If You Build It...Kids Will Come

And Fill It With Joy

I posted on this a while back but since I’ve been running this series on picture books I thought I’d put a pin in it and discuss picture book plot once more before moving on to middle grade and beyond.

For this post, I thought I’d feature a new book - THE YELLOW BUS by Loren Long. (Fair warning - you will cry reading this “simple” picture book. I sobbed. It’s profound and beautiful and reaches far beyond the ordinary. It’s my current Caldecott pick.)

Plot in Picture Books.

Yes, picture books have structure, as do all stories. I made a short video about picture book structure that you can view here:

I recommend watching this before you read the analysis below. And a bit of a spoiler alert here - you’ll learn what the story is about. But please go find it and read it.

The Yellow Bus

The story opens with the yellow bus taking children to school. It’s the setup in the first half of the story, and it gives us the theme and repeating phrases. Most notably, the repetition of “and they filled her with joy”, referring to the kids who filled the bus.

In the second section of the story, at the turning point of pinch 1, the bus now transports seniors, with that key repeating phrase.

We move into Act 2, the zone of conflict with the antagonistic force, when the bus is “retired” and is empty…that is, until what appear to be homeless people begin to fill the bus (with joy) each night for shelter.

During Act 2, the bus is towed out of the city and parked in a field on a farm. This happens right around the midpoint, and on that farm the bus is discovered by a herd of goats, who also fill her with joy.

But then we move into Act 3, as the farmer moves out with the goats. We are now seeing that a big upcoming change is treated with delicacy and beauty as a dam that was built causes the river to bury farm and bus.

But watch! The fish in the river fill the bus with joy. And when you turn the page to the last spread - teachers! Parents! Use this with kids! - if you look very, very hard, you can just barely see the yellow bus under the water.

The Antagonistic Force

When we are deep in Act 2, we clearly know that the antagonistic force is time. It is inexorable change. It is decay. It may even foreshadow death. This is a giant concept for a picture book, right? How does Long make that work?

By creating a story in which the bus is not anthropomorphized. It is referred to as her, yes, but it shows no emotion other than joy, with the exception of its abandonment/retirement at the end of Act 1, a gorgeous and moving spread that presents emotion within imagery and color. And Long also gives the bus “hope” with every return to new occupants that fill her with joy.

Inexorable and Irreversible Change

The other force in every story is that the protagonist of the story - in this case, the yellow bus - must go through irreversible change. (I talked about this in my recent SCBWI summer conference presentation, so those of you who saw or do see that, you’ll see how it applies to picture books).

The bus must change - must go through what appears to be a death-like experience - but is still filled with joy even if the transformation is complete and irreversible. What an amazing way to talk about deep experiences with kids. Look at the way Long uses color to make that point - especially that next-to-last spread with the fish.

In the little video above you’ll find a way to apply a series of questions to your own picture books and I hope you will create one that resonates with as much beauty as THE YELLOW BUS.

PS - It’s behind a paywall but this article about the creation of the book is fascinating.

A Back-to-School Special

For an autumn treat, I am running a special into early September on my Perfect Picture Books Course. If you’ve ever wanted to write a picture book, this course is for you, and you can get it at 40% off. Please check it out at the button here for more details.

And find all my courses - including my free downloads - here:

Happy writing!