A lot of children’s book writers like to write in rhyme, but as any publisher can tell you, it can be exceedingly difficult.
One thing you have to watch out for are “hidden” traps that may not be obvious to you at first glance. For example, in my upcoming book, “The Bear and the Fern” I had this line:
“And one final gift from an uncle and aunt:
a reddish clay pot with a smallish green plant.”
That works. The meter is fine….but it only rhymes if the reader pronounces “aunt” as “ant” – for readers who pronounce it like “awnt”, the line won’t rhyme at all.
It’s important to keep regional accents and variations on pronunciation in mind when writing a lyrical book. If you can’t make it work, you may have to switch up a line or two. In my case, I’ve switched this line to read:
“And one final gift that they liked quite a lot:
a smallish green plant in a reddish clay pot.”
