Roundup: Where the Wild Things Write

In our Roundups segment, we’re looking back at all the great posts since the blog started in 2009. We explore posts from our archives as well as other top literary magazines and websites, centered on a certain theme to help you jump-start your week.

From Roald Dalh to Shel Silverstein, Ploughshares bloggers have explored children’s books and what we can learn from them about writing.

From Ploughshares

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  Rebecca Makkai tells us “Up and Out: Five Things We Can All Learn from Roald Dahl.”
• Inspired by classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Caitlin O’Neil explains “What You Can Learn About Writing from Children’s Books.”
• In “Knocking Off Mom (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love G-Rated Murder),” Rachel Kadish comes to terms with a common children’s fiction trope.
• Are your friends on your case for reading children’s books? Ali Shapiro offers you poetic validation.

From the Web

• The Huffington Post explores “11 Writing Tips from Children’s Books.”   
• In a slightly different vein, here’s advice from children’s book authors from The Guardian.
• As long as we’re on the subject, how about some life lessons we can all learn from children’s books.
• Tin House explores the “Edible Memories” provoked by children’s books.