When is it Time for Rhyme?

by Alli Brydon

April is just around the corner, and it’s National Poetry Month! In honor of good ol’ verse, I wanted to talk about rhyme and meter in picture books.

Back when I was an acquisitions editor working in house at a publisher, I was particularly fond of meter and rhyme in kid’s books when it was done well. I’d be the editor my colleagues would go to with a sticky line of verse. But writers always hear that editors don’t want to see rhyming picture books these days. Editors say, stay away from it. I know that advice bristles a bit, especially for those of us who love to write it and those of us who love to read it aloud (*raises hand enthusiastically*).

This is because good verse in a picture book is a super tough thing to nail. End-rhymes need to feel fresh and exciting, sometimes…