ISO: Kids' Picture book tropes (all of them!)
October 4, 2021 7:59 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a list of tropes in children's books tropes. I've asked for examples of books using specific tropes or plot points in the past. Now I'm looking for a master list of similar kinds of tropes.
As you know from my constant AskMes about children's picture books and about PhotoShop, Illustrator, and InDesign, I make books for my son. Christmas is coming up and I need to get writing and illustrating. I'm still brainstorming story ideas, though. So help me out!
Here are some things I've asked for examples of in the past, to just give you an idea of the kind of thing I'm looking for:
1. Character travels switching between modes of transportation.
2. Kid visits the North Pole.
3. Character makes bigger and bigger more extreme versions of thing.
4. Character needs to find a series of things to meet goal.
5. Quests/Magical Vehicles/Lost Items/Wise Guides/Changing Landscapes
6. New guests arriving over and over
So...give me a list of a million of these. Note: I don't need the list to include examples or descriptions (though it's fine if it does). As you can see, I have a source for finding examples once I decide what I'm looking for. :)
As you know from my constant AskMes about children's picture books and about PhotoShop, Illustrator, and InDesign, I make books for my son. Christmas is coming up and I need to get writing and illustrating. I'm still brainstorming story ideas, though. So help me out!
Here are some things I've asked for examples of in the past, to just give you an idea of the kind of thing I'm looking for:
1. Character travels switching between modes of transportation.
2. Kid visits the North Pole.
3. Character makes bigger and bigger more extreme versions of thing.
4. Character needs to find a series of things to meet goal.
5. Quests/Magical Vehicles/Lost Items/Wise Guides/Changing Landscapes
6. New guests arriving over and over
So...give me a list of a million of these. Note: I don't need the list to include examples or descriptions (though it's fine if it does). As you can see, I have a source for finding examples once I decide what I'm looking for. :)
Kid gets overwhelmed with stuff and then learns meaning of holiday spirit
Kid struggles with new skill and then achieves new skill
posted by vunder at 9:05 PM on October 4, 2021
Kid struggles with new skill and then achieves new skill
posted by vunder at 9:05 PM on October 4, 2021
Response by poster: Thanks! But I wasn't actually imagining mefites could list all the tropes (though I'm fine with it if you do). I was thinking there must be a list somewhere and some mefite would know how/where to find it and could link it. Brainstorming them all right here seems hard.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:09 PM on October 4, 2021
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:09 PM on October 4, 2021
A family is a tall dad, a short mom, a boy, a girl, a baby, a cat, a dog, and a goldfish.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:42 AM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:42 AM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Maybe this list of Picture Books listed in TV Tropes could get you started?
posted by mskyle at 6:00 AM on October 5, 2021
posted by mskyle at 6:00 AM on October 5, 2021
Hi, children's librarian here.
Don't know of a resource for this, but one of the oldest and most common tropes is what a former coworker called, The Defective Animal. (kangaroo with no pocket, pig who likes to be clean, bird who can't fly, etc...)
You probably already know that patterns of three are common in Western picture books (two failed attempts at something and the third succeeds is how it often plays out.)
Also not on your list is books about relationships. Lots of making friends books (or fighting and making up with friends) sibling rivalry (or meeting new sibling) books.
I'll ask around re: a good list.
posted by tangosnail at 7:17 AM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Don't know of a resource for this, but one of the oldest and most common tropes is what a former coworker called, The Defective Animal. (kangaroo with no pocket, pig who likes to be clean, bird who can't fly, etc...)
You probably already know that patterns of three are common in Western picture books (two failed attempts at something and the third succeeds is how it often plays out.)
Also not on your list is books about relationships. Lots of making friends books (or fighting and making up with friends) sibling rivalry (or meeting new sibling) books.
