I still remember the moment I felt God calling me to write for children. My first thought was, This will be so much easier!
I was so wrong. And looking back, it’s a little hilarious.
Children’s writing may be the most demanding craft discipline there is. Every word fights for its place on the page. There is no filler, no throat-clearing, no easing into your point. You have approximately thirty-two pages — often far fewer — to build a world, develop a character, deliver an emotional arc, and leave a young reader wanting more. That’s not easier. That’s a different kind of hard.
And the audience? Brutally honest. Children are the most discerning readers alive. They don’t finish books out of obligation. They don’t keep reading to be polite. If you lose them, they’re gone — off to something more interesting, like the dog or the ceiling fan. To earn their attention, your writing must be genuinely captivating.
Consider The Panda Problem by Deborah Underwood. On the surface, it’s a silly book about a panda who insists he doesn’t have a problem. Underneath, it’s a masterclass in irony, conflict in storytelling, comic timing, and subverted expectations — delivered in language a five-year-old can follow. Or Enemy Pie by Derek Munson, which handles friendship, suspicion, and grace with more emotional intelligence than most adult novels manage. Neither book is simple. Both are brilliant and two of my all-time favorites.
This is the calling we carry: we are writing for readers who are still learning to love reading. What we put on the page may shape whether they ever do. That’s one of the most important responsibilities a writer can hold.
So if you’ve been hesitating to submit your work because you feel like children’s writing isn’t serious enough to pursue — or serious enough to struggle over — let that go. The craft is real. The calling is real. And the readers waiting for your story are worth every hard-fought word.
Ready to find out your next steps in your writing career? Want to meet other like-minded creatives? Join us for Storybook Inkspiration at the Castle this August IN A CASTLE!