Writing the Picture Book

HOLLY ALDER

Writing the Picture Book

HOLLY ALDER

$219.99

12/05/2024 - 01/02/2025

Enroll Now

01/02/2025 - 01/30/2025

Enroll Now

Picture books are one of the most delightful—and important—genres in all of literature.

In this course, you'll learn how to write a winning picture book narrative, envision it with illustrations, and put together a picture package that a publisher will really notice.

Plus, you'll receive feedback on each assignment from your instructor and have the chance to participate in the peer critique section of the course with other classmates.

$219.99

12/05/2024 - 01/02/2025

Enroll Now

01/02/2025 - 01/30/2025

Enroll Now

Picture books are one of the most delightful—and important—genres in all of literature.

In this course, you'll learn how to write a winning picture book narrative, envision it with illustrations, and put together a picture package that a publisher will really notice.

Plus, you'll receive feedback on each assignment from your instructor and have the chance to participate in the peer critique section of the course with other classmates.

Course outline

Course outline

Each session of this course includes required reading, a written lecture, and a writing assignment to turn in for instructor feedback.


Meet the instructor

Holly Alder

Holly Alder graduated from Northwestern University with an Education/ English double major and an emphasis in children’s literature. She also acquired an M.Ed. from National College of Education in elementary teaching, with an emphasis in grade school art. She taught writing and literature at Principia College for ten years, including freshman English, writing, and children’s literature and writing.

Holly taught writing for five more years at the University of Cincinnati while picking up an M.A. in psychology, and had various jobs in that field, but never found one she could stomach for long. She then accepted the position of manager of the children’s department of one of the first Barnes & Noble superstores, where she has been for fifteen more years, starving, but happily collecting children’s books, teaching children’s crafts, and writing.

Holly has written five children’s plays, three of which were produced, one published, and one of which won an honor award from the National Society of Arts and Letters. She has two children’s craft books published by F&W Publications. She is presently working on a middle-grade reader about the ghost who inhabited the house she grew up in, and a jewelry-making book for teens.

Holly has collected over 4,000 children’s books (in hardback), among which are all the Newbery winners and all the Carnegies. She also has most of the Canadian award-winning children’s books, and is working on the Australian award-winners. She has read nearly all of them. She lives in a little grey house tucked back in a forest (out of cell phone and TV signal paths) under the tip of a hillside beside the Ohio River, with a lovely man, an enormous dog, and, presently, 2 ½ cats.