RhyPiBoMo 2016 Day 2 Author Penny Parker Klostermann

/ angiekarcher

The 2015 Best in Rhyme Award Winner!

 Rhyme Award Best In Rhyme

Last year the RhyPiBoMo Group decided to honor one rhyming picture book as the Best in Rhyme and several honor books. The RhyPiBoMo Facebook Group nominated books that fit the criteria discussed in this post, The Best in Rhyme Committee narrowed the list to the Top 20 RPBs and then voted. This idea bloomed into a book award ceremony and RPB Revolution Conference in New York City last December. Thanks to many people in the group who volunteered many hours to make this happen. Stay tuned for nominations for the 2016 Best in Rhyme Awards!

Here is a link to the award ceremony with more thanks to Julie Gribble of KidLitTV who hosted us, recorded the conference and made it available for us to sell. This recording made it possible for us to have the conference and will help us prepare funding for future conferences. Please check it out! It’s only $49.99 for over 4 hours of video! You get to submit to the presenting agents and editors included with your purchase! Here’s more information about the conference recording.

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Today I am honored to introduce our winner of this esteemed award. Her book THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT is exactly what we should all aspire to write. It includes a brilliant story, lots of tension, a surprising ending and has wagon loads full of poetic techniques that make it a true winner.

Penny Parker Klostermann Image 3

 I’m pleased to introduce

Author Penny Parker Klostermann

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Penny Parker Klostermann Image 2

Author Penny Parker Klostermann

 

You Are the Band: The RPB Best in Rhyme

Award Rubric

A whole month devoted the rhyming picture books! Yes! Great rhyming picture books are pure entertainment.

I know. I know. We’ve all read rhyming picture books that aren’t pure entertainment. But notice I said “great” rhyming picture books. These are the ones that bring it all. That means that the author has done their homework and has paid attention to all elements that belong in a rhyming picture book. This is not an easy feat. As I was thinking about this, it reminded me of a one-man band. Think of one person playing all those instruments and producing music that entertains. Every note . . . every beat . . . must be just right or the audience will lose interest.

That’s why the committee for the Rhyming Picture Book Revolution Conference created a comprehensive rubric to score the books that were nominated for the Best of Rhyme Award. They wanted to make sure the books they chose to receive an award were hitting every note . . . every beat.

Take a look at the elements on the rubric.

Story/Plot/Structure – Clear arc with beginning/middle/end. Incorporates conflict and satisfying resolution that ties back to beginning

Character – Well-developed, active character(s) with distinctive traits and flaws, and a clear want or problem.

Rhyme – Consistently clever rhyme (not predictable) including the use of several multi-syllabic rhyming words. No slant, inversions, or forced rhyme.

Rhyming Pattern – Consistent.

Meter – Consistent meter. No variation, except intended variation for emphasis.

Appeal – Universal kid appeal and includes something for the adult reader

Verbs – Filled with action-packed verbs.

Concept/Theme (Message or Take Away) – Completely original concept or fresh take on old concept. Subtle message kids can grasp, universally relatable. Excellent use of showing versus telling.

Language – Uses 3 or more different poetic techniques with multiple occurrences of the following: alliteration, assonance, consonance,, onomatopoeia, Internal rhyme, metaphor, simile, personification, and has original and clever use of words/phrases, beyond poetic techniques  – wordplay, puns, & phrases including those adults will appreciate/enjoy.

Sentence Fluency – Highly effective sentence length variation or intentional yet highly effective non-variation (by design). Sentence structure enhances the rhythm. Use of repetition is highly effective and purposeful. Overall, word choice results in consistent rhythm. Economical use of words.

To view the entire rubric with scoring criteria click here.

Notice that seven of the ten elements on the rubric have nothing to do with rhyme or meter. Rhyming picture books have to include all the elements in a non-rhyming picture book, plus perfect rhyme and meter. Wordsmith-ing alone will not cut it. Rhyme and meter may get some toes tapping, but it won’t bring readers back to your book if there isn’t a story.

Therein is the challenge. If you decide to take the challenge and write your story in rhyme, remember you are the band. You have to hit every beat, every note. You have to bring every element in the rubric to your story. Yes, it’s challenging. Yes, it’s hard. But in the end, if you hit every note . . . every beat, the music you make will draw readers from all around to hear your story. You will be the band!

Penny Parker Klostermann Image 1

Bio:

Penny Parker Klostermann is the author of There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2015) and the upcoming, A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale, (Random House, 2017). There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight is one of fifteen books on the 2015-2016 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Jr. List and was also named Best in Rhyme 2015 in conjunction with the Rhyming Picture Book Revolution Conference.

Penny loves all kinds of books, but especially loves very silly picture books that make her laugh. She has been known to hug her favorite picture books and seriously hopes that someday her books will gain huggable status too.

 

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Thank You Penny!

PLEASE like our guest bloggers on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, go to their websites and express your appreciation for their time and wisdom! Many have generously donated multiple prizes and this event would not be successful without their support, so please support them! Oh…and buy their books too!!

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To be eligible for today’s prize drawing by Random.org you must comment at the bottom of the page where it says “Leave A Reply” AND add your FIRST and LAST name in the comment. If I don’t have your name or how to contact you via email, you can’t win.

You must be a member of the RhyPiBoMo Facebook Group and if you haven’t officially registered, you are not eligible to win.

Please follow the pledge rules daily to get the most out of this challenge!

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The drawings will be done daily and announced on Saturday of each week.

 

 

210 thoughts on “RhyPiBoMo 2016 Day 2 Author Penny Parker Klostermann”

  4. Joy Main – What a rubric, thank you! A reminder that rhyme should be yummy icing on the cake of an already perfect story.

