Cover only from The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry & the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood. Illustrated by Don Wood. Copyright © 2020 by Audrey Wood and Don Wood. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

      FIGURE 3-1: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry & the Big Hungry Bear, a classic tale in picture book format.

Great examples of classic contemporary children’s fantasy include Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda (Puffin Books), J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (Scholastic Press), Eva Evergreen by Julie Abe (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), and Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster (Sourcebooks Young Readers).

      For recently published fantasy examples targeted at young adults, check out Where Dreams Descend, by Janella Angeles (Wednesday Books) and the anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn, by Patrice Caldwell (Penguin Books).

      In fact, nearly every culture has a storytelling tradition that you can research for material. These stories continually inspire writers to write retellings and adaptations, stories that add to or change the source material in some unique way. Here are some excellent examples of retellings: Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (Quill Tree Books), a Cinderella retelling; Beastly, by Alex Flinn (HarperTeen), a “Beauty and the Beast” adaptation; and Bound by Donna Jo Napoli (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), a Cinderella tale set in ancient China.

      Graphic novels and manga

      Although graphic novels and manga are formats (flip back to Chapter 2), they’re also genres.

      While graphic novels can cover almost any topic, many are fantasies. Graphic novels also often cover topics such as action and adventure, comedy, romance, science fiction, sports, historical fiction or nonfiction, and detective content. Recent entries include the middle-grade series Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1), by David Bowles, illustrated by Charlene Bowles (Cinco Puntos Press), and Beetle & The Hollowbones, written and illustrated by Aliza Layne (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). Books to check out in the YA category include Flamer, written and illustrated by Mike Curato (Henry Holt & Company BYR), and Banned Book Club, by Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada, illustrated by Hyung-Ju Ko (Iron Circus Comics).

      Horror and ghost stories

      Horror stories and ghost stories are the creepy, goosebump-inducing stories that make you leave the flashlight on under your sheets — even when you’re done reading. Good ghost stories always suck you in because they’re grounded in reality. After you really fall for the characters and the setting (as if the story were about the family next door), the plot springs something otherworldly on you. For an example of good writing in this genre, check out Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins), with illustrations by Dave McKean.

Getting in on the Action (and History)

      Who doesn’t like an action-packed story that stimulates your mind and perhaps even makes your heart skip a beat or two? We know we do, and so do many other people — children and adults alike. Young readers also find history a very fascinating topic. They crave finding out more about where they and their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors came from and the experiences they and others went through in past times.

      Action/adventure

With very stylized, bold covers, action/adventure focuses on young boys and girls who combat nature, industry, bad adults, and other evils (see the example, The Revenge of Joe Wild, in Figure 3-2). You can find action/adventure stories in early readers, middle-grade books, young adult books, and graphic novels.

      From The Revenge of Joe Wild. Reprinted by permission of Santa Monica Press © 2022.

      FIGURE 3-2: Find action and adventure in The Revenge of Joe Wild.

      

The best action/adventure stories include engaging, well-thought-out plots and a main character who’s smart, self-reliant, and cunning. These stories have a true danger element and often take place in territory unfamiliar to the reader.

      Subgenres of action/adventure include thrillers and espionage (usually involving a spy who must protect their imperiled country, school, or family against an enemy), mysteries, crime-solving stories, and detective novels.

      True stories

Who needs to make up a story when you can find so many true stories out there simply waiting for you to transform them into a children’s book? (See examples of true stories in Figure 3-3.)

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