MOWMT 6: Jumping Right In with Mel Rosenberg

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I love picture book stories that practically force you to turn the page right from the very start.

The recipe is not rocket science. Start with something mysterious. Something unexpected, something strange, incongruous. Or just get the story going on the very first spread.

Starting early in a picture book makes a lot of sense. After all, kids have lots of books to choose from and limited attention spans. So do the folks reading them to the kids. A typical picture book has 13 spreads or so. And we are cautioned to go easy with the word count. There is a lot of telling to do, and not much real estate. So it’s a good idea to start with the first property.

One of my favorite picture books starts like this. "One day, a lion came to the library.​" It’s the beginning of Michelle Knudsen’s classic, “Library Lion.” You just know that there is going to be trouble afoot.

And I will be excommunicated if I don't mention "Where the Wild Things are" by Maurice Sendak. It starts:

"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him 'WILD THING!' and Max said 'I'LL EAT YOU UP!' so he was sent to bed without eating anything."

Full of wonder and suspense. 

Yevgenia Nayberg begins her poignant book, “I Hate Borsch” with

“When I was little, I hated borsch,” followed by the speech bubble, “GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU RED, THICK, DISGUSTING SOUP!”

The story is already flowing. We need to continue to pour (sorry).  

Finally, our new picture book, “Emily Saw a Door” (illustrated by the remarkable Orit Magia, Penguin Random House, launching Feb. 24th, 2026) starts this way. 

 “Knock, knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Emily. May I come in?”

Starting a book like this comes at a risk. We know nothing about Emily, who she is, where she is, why she is knocking on a door, what she is looking for, and who is the invisible voice.

To be frank, I was nervous about not providing more information at the start. Wouldn’t children wonder about who Emily was, where she came from, what was this land of doors, and so on.

Luckily, this proved not to be the case. Over 50,000 books have been distributed in the original Hebrew version, and not one child has asked me any of these questions. Rather, they are appear eager to jump in and see what unfolds.

The take home lesson, for me at least, is that the earlier you grab the attention of your reader, the better. And if you want to start your story without providing background about the main character, go for it. 

As long as there’s that strong hook of a page turner.

So here’s an exercise to try. Can you come up with a few story openers from scratch? In ten minutes? They don’t have to be spectacular. Here are mine.

Fred’s mom had always wanted to play the piano. So she sent Fred. Even though he was a turtle.

·      The day the strange envelope arrived, there was no one home to open it.

·      Desert camels don’t take swimming lessons. But James did.

·      One morning, everyone awoke to the sound of a strange thumping.

·      Philip was the best pupil in the class. Except for Michael

·      Penelope,

·      Margaret,

·      Stuart,

·      And practically everyone else.

·      That day when the teacher taught the kids to cut with scissors and tie their shoes.

·      The sun would soon go down and they were still far from home.

 Good luck with your story openers!!!

PRIZE: Mel will be delighted to host an AMA session with the winner (30-40 minutes).

BIO: Dr. Mel Rosenberg is a children's book author and cofounder of www.Ourboox.com, a website and platform for creating interactive picture books. Mel's debut picture book in North America, EMILY SAW A DOOR, launches with Penguin Random House  February 24th, 2026 and is available for pre-order. He is represented by the Liza Royce Literary Agency. In previous careers, Mel was a scientist, teacher, inventor, musician and assistant beekeeper (the last profession was a short one, but still worth mentioning). You can reach him at dr.mel.rosenberg@gmail.com.

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