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    • I think you can apply a lot of the rubric to concept books. Even though they don’t have a traditional arc, there is a lot of organizing to make the story appealing. So for this: Story/Plot/Structure
      I try to concentrate on Structure.

      Reply

  6. So much to think about and precisely why rhyming PBs are so difficult to write! Thanks for a great post, Penny!

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  8. Melinda Kinsman – Great reminders of what everything is that we really should be considering (and a few words I need to look up again to remind myself the meaning of!) Thanks Penny! ❤️😊

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  10. Hi, Penny! Your PB “There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight” is a wonderful mentor text for me. The more I write RPBs, the more I’m in awe of PBs like yours.

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  12. Thanks, Penny! The rubric is great! I love your book, There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed A Knight and I’m sooooooooo looking forward to A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale!!!!! 🙂

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  16. What a great way to start the week! All of your information is helpful, Penny, especially the analogy to a one man band. My instruments need to be in tune and in sync–which is a tall order indeed! There are no shortcuts to writing a good rhyming picture book and the need to heed your excellent advice is a no brainer. Thank you for insightful post.

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  17. Amy Murrell. This rubric is helpful. Thank you for sharing with us. Congratulations on your award. I really love There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed A Knight. It is so clever and well done. I was very forfunate to hear you speak about your writing process at my very first SCBWI event. It was before I had starting writing. You talked about working for days to come up with one clever word. It taught me that was the way it is supposed to be 😉 So, thank you for that!

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  19. Such a good reminder of EVERYTHING that is needed to make a rhyming book work! No easy feat, indeed 🙂
    Kristen Foote

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  20. Penny, thanks for the great post. I love your book The Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight. The one-man band comparison is so true! The rubric guidelines will be a great resource for all of us who are working on our rhyming picture books. – Judy Sobanski

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  25. (from Katelyn Aronson) Penny, I FINALLY read your book and found it wonderful fun! Congrats to you on all your well-deserved success. Love that you hug your favorite books, by the way 😉

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  26. Loved Penny’s book, love that rubric, and love that one-man-band! I have a feeling I’d love Penny, too, if we had a chance to meet! 🙂 Thanks, y’all, for a Monday morning laugh!

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  27. Melanie Ellsworth – Penny, congratulations on winning last year’s rhyming picture book award. I have your book on my must-read list. The rubric is very comprehensive; I look forward to trying it out on my own rhyming picture books!

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  30. Great info, Penny. Everyone needs to keep in mind that just rhyming last syllables isn’t writing in rhyme. Thanks for sharing the rubric with everyone. 🙂

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  31. Kirsti Call: This is a great post, Penny. Thanks for another great reminder of how to make a rhyming picture book sing! I’m taking THE LYRICAL LANGUAGE LAB right now, so this is the perfect compliment to the class!

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  32. This author is so talented! I can only dream of being able to write picture books in rhyme as well as make the readers both adults and kids laugh. congrats on your success and I must read this book.

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  33. Thanks for sharing your insights and the rubric. Time to give my stories another read – this time with a more critical eye. Julie Schuh

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  38. Ellen Leventhal
    I love the rubric, and I love Penny’s book! I think someone brought up an interesting question about a rhyming concept book. I would think most of the traits would still be important. Of course, not story arc. Thanks for a great post!

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  41. Charlotte Dixon

    Congrats to all the folks who make RhyPiBoMo such a success! Thank you, Penny, for the rubric information. I have your book in my personal library and I look forward to seeing other titles written by you. Congratulations on the win!!

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  42. Writing a great picture book is a big mountain to climb but the rubric marks out the path! What a great tool for scrutinating ones stories, rhyming or not! And I just requested There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed A Knight from the library to add to my stack of rhyming picture books! Thanks, Penny and Angie! -Tim Canny

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  43. Jean James
    I just loved the One Man Band Metaphor for the perfect rhyming picture book, and that rubric is so concise and helpful. I love your work and am so looking forward to your next book! Congrats!

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  45. Tanja Bauerle: Thank you so much Penny for your great post and reminding us that Rhyming books still need all those other components that make picture books successful. It ease to get caught up with the musical aspect of Rhyme, that we don’t want to forget to create a great story and book as a whole. Sending you oodles of hugs. It was so nice to get to know you at the ceremony and conference last year. Hope to see you again real soon. T

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  47. Melissa Stoller – Hi Penny – thank you for sharing this rubric. I love your One-Man Band analogy – I printed it out and will refer back to it often. And I love your book, of course!! Thanks!!

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  48. Hooray, Penny! Some day I may attempt a book in rhyme.

    What are your top 5 rhyming PBs (either contemporary or classic)?

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    • Hard, hard question!

      Love so many.

      The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by the one and only Dr. Seuss!
      The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Swartz
      The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman
      Tom’s Tweet by Jill Esbaum
      Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

      I can’t stop!

      Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
      The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
      Cock-a-Doodle Oops by Lori Degman
      It’s Raining Bats and Frogs by Rebecca Colby
      Bubble-Gum, Bubble-Gum by Lisa Wheeler
      Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker

      I could go on…but I’ll stop!

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  49. Great post Penny!!! Thanks for the thorough reminder on all the essential elements to create a rhyming PB master piece.
    It was a pleasure meeting you at the RPB conference and your book holds a prized place in our hearts and on our shelf at our house!

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  50. I love these visual reminders that I can tack up to remind me of the ultimate outcome for each story, rhyming or otherwise! Thanks for sharing 🙂

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