Kids book ideas, and how to choose the right one

How to pick an idea

Write the idea as one sentence. "Tiny animal homes inside mushrooms" works; "nature" does not. The sentence is your test for every page later: if a picture does not fit it, it does not go in.

• Can you list ten different pictures that fit the sentence without repeating yourself?
• Could a child recognise the main subject of each page in a second or two?
• Is it yours? Original characters only, nothing borrowed from films, TV or games.
• Is it calm enough for when it will be used? Bedtime books want soft endings.

Where ideas come from

• The child: their favourite animal this month, a toy they carry everywhere, a word they keep repeating.
• A day or a night: breakfast to bed, dusk to dawn. A time shape gives a book order without needing a plot.
• A place: a pond, a mushroom village, a lighthouse. Each page is a different corner of it.
• A playful twist: animals made of clouds, a whale that floats in the sky, a half-drawn fox to finish.
• Your class or family: a term theme, a holiday, a mascot the children named.

Match the idea to a format

Some ideas want to be a coloring book: many separate pictures that share a theme. Others want to be a story, with something that changes from start to finish. A few work best with almost no words at all. If you can describe the idea as a list, try a coloring book. If you find yourself saying "and then", it may be a story. If it is something to practise, such as mazes or letters, try an activity book or a workbook.

Kids Books Maker makes six kinds of book: picture storybooks (classic, bedtime or wordless), coloring books, mandala and pattern books, story coloring books, activity and puzzle books, and letter and number tracing workbooks.