I confess: I’m a How-To Book Junkie.
                      Below I’ve listed some of my favorites that pertain to writing.
 Click on the title to view a book’s description, or to order a copy from Amazon.com. 
                                                        


                         Writing and Illustrating Picture Books


Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books, Uri Shulevitz 

How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books and Get Them Published, Treld Pelkey Bicknell and Felicity Trotman

Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books for Publication: Two Perspectives, Berthe Amoss and Eric Suben

How to Write, Illustrate, and Design Children’s Books, Frieda Gates 


                      Writing for Children and Teens



You Can Write Children’s Books, Tracey E. Dils

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books, Harold Underdown and Lynne Rominger

The ABCs of Writing for Children, compiled by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff

How to Write a Children’s Book and Get it Published, Barbara Seuling

Writing for Children and Teenagers, Lee Wyndham

Writing for Young Adults, Sherry Garland

It’s a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: A Writer’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today’s Competitive Children’s Book Market, Olga Litowinsky

Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market (updated annually), Writer’s Digest Books

Exploding the Myths: The Truth About Teenagers and Reading, Marc Aronson

An Author’s Guide to Children’s Book Promotion, Susan Salzman Raab Writing 



                               Writing (general)


Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lammot

Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande; foreword by John Gardner

Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True, Elizabeth Berg

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King

Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft, Jane Yolen

The Right toWrite: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life, Julia Cameron

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within and Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life, by Natalie Goldberg

An Editor’s Advice to Writer’s: The Forest for the Trees, Betsy Lerner

Fiction: The Art and Craft of Writing and Getting Published, Michael Seidman

Let the Crazy Child Write: Finding Your Creative Writing Voice, Clive Matson

Beginnings, Middles & Ends, Nancy Kress 


                           Recommended Websites



Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators: www.scbwi.org

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books: http://bccb.lis.uiuc.edu

The Children’s Literature Web Guide: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/

The Purple Crayon: www.underdown.org

Children’s Book Council: www.cbcbooks.org

Children’s Literature: www.childrenslit.com

The Horn Book: www.hbook.com

American Library Association: www.ala.org

Writing Children’s Books: www.write4kids.com

Young Adult Library Services Association: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook.htm