Writing A Children’s Book : Halloween
My sisters have encouraged me to write children’s books with a holiday theme. My first attempt at this was “Ten Little Pumpkins”. I included all my grandchildren in the book, a few great nephews and who else but my dynamic sister duo of Ellen and Jane.
“Ten little pumpkins all in a row. Each one wondering who would be the first to go.”
Generating a Concept
All my grandchildren love pumpkins, so going to the pumpkin patch seemed an ideal way to start a Halloween story. Each child goes to the patch and picks out his or her favorite pumpkin. That was not enough for me, I included some math to go along with the disappearing pumpkins. My grandson Cody just couldn’t figure out how I made a pumpkin drawing disappear each time. I would say, “Magic.” And he would say, “Oh, come on, MomMom.” I wasn’t lying, it was the magic of technology that allowed me to white-out a pumpkin each time one was taken by a child.
Building the Plot
In this book I wanted to incorporate a math problem or two when each pumpkin was taken by a child. This is how I did it.
Who would visit the patch?
What type of pumpkin were they looking for?
What math problem would I incorporate into the story?
Tying It All Together
After each child chooses his/her or their pumpkins, I present a the math that will help children to understand how many pumpkins are left. At the end, the statement that the pumpkins are wondering who will be the next to go.
The Conclusion
By the end of the book, all the pumpkins have been chosen and left the patch.
Illustrating the Story
So once the story was written, the illustrations came next. This book is the first time that I used the program, Procreate, to draw my characters and to erase the pumpkins as they left the patch.
Your Turn to Create a Story
Young children are often learning new skills such as counting or addition or subtraction. I like the concept of the introducing the language of math within the overall of the excitement of picking a pumpkin. What educational skills could you introduce through a story? Think about it. Add some of the children that you know to increase their interest in the book/story. I know that you, too, can do this! Give it a try.
