Mentor Text Pick - The Book That Almost Rhymed

The Book That Almost Rhymed - written by Omar Abed and illustrated by Hatem Aly

"Every great adventure needs a hero—or two! This playful take on storytelling and equity proves that two tellers can make a rhyming tale twice as nice.

What do you do with an interrupting sibling? Especially when she’s stepping all over your story with wild ideas that don’t. Even. Rhyme. Knights riding rockets? Dancing pirates? Who’s ever heard of a fire-breathing armadillo?! But when this big brother realizes his sister just might be improving his yarn—and doing it with an impressive surprise of her own—it’s clear what you do with an interrupting sibling. You share the narrative! Turns out adventure is way more fun when you build it together, rhyme by daring rhyme." ~ Penguin Random House

Let me begin by saying that while I am using this book for my Fall Mentor Text pick, it could easily have been used for my Read Aloud pick AND for my Bedtime Story pick! In other words, my students, my own children and I all ADORE this book.

Now let's dive in.

Writers, let's be real, we've all heard discouraging things about RWQ - Rhyming While Querying. One look at Manuscript Wishlist's picture book agents is enough to scare most writers away from it--various kidlit agents specifically warn: no rhyming submissions, please. The reality of rhyme in kidlit is more complex, though. Most agents shy away from rhyme simply because rhyme is extremely hard to do WELL in a picture book. If you decide to RWQ, ask yourself: Why does this story need to rhyme? Could it be told just as well without rhyme?

Author Omar Abed knocked it out of the publishing ballpark with the rhyme in The Book That Almost Rhymed, not just because his technical rhyming skills are flawless, but because the story that Abed has so brilliantly crafted in this book HAS to rhyme for it to make sense - there is no way this story could have been told without rhyme! Additionally, rhyme aside, the STORY itself is a sweet, silly, and relatable one- one that stands out on its own even without the joy of the rhyme- with an extremely satisfying ending.

(I also have to say that even though this post is about the writing in The Book That Almost Rhymed, you could adore this book just for Hatem Aly's playful, imaginative, FUN illustrations. They're the perfect fit for this story!)

Now, if you ARE a writer getting into rhyme, I strongly recommend Renée LaTulippe's Lyrical Language Lab. It's a great place to get started with rhyme and to learn the technical reasons why some rhyme works and why some rhyme doesn't!

If you're looking for more mentor texts for rhyme, try:

• Rhyming books by Rebecca Gardyn Levington, such as her latest: Some Days I'm the Wind (illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova), or Whatever Comes Tomorrow (illustrated by Mariona Cabassa). Both were instant favs in my home!

• Books by Chelsea Lin Wallace such, such as Ode To A Bad Day (illustrated by Hyewon Yum) or Dare To Be Daring (illustrated by Lian Cho).

• Duck Duck Taco Truck by Laura Lavoie

• Alpacas Here, Alpacas There by Carrie Tillotson (illustrated by Elisa Chavarri), which is rhyming non-fiction.

• Pigs Dig A Road by Carrie Finison (illustrated by Brian Biggs)

Plus, here are some other exciting things happening in the kidlit world right now!

Kidlit Chuckle Challenge - This hilarious writing contests is for FUNNY stories only! It runs from Sept 14-16. Click on the image to the left to check out all of the exciting details for this ridiculously fun contest (with super legit prizes like critiques, AMAs, and book giveaways).

#PitchDis Sept 9 - Sept 11: a virtual pitch event for unagented authors who identify as disabled, neurodivergent, and/or chronically ill. Read more about the event here.

#DVPit October 8 - (Diverse Voices Pitch) is a pitch event for historically marginalized authors. Now being held on Bluesky.