Creating a Children’s Picture Book: Other Story Ideas
- Terence Hikawai
- Apr 30
- 7 min read
About the Blog
I am writing and illustrating a children's picture book about the burial of whenua - placenta. To connect my UK-raised daughter with her whaanau and whakapapa. The book will introduce a unique aspect of te ao Maaori to children's literature. Leveraging my personal knowledge and experiences.
About me
Kia ora. Ko Terence Hikawai taku ingoa. He uri au ki Ngaati Kahungunu ki Wairoa me Ngaati Paahauwera, o Aotearoa Nu Tiirani.
Hi, my name is Terence Hikawai. I am a descendant of the Kahungunu and Paahauwera peoples, of Aotearoa New Zealand.
I am a former teacher and public servant from Mohaka, Te Wairoa, and Te Reinga. I relocated to the UK with my English wife and our daughter in July 2024. To connect her with her British and Irish heritage.
Re-capping My Story Ideas
I have developed several children's book ideas. Building upon previous concepts from my teaching career. This article categorises and expands on these ideas. I am fueled by pent-up teacher energy in England, as my creative journey progresses.
I have categorised and bullet pointed my ideas to bring some kind of order to the chaos. A total of fourteen ideas; twelve children’s book series and two stand alone children’s books.
Top Tip: Skim through the list and spot one you like. No need to read the complete works of my madness!
1. Book Series: Life in the UK
Why: To share our journey from Aotearoa NZ to the UK.
Description: A young Maaori girl and her whaanau move to the UK. They settle into their new life in Cheshire England. Later they explore Britain, Ireland and Europe.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted a series outline and story beats.
Inspiration: Inspired by the resilience of my daughter, and her journey to the UK.
Genre: children’s picture book.
Main Themes: coping with change. Identity.
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators.
Challenges: competing ideas from other book series.
Next Steps: solidify series outline, story beats and characters.
2. Book Series: Aotearoa NZ versus The UK
Why: To help children understand the differences between Aotearoa NZ and the UK.
Description: A boy and girl explore the shared histories, and day to day life in Aotearoa NZ, The UK and Ireland.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted a series outline.
Inspiration: I am inspired by rich whakapapa. The links to my Maaori, English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Prussian whakapapa.
Genre: children’s picture book.
Main Themes: identity, culture,
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators.
Challenges: Ensuring the authenticity
Next Steps: research and connect with other writers in the UK.
3. Book Series: My firsts…
Why: To help children and parents understand the challenges of significant life events.
Description: A boy and girl explores ‘My firsts...’. Such as the first day at school, first time using a potty, first time using getting dressed etc.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted a series outline.
Inspiration: While researching for the Life in the UK series. I explored the idea of a boy and girl living through significant life events.
Genre: children's picture book.
Main Themes: growing up, identity, life events.
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators.
Challenges: competing ideas from other book series.
Next Steps: research themes and topics, solidify a series outline, develop characters.
4. Book Series: Retelling Folk-Tales
Why: re-telling well-known folk-tales through a different perspective. Helping children understand folk-tales at a deeper level.
Description: Well-known folk tales with a Kiwi or Maaori twist.
Stage of Idea: Still within the discovery and inspiration stage.
Inspiration: Viewing well-known folk tales through my daughter's perspective. A short stay at Warrick Castle.
Genre: children’s picture book
Main Themes: folk tales
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators
Challenges: ensuring each folk-tales remains authentic.
Next Steps: research folk-tales. Explore connections to Kiwi and Maaori cultures, develop an outline for the series.
5. Book Series: Coping with Emotions
Why: Helping children, and their parents, cope with emotions.
Description: superheroes that help children deal with emotions through different situations.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted character profiles. The series outline still in inspiration and discovery stage.
Inspiration: I drew conceptual illustrations of superheroes to inspire my daughter. They helped her explore emotions in different contexts.
Genre: comic book, children’s picture book
Main Themes: emotions, growing up, overcoming adversity
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators.
Challenges: the series will be te ao Maaori centred, yet needs to be attractive to UK audiences.
Next Steps: research similar themed books, draft series outline, develop story beats.
6. Book Series: Wordless Emotions
Why: Helping children, and their parents, cope with emotions.
Description: A boy and girl exploring emotions through a series of events.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted one story. The series outline is still in the inspiration and discovery stage.
Inspiration: Inspired by colour theory to explore a wordless book for emotions. I began with simple sketches of a boy starting a new school.
Genre: children's picture book.
Main Themes: emotions, colour theory
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators.
Challenges: wordless books are challenging to ‘sell’ to publishers.
Next Steps: research other situations that explore various emotions. Draft series outline, story beats, and characters.
7. Book Series: Dad helps me…
Why: Helping Dads navigate the pitfalls of raising a daughter.
Description: A Dad helping his daughter through life events and situations.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted one book. The series is still in the inspiration and discovery stage.
Inspiration: My deep voice with using meditation phrases helped settle my daughter. I want to support other Dads to do the same.
