Planning your Picture Book

I. Reflect back on your personal experiences and previous writing and reading you have done to choose a meaningful issue. 

II. Think about your message. Here are general types of messages to choose from:

• Be yourself
• Be an upstander, not a bystander
• Do the right thing by (ex. not littering)
• Be tolerant of differences 
• Make peace by ... (ex. compromising with your siblings)

III. Think about the type of story you want to read.

Genre:

• realistic fiction
• allegory/fantasy
• nonfiction 

Tone:

• serious
• humorous and light-hearted
• gloomy and depressing
• cheerful
• exciting 

Example:

Message: Don't be embarrassed about your ethnic background. Embrace and appreciate what makes you unique.

List 3 ways to write a story with this message:

1. Realistic fiction:
- young girl gets called weird because her name is Sampaguita; she brings in a sampaguita flower during show and tell to tell people about her Filipino culture

2. Allegory:
- 1 spotted cow gets made fun of by solid-colored cows; solid cow sticks up for her

3. Nonfiction:
- abc book of words spoken at home in English and Tagalog (ex. a is for anak, daughter or son; b is for bibingka, one of my favorite desserts that my mom makes, c is for Cipriaso, my mother's maiden name)

IV. Gather information and use research to develop your story:

• Get inspiration from different texts; for instance, you can write a story based on another story, fairy tale, poem, song, article, film, etc.
• Get facts, anecdotes, specific information about your topic. List questions you want to know about your topic and find sources that answer these questions.
• Consider interview someone who has knowledge of your topic. 
• Conduct a survey to study and get answers about your topic.
• Use visual media as one of your sources (documentary, video interview, news program, etc.)

What do you want to know about your topic? What would you like to research?


V. Read and annotate your sources.

VI. Plan you story.