by Sue Heavenrich
Welcome to the GROG’s second discussion about Board Books. Today I’m sharing the table with two board book editors, Kate Riggs and Gabriela Baron. So grab your cup of … whatever … and let’s get to chatting!
Kate Riggs edits board books at The Creative Company. She began working as an editor in 2006, and served as managing editor from 2013 through 2021. She left the company in July 2021 but remains a freelancer for Creative Editions and continues to have a hand in producing the picture and board books.
Gabriela Baron has been working as an editorial assistant at Charlesbridge for about three years. With a background in creative writing and poetry, she finds herself drawn to musical stories told in verse. She started acquiring her own frontlist titles over a year ago, mostly picture books and board books so far, but is interested in expanding into middle grade and YA.
Kate: When we dipped our toes into the board book market, we wanted to do it in our own way. So we intentionally made them nonfiction in content/concept, but illustrated with the same beautiful care as any of our picture books. From the beginning, we knew the page count and size we would be targeting, so for the majority of the board books, I wrote the texts within those parameters – basically, seven sentences. The only time we ever adapted one of our original picture books as a board book was with the special title What to Do with a Box, by Jane Yolen and Chris Sheban, which our art director figured out how to construct into an actual box. That was a feat! Things can get changed (not necessarily for the better) when they go from larger-format picture books to shrunken-down board books, and it annoys me when details in the art just get cut out ... as though they were insignificant and not part of a greater plan.
I loved working with Laura Purdie Salas on her most recent books for Editions (as well as Puddle Song, from 2023) because she's a poet who knows how to capture the essence of a thought so beautifully and succinctly, and she can do it in such a way that appeals to both reader and listener. She had submitted Puddle Song to us in 2021, and we signed it as a board book because we thought it would fit perfectly with some of our other board books that were poems rather than nonfiction. So when we were developing the concepts that eventually became When a Butterfly Goes to School and A Home Like This, I approached her about writing the manuscripts. I try not to be too intrusive with the fiction and poetry editing, but we did have to do a little dancing back and forth to get just the right words to encapsulate the concepts in those two books.
Me: I’m going to toss the same question over to Gabriela, but with a twist. Can you also address how you adapt an existing picture book to board book format? Darrin Lunde was one of our roundtable guests last week, and I noticed that his board books have fewer spreads and are sometimes in a different order than the original picture book.
Gabriela: Charlesbridge publishes both original board books and board adaptations, but we tend to do far more adaptations because the margins are much better when you are reusing an existing title. Original board books are a tough category because the print costs are proportionately higher to the price you can charge the consumer, and the number of units you need to sell to be profitable is thus higher as well. So most publishers are quite selective about original board editions.
The ideas for the backlist reuse board book projects can arrive through various channels, but they often come from our in-house creative working groups. And when it comes to books like Hot Pot Night! and Whose Egg Is That? I actually wasn’t the original hardcover editor of those titles. So my goal as board editor is always to preserve the tone and heart of the original picture book but cater it to a younger audience.
The first step in the process is knowing that we’ll have to cut down our typical 32 to 40-paged picture books to fit our standard 20 to 22-paged board book. Vincent Chen’s Hot Pot Night! has super catchy “Hot pot, hot pot” refrains throughout, so when I was trimming the text/spreads, I knew I wanted to keep these sing-song phrases at the beginning, middle, and end to round out the story.
As part of my process, I’ll also talk with the original editor and creators of the book to hear more about their key considerations when they first created the story and what might change given the new audience. When I was turning Whose Egg Is That? into a board book, Darrin Lunde and I discussed which animals we thought would be the most unique and appealing to babies and toddlers. We cut the killdeer from the board edition because having the word “kill,” even as part of a bird name, didn’t seem as fitting. Another animal that doesn’t make an appearance in the board book is the platypus. We felt that the rarity and surprise of a mammal laying an egg wouldn’t make the same impact among our littlest readers, so we opted to cut it (sorry, platypus!).
Trim size and shape are often determined by the illustrations. Kelsey Oseid’s beautiful illustrations travel across the page in Whose Egg Is That?, so we chose a trim size proportional to the hardcover to maintain the horizontal orientation. The playful energy of Hot Pot Night! just called for a shaped book, so the decision to round the edges to mimic a hot pot was a no-brainer.
Me: What do you find is the biggest challenge in creating a book for an adult to read to a very young (0-2 years) child?
Gabriela: I’d say the biggest challenge would be just that! The concept of the book will need to initially catch the attention of the adult buyer and reader, but the story should ultimately cater to the little one who will want to reach for it again and again. It’s the classic conundrum: You are trying to make a book useful and memorable for two groups that differ widely in ages!
Kate: I've always maintained the philosophy that good writing is good writing, no matter the age or audience. When crafting books for the youngest learners, we strive to make them appealing to the ear, engaging for the eye, and palatable for the reader! (Because if it's a good book, you know you'll be reading it over and over.) One of the most satisfying experiences I've had is when children repeat a phrase or remember some detail from one of my board books – then I know [that book] has helped that child form a connection, learn something new, or provided a delight. So much happens as babies develop into toddlers, and we need to give them credit that they can be challenged, that they can connect the dots between their own life experiences and whatever they see or hear in books. It's an incredible privilege to create content for them. (I say this as an editor, writer, and mother!)
Me: What words of advice do you have for picture book authors who might want to try their hand at writing a board book? Or who want to write a picture book with the idea that it might be revised as a board book in the future?
Kate: Keep it simple but not simplistic. The best thing you can do is teach without condescension. Read aloud whatever you write to make sure it will work for the ear as well as the eye. Children are musical; they appreciate rhythm and cadence.
Gabriela: A simple story does not mean uninteresting. Every single word counts. Why might you opt for “stinky” instead of “smelly”? “Why might you say “slimy” over “slippery”? A slight change can make a big difference.
On another note, I often was told in my graduate studies that the easiest way to make a poem boring is writing a technically perfect one. If you are going to follow a rhythm in your story, always break it at least once. And if you’re stuck trying to force an exact rhyme, try out a slant rhyme instead. Or maybe lose it entirely. And remember – some of the most impactful stories are told in the fewest words.
Me: We’ll end with a question I know writers are wondering about: Do you accept manuscript submissions for board books?
Gabriela: Yes, we do! We accept electronic manuscripts (including text-only and illustrated) of all formats ranging from board books through young adult every year during our open submissions period from January to June. For more information on our submission guidelines and materials, you can visit our website at www.charlesbridge.com/pages/submissions
Kate: No, we don’t. We tend to generate concepts/prompts for board books ourselves, and seek out writers to pair with them. So, unfortunately, it's a pretty closed loop at the moment.
Me: Thank you so much, Kate and Gabriela for joining us today and sharing your accumulated wisdom!
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