My mother had a unique knack for facilitating a child’s world without treating them like babies. She talked to me like I could understand anything, and she never scolded me for acting like a child or misunderstanding because I was a child.

A college English professor, she could analyze the classics and edit students’ theses during the day but still play Sorry! and cry over Little House on the Prairie with me at night. She taught adults Monday through Friday and two-year-old Sunday School on Sundays. She saw no gaping difference between quoting Shakespeare and singing “I’m a little teapot” because she tied age-appropriateness to interest and pursuit. She had me reading at the age of four.

Creating a child’s world so that a child feels comfortable in it requires, in my opinion, both intentionality and inborn talent. Like my mother, some teachers have a natural knack for communicating with students, and some do not. Favorite teachers are not necessarily those with good bulletin boards and cool manipulatives.

Favorite teachers—and favorite writers—have a childhood preserved inside that they have never forgotten. They don’t have to imagine a world where a child feels scared or insecure or elated. They remember. All those feelings became a part of their identity, which can be resurrected at any time.

If you want to write for children, whether babies or pre-teens, you must have great memory recall of what it felt like to be a child. What was important to you. What you noticed (or didn’t notice). What events became formative for you. You probably need to be the kind of person who loves being with children, perhaps even more than adults.

Children are not simple or unlearned adults. They are discerning, articulate, and emotive humans who are being trained to live authentically or adapt to their surroundings.

Write for kids who are living like that. They are the real children, and their stories are the stories that impact readers.

As Maurice Sendak stated, “I don’t write for children. I write. And somebody says, that’s for children.” Any masterful children’s story will prove to be enjoyable and provocative reading for adults and children. But any trivialized story for children ultimately annoys both children and adults. These stories are not read over and over; they do not endure from one generation to another.

To help you choose methods and topics that resonate with children, I’ve compiled a short list of do’s and don’ts for writing (and teaching) children. Like writing for any genre, you should first study the great works of children’s literature and analyze how the authors reached their young readers.

Do’s:

• Develop imperfect characters with a problem to solve through struggle
• Incorporate adults as secondary characters, perhaps even the antagonist
• Listen to how children talk to one another and adults; create realistic dialogue and problem-solving methods for your characters
• Create stories around life topics: identity, security, fear, courage, friendship, love, resilience, loneliness
• Read children’s literature for fun, not just for research (a good litmus test for you as a children’s author)
• Create settings of safety as well as risk or danger; you’re guiding children into paths of resilience and courage

Don’ts:

• Give your stories a cliché ending, where everything turns out perfect or someone suddenly appears to solve the problem
• Incorporate death or pain for dramatic effect; use realistically and empathetically as it makes sense to the plot and characters. Children can handle topics of pain—many have already lived it—but darkness must make sense in a story; redeem loss and give hope
• Preach a truth; create a main character that learns by trial and error—let his/her experience be the teacher
• Use words that are too simple or superfluous; refer to reading-age guide books but challenge children with some advanced language; a child’s verbal understanding surpasses their normal vocabulary
• Don’t write stories that have already been written (the orphan finding a lost parent, for example); write stories you’ve experienced

Creating a child’s world in a story reflects creating a child’s world in real life. Children’s lives should contain responsibility, comfort, belonging, and decision-making. Everything isn’t miniature, although some things are. Most of what children encounter daily involves learning how to exist in a world created and run by adults. That is an interesting perspective and tension for a children’s book.

A child’s world, therefore, often includes fantasy, make-believe, innocence, and unrestricted optimism. Within those perimeters, you can create stories of struggle and honor, pain and happiness. Children have the profound ability to manage real and make-believe without any damage to their self-esteem.

C.S. Lewis, a master of imaginative children’s literature as well as deep theological apologetics, said, “I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.”

Don’t write bad children’s stories by accident. Write stories that parents want to read, stories about children who are brave and honest. Create a world where children want to live and want to succeed. By doing so, you are helping to steer your reader’s moral compass and worldview.

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