Poor Poky Puppy




What do the people want?  What they want!

How do the people want it?  How they want it!

When do the people want it?  Now!

In my research regarding attaining agented representation and publication, there is so much talk about trends, what sells, and what’s popular now.  Which, I get it – we all have to eat, agents and publishers included.
I’m going to go out on a limb here though and make the following statement:  In my humble opinion, the beloved Poky Little Puppy would not even be able to get an agent today.  

Poor Poky Puppy.  He’s adorable and naughty and we all learned something.  But by today’s standards, (I think strongly) it would be considered boring and lacking character development.  Let’s not even get into the fact that no one would want to publish something that suggests that you feed your snowflake dog anything other than 
the most premium, artisan dog food.

Granted, this is all speculation and many, many parents still own copies of Poky Puppy.  Nonetheless, I hope you can see my point here.  The styles, approaches, and story lines of yesteryear are not valued in the same way.  Much of what is currently popular in children’s books and entertainment is thoroughly injected with stimulation – the brightest colors, the biggest jokes, the craziest plots.  In some ways that’s alright – but on the other hand maybe we’ve lost something too.

If I could write the perfect picture books, let me tell you, they would feel fresh but have that certain nostalgic je ne sais quoi.  At this juncture, I’m just looking for an agent who can share my vision.

In your opinion, what are qualities and characteristics (not topics) that we need to see more of in children’s books today?





#AnitaVP #picturebook #writemore #pokypuppy #nostalgia


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waking Up Early

Waking up early is for the birds.  And writers.  Rising early is key to beating resistance, i.e. whatever it is that keeps one from implementing his or her talents. And honestly: It. Is. Hard.  Especially with a young baby.  But… we all have our excuses.  Even though it is hard, let me tell you why I’m waking up early.  That brief bit of dark morning is the mental equivalent of a clean chalkboard.  Dark, empty, smooth.  Quietly, silently beckoning to be filled with new words.  Undisturbed and uninterrupted, the words flow most freely.  When the mind, the day, and the page are void of noise, ideas can peek over the horizon with steady beauty. Every other part of the day is inherently lacking the above-mentioned qualities.  The rest of my day will be lost to diapers, the kitchen island, and endless emails.  By evening, my brain will have morphed into an applesauce-like consistency.  And that’s alright, so long as I have captured those few morning moments to just write.
Read more

Negative Prefixes – Be Gruntled

Image
          Pictured: The saddest-looking, distraught baby, who has become disgruntled over his mangos. Listen to (or read) this neat bit on the etymology of some common words with negative prefixes .   Most of us are familiar with the construction of adding prefixes like dis- to the beginning of words like “agree” to make the root word negative.   That is “agree” becomes “disagree”, meaning to not   agree. But what about words like “disgruntled”?   Or “disheveled”? The apparent root of the word is not a free-standing word, like in the case of “agree”.   Although the article doesn’t nerd out this far, generally these root “words” are considered to be bound morphemes .   The development of these words is logical, despite the fact that we don’t really “gruntle” or “shevel”. In addition to the words mentioned in the article , some words following this concept that came to my mind were: -           Inept Latin ineptus In- = not Ept = Latin aptus, or “apt”
Read more

A Potential Book: Being Married To The Alpha Male

Image
My husband is a true man’s man – a macho man.   Physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, etc.   And I wouldn’t have him any other way.   He’s big and bulky and buff and gruff.   He has a beard most men would envy.   He makes grunts Tim Allen style and he may be convinced that a little snus has him turned into a sexual tyrannosaurus.   When asked what he wants to eat, the answer typically is “meat.”   He, and I quote, “[doesn’t] have to work out, [he gets] to work out.”   Little bit Paul Bunyan, little bit Spartan, little bit Teddy Roosevelt, little bit Marlboro Man.   From here on out, we can call him Macho Man.   Every fiber of his being is characterized by testosterone – a bona fide, red-blooded, he-man. I’d like to think my feminine charm is some form of black magic antidote.   Perhaps it is – at least in a small and sufficient enough way.   Nonetheless, my black magic or otherwise, we make a great partnership.   Shared values and upbringings mesh; our personal
Read more