I am working on a picture book right now that is written in the second person point of view. I know this is the least used POV and not everyone is a fan, but I’m going to try it anyway. Talking directly to the reader, You, is a different way of telling a story from the more typical first or third person of most picture books, but when done well, they can be a really fun way of involving the child with the story.
Research is always a good idea when writing a story, so I checked out a few second person picture books from the library. How did other authors do it?
In When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree, by Jamie L.B. Deenihan and Lorraine Rocha, a little girl on her birthday is waiting for a visit with her grandma. The story opens right away with:
You were hoping for one of these:
followed by a wish list of electronic toys like headphones and a robot dog. But the title has already given it away. She gets a lemon tree. What follows is a how-to manual of sorts for how to handle unexpected disappointments with manners and an open mind. The little girl may not have wanted a lemon tree, but when she is told:
Now listen closely. This is important. Place your lemon tree in a sunny spot.
she follows the directions for taking care of her unexpected gift. It grows, and so does she. When she picks lemons off of her tree the following year, she makes lemonade and uses the proceeds to buy not a robot dog or headphones, but more plants for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.
The cheerful, lemon-yellow illustrations throughout really complement the story. I love the hand-written with crayon list of wished for gifts. And the pictures of children who put down their electronic devices at the end and enjoy the natural world for a moment are a subtle bonus message.
I think the second person POV brings a directness to the story, making it not just about the girl on the page, but anyone who reads it. Many children have received gifts they did not like, so it is easy to be pulled into story. A perfect complement to the adage it’s based on, When life gives you lemons…
The How-to category of picture books seems to lend itself to the second person voice. There are many picture books with How To in the title, including the one I am working on. Many use humor and an unexpected subject matter to give advice to young readers, like the next book I read, How To Make Friends With A Ghost, by Rebecca Green. Curious readers will learn about a different kind of friendship in this fun and only slightly spooky read.
It really does read like a guidebook of sorts to finding and befriending a ghost. It starts by saying the reader might be frightened by the thought of becoming friends with a ghost,
But I assure you, ghosts are sweet creatures who need friends too. And who better to befriend them than you?
Good advice for anyone trying to make new friends with someone different. What follows is a handy classification guide to identifying ghosts, a humorously disgusting list of what they like to eat, and suggestions of things they like to do like listen to ghost stories. A nice twist to books about making friends and keeping them for life, and in this case the beyond. After a long life of friendship with her ghost, the girl dies, and they are literally forever friends. It sounds morbid, but it is a sweet moment helped by what I call the modern adorable gothic illustrations. The palette is mostly charcoal gray and sepia tones with small touches of light red. Dark, but not scary. The ghost has pink cheeks!
I like how the book is divided into chapters with an introduction, parts 1, 2, and 3, and with do’s and don’ts suggested throughout along with the advice of ghost expert, Dr. Phantoneous Spookel. It reminded me of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased in the movie Beetlejuice. Spooky, quirky fun for young readers.
Finally, I read How to Write a Story, by Kate Messner and illustrated by Mark Siegel. You can’t go wrong with a Kate Messner book. She always knows how to get right to the essence of the story. She also breaks down her book into steps. The first step tells future authors:
Search for an idea–a shiny one.
Love that word shiny. Good advice for adult authors. Then she follows with ten other important steps to story writing like setting, character, and the plot, or “dream up a problem for your main character,” as she calls it. Throughout the story we see a little girl and a squirrel sidekick dreaming, plotting, and sharing a story about a mermaid fighting a sea monster. Her words are handwritten on the page complete with edits and notes, like a real writer. By writing this book directly to readers, I think the second person POV emphasizes how much the reader or the you is an important part of story writing. (see also How to Read a Story by Kate Messner). At the end, she advises:
When your story is over, and everyone’s gone, start searching for a new idea that wants to be written…
Yes. That’s what I intend to do after I try my hand at second person POV. You should too!
