1. A picture book is 32 pages long, with a simple, clear story and lots of pictures.

2. Picture books are for children who are not old enough to read on their own. The stories must be about the universal experience of young children. For example, a young boy might want to learn to whistle or he might be jealous of a new baby sister, or long to have a friend.

3. The goal of every picture book is to be a complete and harmonious work, where words and pictures complement each other. Even so, the text of a picture book should be easily understood without the illustrations. Think of the story being read over the radio.

4. A picture book plot should be simple and clear, yet strong and appealing. For this, a writer should have a strong sense of the details of a child's world. Remember that almost everything in a child's world is bigger than the child. The details of your story help to make it come alive for your readers.

5. Picture books use very few words. There should be just enough text to tell the story. Some picture books are complete with only 300 words. Others are 1,000 words. In all, description is kept to a minimum.

6. The story should come from the desires and feelings of the child. Stories can deal with all the feelings that children have: anger, yearnings, fantasies, and desires for new experiences. Children are curious about everything in the world because the entire world is new to them.

7. A picture book must not be static. The story should offer plenty of different scenes for the artist to draw. The scenes can be outdoors and indoors, for example, or close-ups and longer views.

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