I am turning the phrase age-appropriate in my head as I pen this column. What is appropriate and who determines it? If the spate of book-bans we see in the US is anything to go by, nothing controversial, different, uncomfortable or even real is appropriate. But my five-year-old nephew learnt about death, evolution and natural selection thanks to his love for dinosaur books. The editor in me wants to cater to his kind of reader. 

When author Bijal Vachharajani and I were discussing her chapter book, Help! My Aai Wants to Eat Me!, where natural selection and animal behaviour are at the core of a very mad idea, we weren’t concerned about the subject being too dark for our reader. It was about how we would inhabit a child’s mind – and how our reader would approach nature’s complexities while still having fun. 

The natural world may seem deeply inappropriate for a child but it’s endlessly fascinating. So how does someone writing about nature land on the right idea for the right age? My first tip: everything and nothing is an appropriate idea. 

Ask yourself these questions instead: 

1. How would I be comfortable relaying this idea, as a piece of fiction or non-fiction? As something that’s a bit more hybrid, like narrative non-fiction? Or a wordless picture book? How we choose a format and genre for a book is as much a reflection on the idea itself as it is on its creator.

2. Has such an idea been written about before and – what did they do right? What gap did their book fill? Did the idea overtake the telling itself? 

3. How old is my reader and what are they most comfortable/​confident reading? Children often read books where protagonists are the same age as themselves because it bridges two worlds, or perhaps even helps them see themselves in the protagonist’s shoes. 

But this isn’t a one size fits all formula. Let’s say you wanted to write a book on snakes. How do you decide what kind of book you should write? Since this is a column on Field Tips, let’s go on a field trip looking for snake books in the wild and understanding why each book exists, who wrote them, and for whom. It’s how I learnt how to be a better editor too. 

Look Out: Hungry Snake! (Kumusha Books) is a fun board book for toddlers on food chains, told specifically through the story of a snake looking for something to eat. Paul Delaney plays to his strengths as an illustrator and uses simple text, flaps and sounds to create a read aloud book that informs us about the eating habits of snakes. There’s clarity in who the reader is, where their interest lies, what this young reader might be capable of comprehending, and how to make this story of a snake’s food habits palatable. 

Another illustrator-led book on snakes is Rohan Chakravarty’s Making Friends with Snakes (But From a Distance) published by Pratham Books. As a comic book artist, Chakravarty’s medium dictates how he chooses to write his story – through comics, of course. Chakravarty wanted to inform readers of India’s snake diversity but also do so responsibly, so that readers know what to do when they stumble upon a snake. This book is for older readers who can fluently read picture books (called Level 3 in Pratham Books) – ones who would venture out by themselves, into fields and playgrounds, and might indeed meet a snake. The reader sees themselves reflected in the protagonists, which is a great way to think of age-groups for your story. 

On the other hand, a different Level 3 book on snakes from Pratham Books, Ajay of Agumbe and the Signal Snake, doesn’t have a young protagonist and is actually about the kind of research being done at Agumbe in Karnataka, around tracking snakes and mapping their behaviour in their natural habitat. Zai Whitaker writes from a place of knowledge, as someone who has closely worked with and observed what we read about in the book. We follow an older man, Ajay, as he goes about his day trying to find the signal snake. What makes this easy to read and relatable is the language and the amount of detail the author chooses to put into this story. By using rhyme and repetition brilliantly, and choosing adventure over information, Whitaker leaves a mystery for readers to solve and keeps the technical parts to the end. Is this something you’re able to do with your book idea? 

And finally, we have How to Promenade With a Python (And Not Get Eaten) published by Tundra Books. A hilarious non-fiction book for kids ages seven and older, it is full of facts about pythons told through wit and breaking the fourth wall (where the author speaks directly to their reader). Rachel Poliquin leans into her strengths as someone who has expertise within the scientific and creative worlds to write a story that never gets the facts wrong in a wholly ridiculous scenario. 

Asking yourself who you are as a writer defines what kind of a book your story will turn into. Do you like exposition? Maybe non-fiction is better for you. Are you someone who can infuse humour and action into your story? Perhaps a chapter book isn’t a bad idea. Do you have a story that can be explained to a four-year-old without the need for a lot of back matter (often written for adults to explain to a child)? Then, go forth and write your story as a picture book. And if you can’t quite figure out how to write the story, that’s what editors like me are for! 

While editing Deepak Dalal’s The Golden Eagle, he and I would often debate about finding the right balance between bird descriptions and plot for his book. While I was always harping on about story arc and pace, Dalal’s focus was always on the birds, which was his strength. And so, that was what we kept at the heart of our chapter book – to inspire an awe of birds and understand how vicious nature can be.

So, what comes first? Is it the age-group? Is it the idea? Is it the format? I wish there was a clear answer to this question. Think of writing as a Rubik’s cube. Reading widely will let you find the style and the format that speaks to you and is most suited for your idea. Workshopping the way you want to tell your story will let you see your idea from several perspectives. And never underestimating your reader will just earn you more fans. 

Read, research, rewrite. Rinse and repeat. 

About the author: 

Smit Zaveri is a freelance children’s book editor and publishing consultant who has tried on many children’s publishing hats — editing, marketing and sales. She has been the editor on several award-winning books such as The Jungle Radio, Jamlo Walks, Afo and I, Maithili and the Minotaur during her stints at Puffin and Pratham Books. She has collaborated with Azim Premji University on several editions of the Nature Writing for Children workshop. As a perpetual city-hopper, she simply calls any city where her oven is home.