Dianne White

Dianne White, M.F.A., author of the award-winning Blue on Blue, Green on Green, and Who Eats Orange? and many other published and forthcoming picture books, including Goodbye Brings Hello, Sometimes a Wall, Winter Lullaby, Look and Listen and Dark on Light.  

Instructor Statement: Writing picture books is a joy and a calling. Young readers deserve the best we have to offer and, as both a writer and a teacher, I take this responsibility seriously.

I believe that creating books that speak to young readers is the perfect balance of meaning and music, words and illustrations. A picture book writer chooses the “just-right” words and arranges them, like poetry, into their “just-right” order. It’s a process of discovering what we want to say, why we want to say it and how we will convey deeper emotional truths in ways that respect the young child’s world.

As we write and revise, we will study mentor texts, complete exercises, and discuss how specific tools in the poet’s toolbox - rhythm, repetition, beginnings and endings, etc. – make the music of our texts echo the meaning of our stories. I look forward to exploring the marvelous world of picture books together!