Many people believe that writing a children’s book is easy. We at Friedrich-Maerker-Verlag have thought extensively about this topic and know that this is a misconception.
The following outlines the characteristics of good children’s and young adult books. This is followed by an introduction to age-appropriate subject matter and language, the central theme of children’s and young adult books, characters and roles, the goal of stimulating the reader’s development, imagination, and appealing child-friendly illustrations.
In general, it must be said that the texts of children’s and young adult books are kept simple and relatively short. However, this is precisely one of the main challenges in writing such books: using age-appropriate vocabulary and adjusting the text length to the attention span of young readers. Accordingly, a carefully selected vocabulary remains to captivate the young reader and present them with an unforgettable character, a truth, or an adventure.
Age-Appropriate Choice of Topics and Language
A key aspect of successful children’s and young adult books is that they are designed in such a way that children enjoy reading them or having them read to them. The trick is to tell the story in an age-appropriate way, as developmental differences can vary considerably from one year to the next. For this reason, the first step is to determine a reading age, which determines the book’s length, story complexity, and thematic differences. Before a book is published, it should be tested on the target audience. Only after this test has been successful will the book be printed.
The Central Theme
The theme is also important when evaluating a children’s or young adult book. The choice of theme alone can determine success or failure. Young readers want to be addressed personally. Experiences, fears, worries, or even insecurities are typical themes, but the goal isn’t necessarily to present an educational story. Rather, it’s about showing characters who have similar experiences or worries. Very popular themes are friendship, family, jealousy, patience, sharing, courage, or growing up in general. Fears often include, for example, belonging, exclusion, loss, or even monsters under the bed.
Characters and Roles
It helps every story if the main character, or roles and characters, are designed in such a way that the reader can identify with or understand at least one of them. Credibility is crucial here; this can be achieved by creating a character that is funny, so that the reader wants to spend time with them.
The Reader’s Development Should be Encouraged
Really good advice is to write a book that inspires personal development in the reader. Life is subject to continuous development, which is good, and can be facilitated with books that address life situations or specific questions. A key difference between children’s and young adult books and books for adults is that they always have a happy ending. It’s about understanding that it’s possible to overcome problems.
Live out your Imagination
Children are excited by characters who are interesting and different, whether they have special adventures, live in unusual places or times, or are otherwise different from everyday life. As an author, you can set a story in the past, in space, underwater, or any other corner of the world. The possibilities are endless. Monsters who are afraid of monsters or have a quirk are also very popular. A monster who eats ice cream for breakfast quickly becomes the hero of a story. In other words, funny, crazy, and yet believable because they are somehow lovable—that is the ideal to strive for.
Appealing Child-Friendly Illustrations
Illustrations play a crucial role, especially in picture books for the youngest readers. The visual representation should directly engage the reader and reflect the dynamic nature of the topic. Here, the images should not complement the text, but rather illustrate, clarify, and further develop it. Precisely because of the importance of illustrations, we at Friedrich-Maerker-Verlag are happy to enlist the support of illustrators.
The aforementioned characteristics of popular and successful children’s and young adult books can help make a book interesting for children and young people. The publishing team evaluates each book anew to determine whether it will enrich the reader’s experience. Take a look at our books in the shop or in the catalog, where you will also find sample readings. You can find all the information about the books on the website.