With picture books, the common writerly refrain of "show, don't tell" takes on literal meaning. One of my last editing stages with the books I write is to go through the manuscript looking for text I can cut because that info can instead be conveyed visually. Kids—we all—appreciate something more when we figure out what is going on; that’s the result of showing.
Take this scene from a childhood favorite of mine, Humbug Witch (SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t yet know this story, blur your vision and scroll down to the Puff, the Magic Dragon section):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjujYsWkyE6QL6qo_iPt5u5VgfYcYso9cfjePhYTTXeFzv_Rcyux5xxEpmclYySZIKcN2jOTT87ijACQx0qrdtzQ-QBUEZ_1Fp80k2drXzJR2fOePNPLGXSNkRLA9oQtiJZRrfO60v5lEwG/s400/Humbug+Witch.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBXyNZn2R8_8a3zuvxLd38kWmCOM1-ptZqa41PMyIqhCIHIfIIr7GBBhtcR2RTSUFKOXtxoxCMmV3VRugNYjztpbVPMQSY_EskcNLtMLRf7w5AF3ImsNFgRWFLh2Sz2evNQmP1gw6ll0mC/s400/Humbug+Witch+spread+1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcR_NwXOPBppxFVbExQQwKZ92EZ07bTquL4C1bJKZgLF5p1h2uduG9J7FK98fPKnUmPA3oq6UrArz0wfJ1OScnXx7WFeaPiUwfqXP_cuqnrXiBu6KKvB9kx39aPBpm_UlDovNBkxCFOn2s/s400/Humbug+Witch+spread+2.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig32MFdyT9QE7pkAQyYnDwFQcTyoD7HTnla4_j2r_lGbaNncKIB0mLXWEH3D3E1ZCuvDmlXR0FNKbkq866Zd4MEUxU3p4NNCZB9Vel_gUK_YXX26qRpPC5W7ComsoUvDImHLPAm4ckuQbz/s400/Humbug+Witch+5.jpg)
Another example comes from the lusciously illustrated picture book adaptation of the beloved Peter, Paul, and Mary song "Puff, The Magic Dragon."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyC4EKiASTURKEab5R5BbB-UxYTLT1E6UDbJd-CixlwDBPRZGfBFt8vp4q0i4aeVySAp_43tp5jYAHLhzHe8uZmjdah1C9vL1hpufONjyZLeQwEZnYj_tnK7VwN3k0fBelMw64EGDHxh_A/s400/Puff%252C+the+Magic+Dragon.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8EoimKdKJOyMjmPiXhojlGxer72I-V_N-zdRaSj10CcKZhf8rYwgVPWkWaonR-1-bAxK-97mP5n7pK-vE1lNJuJXLuoU8M8S3lEMpQMGkxNSYBKKpZrMVSbf1hz6CsZbMBB_lNXs3rF2E/s400/Puff+the+Magic+Dragon.jpg)
Making this all the more noteworthy, the text also doesn’t indicate that there's been a jump in time from the previous spread and the man doesn’t necessarily look like the boy in a bigger body. Readers figure out who these two characters are almost by emotion, not deduction; we want Puff and Jackie to reunite, and here we learn (decades after the song) that—at least once—they did.
Oops, maybe that merited a SPOILER ALERT, too...
(All book text and images shown in this series are copyright their respective creators.)
Part 4.
2 comments:
Lorna Balian had the advantage of being an author-illustrator, and thus could convey different information in her art and text.
I see a lot of aspiring authors fretting over how to use that storytelling technique when the business’s rules say that picture-book manuscripts shouldn’t include art notes.
J.L., somehow I'm only now seeing this comment, and I hear you. I love when a picture book takes full advantage of the medium by leaving some of the primary storytelling to the art.
I feel a pic book manuscript can (and should) include art notes, within reason; in other words, if you write so a surprise reveal is told only through visuals, you HAVE to note that. But unless it's intrinsic to the narrative, no need to request that a character's boots be blue.
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