Genre: children’s board books, children’s picture books
Main Themes: family, yoga, meditation,
Potential Audience: Dads, children, parents, educators
Challenges: a niche market, expanding the series,
Next Steps: complete draft of sleep book, draft outline of series, character development
8. Book Series: Early Learning
Why: Learning the alphabet, first words, numbers, and counting through storytelling.
Description: Letters explore words. Numbers explore counting. In both English and Maaori. Vowels, digraphs and diphthongs exploring the longest place name in the world!
Stage of Idea: I have drafted one story. The series is still in the inspiration and discovery stage,
Inspiration: Inspired by the children’s book ‘Chicka Chikca Boom Boom’, by Bill Martin Jr, and John Archambault. Letters of the alphabet race each other up a coconut tree.
Genre: children’s picture book,
Main Themes: letters, words, numbers, counting
Potential Audience: children, parents, educators
Challenges: writing to the right age level, authentic story writing
Next Steps: solidify series outline, develop story beats and potential characters
9. Book Series: Koro and Kuia
Why: Highlighting the loss of intergenerational knowledge.
Description: Koro and Kiua explore several topics and themes. Such as racism, prejudice, trauma, and identity through te ao Maaori.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted one book and series outline. Other stories are still in the inspiration and discovery stage
Inspiration: Inspired by the stories of Maaori trying to reconnect with their whakapapa.
Genre: children’s chapter book,
Main Themes: identity
Potential Audience: children, parents, and teachers,
Challenges: the potential sensitivity of the themes
Next Steps: develop story beats and characters
10. Book Series: Tama and Katarina
Why: helping children connect with te ao Maaori
Description: A brother and sister explore te ao Maaori themes. Such as Ipu-whenua, Tangihanga, Marae, Whakapapa, and Tuurangawaewae. Each book will contain activities for children to explore.
Stage of Idea: one book drafted, series outlined, characters developed, story beats drafted,
Inspiration: Inspired by the kawa and tikanga of my whaanau.
Genre: children’s picture books, children’s chapter books, children’s mid-grade reader.
Main Themes: te ao Maaori, identity,
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators
Challenges: protecting whaanau tikanga
Next Steps: solidify series outline, characters, and storybeats
11. Book Series: The Penny Dreadful’s
Why: Helping children navigate dark themes and genres.
Description: A series of short stories through different historical eras. With and overarching and connected theme.
Stage of Idea: I have drafted an outline, characters and story beats. Yet still in the inspiration and discovery stage.
Inspiration: Inspired by my love of science fiction, and detective noir genres. I rediscovered the Victorian era Penny Dreadful tales.
Genre: children’s short stories, children’s chapter books,
Main Themes: different eras, genres, topics and themes. such as Lovecraft horror, science fiction, mythology, detective noir, futuristic, and dystopia.
Potential Audience: children, parents, and educators
Challenges: an involved series with a higher level of difficulty
Next Steps: tease out storylines, themes, and genres to ripple across the series
12. Book Series: A Country Calendar
Why: A love letter to rural NZ in the 1970s and 1980s
Description: A series of books looking back at NZ’s rural life in the late 70’s and early 80’s. A love letter to simpler times.
Stage of Idea: still within the inspiration and discovery stage
Inspiration: Reviewing old whaanau photos, I suffered a deep nostalgic kick. Rural Aotearoa NZ during the late 1970s and the early 1980s was an amazing time for me.
Genre: children’s picture book,
Main Themes: nostalgic, rural life, the 1980s
Potential Audience: children, parents, grandparents, educators
Challenges: remaining authentic to the era
Next Steps: solidify series outline, characters, and story beats
13. Stand Alone: A Book of Poems
Why: Introducing children to poetry
Description: A collection of funny poems, rhymes and dittys.
Stage of Idea: one poem completed, still within the inspiration and discovery stage.
Inspiration: my daughter and I created a funny poem about a worm and farts. We also make up funny rhymes, and songs.
Genre: children’s picture book,
Main Themes: rhymes. Funny things. Creativity.
Potential Audience: children, parents, educators.
Challenges: repetitiveness, ideation stagnation,
Next Steps: A lot of exploration.
14. Stand Alone: Kooaka Migration
Why: Introducing children to environmental sustainability, indigenous knowledge and storytelling.
Description: A Kooaka travels between Alaska and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Stage of Idea: still within the inspiration and discovery stage
Inspiration: Researching for the Life in the UK series. I discovered the migration of the Kooaka. Which migrates between Alaska and Aotearoa NZ.
Genre: children’s picture book, children’s mid-grade reader
Main Themes: migration, environmental sustainability,
Potential Audience: children, and educators,
Challenges: authentic story telling, information and research
Next Steps: connect with Kooaka researchers,
Conclusion
This was a big brain dump, and apologies for that. Yet it has helped me focus on things a lot more. By making sense of the senseless I am able to see the forest through the trees.
I now have a starting point. I can begin developing a roadmap. Which will help me work through story lines, and character development.
If you are new to writing, I recommend you run this exercise with your ideas.
Next Post
‘Creating a Children’s Picture Book: Rewriting my first story ’. I explore the challenges and opportunities of rewriting a story.
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