Child's Play

Author: Savannah L.

Create Your Own Children’s Book

Objective: Students can pair up in groups no larger than 3 to create their own children’s book inspired by one of the readings they have read in class (ex. A Doll’s House, Grendel, Frankenstein). The book should at least be 10 pages long and include pictures, drawn or pasted is fine long as it is appropriate and related to the story, and a cover with the title and authors names. The point of this assignment is to see how well you can interpret the reading into another source.

Remember:

·      Do not dumb it down—think like a storyteller and not something simple to pass up because it is a children’s book, this is supposed to be a story similar to the book you chose to base it on, so it should hold elements that are the same while being its own story.

·      Do not try to make everything rhyme. Just because it is a children’s book does not mean it needs to be simplified to make it understandable. Sometimes adding a rhyme scheme for no reason does not equate to it being easier to do. However, if you are able to create a nice rhyming flow you feel elevates your tale and gives it more power than go for it!

·      Make it fresh and original. While the main point is to have the story be similar to the reading you chose, that does not mean you make it exactly the same, be creative and try to make up your own way of creating your own story while still keeping the message across.

The audience/level for this assignment is generally for high school students to do in their English class that has any assigned readings. They are supposed to create a book that is aimed at young children while also bringing elements of the reading they did into their own story but still making it their own original work. I did an assignment similar back in high school with the book A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, where a friend and I created a children’s version of the story by making it into a fable and presenting it to a class.

credit: idea came from an assignment similar to one assigned to me back in high school.