmen to seniors. Young Adult: Ages 14 to 18 high school readers. Middle Grade (Middle Reader’s): Ages 8 to 13, with main character’s ages 10 to 14 (slightly younger readers may read Chapter Books, which are early middle reader’s books with a limited number of illustrations).
Picture Books: Ages 3 to 7, with main character’s ages 5 to 9 (Board Books for younger readers and Easy Readers for slightly older readers will extend this range in both directions).
Although recommended ages for readers and main characters differ from publisher to publisher, here are a few guidelines you should keep in mind: If your interest in writing children’s books, the rule of thumb is that children like to read books with a main character their age or slightly older. I also receive memoirs of an adult looking back at childhood, which is also not what children enjoy reading. For an annual contest I sponsor, some of the submissions I receive are poems or short stories with children as the main character, but with adult feelings and observations. Members often submit manuscripts that either aren’t children’s books or their main character is the wrong age. I belong to the Society for Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, or SCBWI, and I host two critique groups: a picture book group and a middle-grade/young adult group. But I would add: you have to know the rules and your audience before you can break the rules. One of my favorite writing rules is: There are no rules.
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