To Quote or Not to Quote: How to Use Quotes Effectively in Nonfiction Picture Book Biographies--guest post by Vivian Kirkfield

Today I (Tina Cho) welcome my critique partner, Vivian Kirkfield, to the Grog Blog. Vivian has so much picture book wisdom to share. Her latest picture book biography, One Girl's Voice: How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon, published in February by Calkins Creek. Something that stood out to me as I read this story was the number of quotes that Vivian shared. I thought she should teach us about using quotes. Take it away, Vivian!

I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to share what I know about using quotes…the words of a real person…in narrative nonfiction picture book biographies. I’ve used quotes in several of my books…last year in PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: Annie Londonderry, the First Woman to Cycle Around the World, illustrated by Alison Jay…and most recently in my newest book, ONE GIRL’S VOICE: How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbbon. Both books are published by Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers – and edited by the incredible Carolyn Yoder (who loves quotes!).…

Using the actual words that a person said (or wrote) is a powerful technique that can draw the reader in, and help the reader really get to know the character. And it can show a prospective editor that you have done your research.

There are three questions I will try to answer for you:

1.    Where can you find quotes for the character you are writing about?

2.    Which quotes should you use?

3.    How can you add them to your manuscript?

Finding the quotes is the first challenge. If the person you are writing about is alive, you may be able to find books they’ve written or interviews they’ve done…in magazines, newspapers, and even on YouTube. When I wrote MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe, illustrated by Alleanna Harris and published by Little Bee Books, I found quite a few of their interviews on YouTube. ANYTHING a person says or writes can be quoted. I didn’t use any quotations in the text of the book, but I did use them in the back matter when I delved more deeply into the lives of those two icons.

As I researched Annie Londonderry for PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER, I found an article she had written for The World, a New York newspaper, after she returned from her globe-trotting trek in 1895. I snagged a dozen or more wonderful quotes from that column.

And for ONE GIRL’S VOICE, the new book about Lucy Stone, I discovered that Lucy’s daughter had written quite a lot about her mother in several books…and in each chapter, she quotes her mother. Lucy was also a great letter-writer and many of those documents are public record in the Library of Congress. Words written in a letter can also be quoted.

I thought it was especially important to use quotations in a book about a woman who used her voice – with each quote, we are ‘hearing’ Lucy Stone’s voice.

The next challenge is to determine which quotes to use. Anyone who writes nonfiction can tell you that one of the problems of doing research is that there always seems to be too much information. What to keep and what to leave out. That same problem can arise when using quotes…not only which quotes to use, but how much of the quote. When I first submitted the Annie Londonderry manuscript, I had not included ANY quotes. But after two R&Rs, I studied other books that the editor had worked on and I discovered that she loved quotes – I added a ton of them – and many of them were LOOOOONG! But the editor acquired the manuscript…and then asked me to trim the quotes to get to the heart of what Annie was saying.

 By the time I sent the Lucy Stone manuscript, I had a more accurate feeling about how many quotes to include – and how long they should be.

My process is to do the research, keeping a VERY careful record of the location of any quotes I might want to use. But I write the rough draft first…and then I see where a quote might strengthen the story or give the reader a deeper understanding of the character.

The final challenge is to decide where the quotes will be placed. Sometimes, a quote might fit perfectly as part of the text.

And other times, a quote might function best when offset, perhaps on the illustration page.

When submitting a manuscript, I think you can always put each quote at the beginning or ending of the text on the spread where you think it will enhance the reader’s experience (in italics) and the editor who acquires your manuscript (let’s think positively!) and/or the illustrator who is hired to do the art will have a vision for how the quotes should be displayed.

To quote or not to quote…if you are writing narrative nonfiction picture book biographies, I encourage you to check out previously published books and study how those authors successfully used quotes. And I hope you check out ONE GIRL’S VOICE…there is a quote on almost every page. At school visits, I encourage the students to raise their hand as soon as they spot the quote – in that book, each quote is offset as part of the illustration – and most of them are written in cursive. It’s a great way to encourage the kids to be observant…and they love to participate!

I hope I’ve helped demystify the use of quotes when writing nonfiction picture book biographies. If you have any questions, please reach out in the comments or contact me via my website: www.viviankirkfield.com.

Writer for children—reader forever…that’s Vivian Kirkfield in five words. Her bucket list contains many more words – but she’s checked off skydiving, parasailing, and going around the world in less than 80 days. A former educator, Vivian inspires budding writers during classroom visits and shares insights with aspiring authors at conferences and on her blog where she hosts #50PreciousWords and #50PreciousWordsforKids. Her nonfiction narratives bring history alive for young readers and have received the Silver Eureka, Social Studies Notable Trade Book, Best STEM Book K-12, Bank Street College of Education Best Book, and Junior Library Guild Selection.