I recently had the pleasure of attending a Melbourne book signing, by the best selling children’s author, Jacqueline Harvey.  Of course, it was a beautifully girlie affair (though I did note a couple of dads!) with cupcakes and cordial, and much chat about Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose.

What I wasn’t expecting, was to promptly change from my ‘mum hat’ into my ‘author hat’ when Jacqueline asked the audience of passionate, articulate 7-9 year olds, “What makes a great kid’s story?”

Cue a flurry of enthusiastically raised hands, and a swift lesson in storytelling, that no writers conference could ever have provided!  So, here goes, from the mouths of babes:

What Makes a Great Kid’s Story?

• Straight to the POINT (NO long intros…YAWN)
• NO adults
• Characters that I WANT TO BE
• A BRAVE main character
• ADVENTURE
• Story set in INTERESTING PLACES
• Mystery – a PROBLEM to be SOLVED
• FUN!