I have so much time on my hands and always wanted to give it a go.
I would like to write a book for children age 6-12.
I was wondering if you could tell me what kind of books you and your children are interested in..is it animal story's, adventures, fantasy or daily life story's..or anything else...
Do you like short story's better or books...everything would help.

Dont worry...I would write it in German

Hi,
Good on you? My daughters loved all book's, However at 6 years old they do like short story's rather than long mainly because they get bored after a while so mine loved fairy tale's Also the pictures in books had to be bold and colourful with lots of interesting things to look at.
My middle daughter who has just turned 13 she loves the books written by Jacqueline Wilson the writer of Tracey beaker.
She has been reading her books from the age of 11, also for the older ones i know that they love books also by sue Townsend the writer of Adrian mole they are really good.
I hope you do really well and it is great to see that with time on your hands you could end up being a good book writer.

I have 2 daughters from 9 and 11 my self..if they think its good..maybe other kids like it....maybe one day I could be the new J.K. Rowling
Oh well..dream on...

My kids love Redwall from Brian Jacques...the 11 year old reads all his books at the moment

Hi,
Well if you do become the next J.K Rowling remember i gave some advice first lol.
I think what you are doing is an inspiration to others and i hope you do well.

Hi,me and my OH are in the process of putting together a book for children aged 2 upwards....It's not as easy as you first think!....But good luck to you hope you make it work

I dont think it is easy at all....but if you never give it a go....
People think to write book for kids is easy..specially for the young ones...but I think it is more difficult to write for the very young ones..

Agreed....they arn't polite at saying it's crap...they will just come right out....I am actually wanting to write a book for adults...about life with kids....don't know if it will be anygood...but it helps to keep the sanity....I find you get criticised if you start drinking before lunch

My 18 month old daughter's current favourites are The Gruffalo, The Elephant and the Bad Baby, Where the Wild Things Are, Hooray for Fish. Don't suppose that helps much as she is no where near the age range. From my point of view childrens books have to be well written. Grammatical errors, dodgy rhyming, bad English etc usually result in the book being binned. HTH and good luck.

LOL..thats why I probably will write it in German

You know the saying "write about what you know"? Maybe you could write in narrative or diary form the story of a young boy/girl (or brother and sister) who emigrate? You know, all the material is on these boards, all you have to do is draw on your personal experience and people's comments here to come up with all sorts of material about the trials and tribulations (and joys, of course ) of such an experience - saying goodbye to friends and family, selling and leaving your home, the trip to your new home, cultural differences, different language or accent, different food, transport, visits (and having to say goodbye again at the airport), animals (snakes in Oz!), TV, clothes, etc.

I think emigrating can be a very stressful time for children as well as adults. Maybe a book like this would be good for people to buy for their kids to prepare them for emigration.

I think that's an excellent idea!

I have them now and again.

My 6 yr old adores anything with animals in.
Animal adventures, animals doing daft things, beautiful drawn illustrations are just as important as the text I think.

We also love The Gruffalo.

"But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees and turned out toes
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose".................

A fabulous book to read. So expressionate.

Food for thought - bit high brow:_

"Caveman Dave ...
He lives in a cave ...
He doesn't wash ...
And he doesn't shave ..."

We all love it and there's 6 of us from 3 to 43?

Good luck. I would love to read it as I can read German.

6-12 is a big range. My daughter is 10 and loves stories about girls growing up, like Jaquline Wilson, but also innumerable others- there was a series about kids called Saffy and Indigo (can't remember the author) and some about girls in Puritan times, China etc.

Boys are harder to please, my son liked the Alex Rider spy stories and the Northern Lights series.