I'll ask around re: a good list.
posted by tangosnail at 7:17 AM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also, obviously, your best resource is picture books. Spend an afternoon at your library reading lots of them and make your own list. :)
posted by tangosnail at 7:25 AM on October 5, 2021
posted by tangosnail at 7:25 AM on October 5, 2021
Picture book adjacent:
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index)
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature
Fairy Tale Tropes
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:08 AM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU Index)
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature
Fairy Tale Tropes
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:08 AM on October 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The closest things I've found so far to what you want are this page that lists common picture book plot structures and this other page on picture book structure.
posted by Redstart at 8:18 AM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 8:18 AM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Since the list of a million tropes doesn't seem to exist, here's a list of 8 I thought of:
searching for the right thing
e.g. Are You My Mother? (baby bird meeting different animals/things that are not his mother and finally finding the one that is) and Home for a Bunny (bunny checks out homes of different animals but none seem right for him, then finally finds the right home for him)
series of examples
e.g. the Dr. Seuss books Happy Birthday to You! (showing cool gifts and activities you get on your birthday in Katroo) and Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book (showing different creatures and how/where they sleep)
overcoming a fear
Character is afraid of something but overcomes the fear in the end
defect turns out to be a good thing
Character has a defect or unusual feature that turns out to be helpful or admired (e.g. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer)
being kind pays off
Character meets another character or series of characters who seem incidental to his goal, helps them or treats them kindly and later finds that those characters are able to help or save him/her (and want to do it because of his/her previous kindness.)
compromising
Two characters want conflicting things or don't want to share, but they eventually hit on a compromise or win-win solution or figure out how to share the thing they want.
learning to like the new thing
Character is faced with a new situation that seems worse than the old one (new school, new sibling, new step-parent, new home) and gradually realizes it's not all bad, maybe some things about it are actually pretty good.
slice of life
A day in the life, or maybe just part of a day, or a few weeks, or a year. Maybe it's interesting because it's in the past or in a place very different from where you live or the characters are pirates or dinosaurs. Or maybe something special happens like a big snowstorm or a holiday or a lost tooth. Examples: My Farm by Alison Lester, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
posted by Redstart at 9:16 PM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
searching for the right thing
e.g. Are You My Mother? (baby bird meeting different animals/things that are not his mother and finally finding the one that is) and Home for a Bunny (bunny checks out homes of different animals but none seem right for him, then finally finds the right home for him)
series of examples
e.g. the Dr. Seuss books Happy Birthday to You! (showing cool gifts and activities you get on your birthday in Katroo) and Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book (showing different creatures and how/where they sleep)
overcoming a fear
Character is afraid of something but overcomes the fear in the end
defect turns out to be a good thing
Character has a defect or unusual feature that turns out to be helpful or admired (e.g. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer)
being kind pays off
Character meets another character or series of characters who seem incidental to his goal, helps them or treats them kindly and later finds that those characters are able to help or save him/her (and want to do it because of his/her previous kindness.)
compromising
Two characters want conflicting things or don't want to share, but they eventually hit on a compromise or win-win solution or figure out how to share the thing they want.
learning to like the new thing
Character is faced with a new situation that seems worse than the old one (new school, new sibling, new step-parent, new home) and gradually realizes it's not all bad, maybe some things about it are actually pretty good.
slice of life
A day in the life, or maybe just part of a day, or a few weeks, or a year. Maybe it's interesting because it's in the past or in a place very different from where you live or the characters are pirates or dinosaurs. Or maybe something special happens like a big snowstorm or a holiday or a lost tooth. Examples: My Farm by Alison Lester, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
posted by Redstart at 9:16 PM on October 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
My current audio-read is Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling which cross references themes in fiction with findings in psychology. tl;dr we're still paleolithic hunter-gatherers who gossip a lot to enforce local social norms.
Storr cites Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales - largely plagiarised apparently but might be worth checking for a List.
The super prolific Marina Warner is a list in herself but Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale might be a place to start.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:05 AM on October 6, 2021
Storr cites Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales - largely plagiarised apparently but might be worth checking for a List.
The super prolific Marina Warner is a list in herself but Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale might be a place to start.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:05 AM on October 6, 2021
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Dead dad
posted by tristeza at 8:44 PM on October 4, 2021