If you’ve taken the time to look through the flash previews of our books, you’ve noticed that every book in our catalogue is written in rhyme.  Children’s books don’t have to rhyme, and some if not most of my favorites DID NOT.

So why are mine in rhyme, and should yours rhyme?  Here are a few things to consider when deciding whether or not to employ rhyme.

Rhythm:  Rhyme without rhythm feels forced and awkward, as if you are rhyming for ryhming’s sake.   Rhythm is what makes the final word feel “right” and the idea complete.  It also makes the flow of reading easier and more pleasurable for your little ones.  In my blurb on “Tacky the Penguin,” I wrote about his companions, Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect.  The names don’t rhyme, but they belong to a common theme and they all have a two syllable, stressed, unstressed pattern (known to poetry geeks as a “Trochee”).  To me this is every bit as good as rhyming.

Finding the Right Rhyme:  We’re all tired of trite rhyme.  Why do I feel so bad?  Why am I so sad?  I got a achin’ in my Heart.  I can’t stand to be apart.  I pray to God above.  That you’ll come back, my love.  BLECH!!!  Too often, the rhyme becomes the goal rather than the idea.  Sometimes, rhyme will force you to use a word you wouldn’t have chosen first.  This is not always a bad thing.  If you were going to say, “He was stuck in bed,” but are forced for the sake of the rhyme scheme to say, “He was lost in the sheets,”  I’d call that an improvement!   

Putting constraints (like rhyme or word limit) on your art forces you to rethink your stock or knee-jerk impulses.  Far from an impediment to expression, they will send you down creative paths you would not have otherwise explored.

As for why I wrote in rhyme, I must confess that in addition to my intention that these books be read aloud at story time, it was simply more fun for me.  I enjoy puzzles and each book was like putting free floating phrase pieces together.  They couldn’t be forced, I simply had to FIND the right one.   Confession time, I did have help.  RhymeZone.com was a fantastic and free online tool that I used to spice up my vocab.   

Should your stories rhyme?  It is a personal question that only you can answer, but I suggest at least TRYING rhyme.  Even if you decide the prose works better, it may help you discover one unique word or phrase that is worth keeping!

***A quick tip to make your rhymes less “predictable”: place the least ordinary word of the pair in the consequent (second) phrase and build up to it.