Picture Book Workshop Right Around the Corner!

The picture book market is highly competitive, with thousands of writers attempting these deceptively difficult works of art. Southern Breeze PAL members Randi Sonenshine and Dori Kleber will teach you two ways to make your picture book one that editors and publishers will want.

First, Randi will present strategies to ramp up the value of your picture book for today’s busy teachers. She’ll share insights into how and why teachers use picture books, as well as which content, structures, and features matter most in today’s classrooms. You’ll also learn which literacy skills and standards span multiple content areas and grade levels and how to seamlessly incorporate these into your picture books, giving them a life far beyond Circle Time.

Then, Dori will show you how to craft a satisfying narrative picture book using the classic “Hero’s Journey” story arc, first imagined by Joseph Campbell. Although many associate the Hero’s Journey with epic stories like “Star Wars,” you’ll see that its framework is equally useful for taking a character through a story that’s only 32 pages long. You’ll learn to recognize the Hero’s Journey in mentor picture book texts and apply it to your own manuscript to strengthen your story arc.

Dori and Randi will devote the final part of the workshop to providing feedback on the opening pages of picture book manuscripts submitted by attendees. Please bring a manuscript in progress if you want to participate in this “First Pages Critique.”

Picture Book Workshop
Saturday, Sept. 16, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Marietta, Ga.

 Registration: SCBWI Southern Breeze

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK with Randi Sonenshine

Light Your Imagination at #SBreeze16 WIK
with Randi Sonenshine

Randi Sonenshine has been an educator and professional developer for over twenty years. An instructional literacy coach and member of the ELA Advisory Council for the Georgia Department of Education, she has taught high school English, middle school language arts, and college reading. As a children’s author, she is represented by Kendra Marcus at BookStop Literary. She lives in northwest Georgia with her husband and two sons. You can find Randi at Facebook, randisonenshine.com, theproseytree.blogspot.com or on Twitter as @rsonenshine.

WORKSHOP

• Not Just for Circle Time: Enriching your Picture Book with Content Connections    Picture books provide the perfect bite-sized segue into core disciplinary concepts and complex literacy skills that span content areas and grade levels. But how can writers navigate the tangled maze of standards that leave many experienced educators shaking their heads? And which standards are the most important, anyway? In this session, participants will learn the answers to both of these questions, plus other practical tips for writing picture books that teachers will turn to again and again! audience: Writers and illustrators, all levels.  

 

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

 CLICK HERE to be directed to our registration page! 

~See you in October~