31 UNIVERSAL THEMES IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE- Jean Hall

My daughter-in-law is a first-time mom to my newest grandchild. Dylan is four months old and, of course, absolutely beautiful in all 59 shades of pink that she wears. About a month ago her Mommy started reading to Dylan. Both of them enjoy the experience immensely. Dylan is rapt at the sound of Mommy’s voice. And Mommy is fascinated that little board books and picture books can carry so much truth and drive it straight into her own heart.

That’s why I write books for young children. When done well THEY ARE POWERFUL.

Author Nancy Lamb explains one of the reasons for this power in her masterful book The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. Page 19.

“Although first books are generally simple, there are several qualities that elevate the best of them to classics, including the fact that the most notable books deal with universal themes. Loss, fear, love, anxiety, anger, loneliness, joy, curiosity, greed, humor. All the things that make us laugh and cry—the things that mark us as human. The more of these attributes you use in one book, the more effective that book will be.”

most notable books deal with universal themes. Loss, fear, love, anxiety, anger, loneliness, joy, curiosity, greed, humor Share on X

Theme can be stated as one or two words that tell you what your book is about. What is the succinctly stated thing that your reader should take away from your book?

Another way to think of it is: what does your main character learn, or how does she change in the process of the story? In one or two words. That’s the theme.

The most memorable children’s (and YA) books revolve around one or more universal themes. That is, themes that are common to most readers in your target audience.

Try these 31 themes on for size

• Family
• School
• Parents
• Grandparents
• Siblings
• Friendship
• Holidays
• Imagination
• Honesty
• Faith
• Generosity
• Prejudice
• Growing up
• Compassion
• Equality
• Death
• Fairness
• Persistence
• Loneliness
• Bravery/Courage
• Cooperation
• Self-control
• Kindness
• Hope
• Determination
• Acceptance
• Hard work
• Peace
• Differences
• Loyalty
• Taking a stand

Of course, there are more than 31 universal themes. This list is just to get you thinking

Now think about your own manuscripts: stories, nonfiction (Yep. Nonfiction can be about more than animals or electricity!), novels, picture books, mid-grades, chapter books. Don’t be in too much of a hurry. Think about your story and your characters. What happens to them? How do they change? Do one or two of these 31 words pop to the center of your brain?

Does that word or two (Maybe you can fudge and use three.) tell me what your story is REALLY about under the surface? A theme has to be there—swimming beneath the surface of your story—if you expect to make an impact on your readers.

And if you expect to see your book on shelves for a long time to come.

As a second exercise list some of your favorite children’s books. Now, as Pooh says, “Think. Think. Think.”

Are your favorite books possibly about any of the words listed above? When you remember your favorites do you automatically start thinking about anything on our List of 31?

You shouldn’t need (or want) to tell your reader anywhere in your story what the theme is. That doesn’t work. Nope. Kids will put that book down and search for another one. In great, lasting books most readers are able to figure out for themselves what the story is about; what the main character figured out as he or she experienced the events of that story. Why? Because you have skillfully told your tale and allowed the truth of your theme to rise to the surface all by itself.

Yes-doggies! Don’t we want our young readers to experience our stories and learn something from them right alongside our main characters?

Don’t we want our readers to LIVE that story with the protagonist? If your book does that then readers are going to dig through its pages again and again. And that book will be yet another tool to mold them into the people they are becoming.

And that’s why we write our stories in the first place. Isn’t it?

As a pre-teen, Jean Hall dreamed of being an architect or an interior decorator. As a high school student, she dreamed of being anything BUT a teacher. As a college student, she dreamed of being a vocalist. As an “over-fifty” woman she dreamed of writing stories for children. But, as life unfolded it seemed that none of those dreams would come true.

But,

Jean spent twenty-six years teaching children and teens–and loving it!.Then twenty more years teaching women’s Bible studies. She never designed a house, but she lived in, and decorated on a shoestring, more than a dozen houses. She never performed before thousands, nor recorded any music. But she sang hundreds of times leading people in praise to the LORD. Now, she is working hard and trusting God to lead her down the road to traditional publication.

Sometimes our dreams come true in ways we couldn’t imagine.

It is Jean’s daily prayer that The Christ within her shines through the cracks and broken places of her dreams and that Christ shines through the things she writes to uplift, encourage and inspire others.