golden domes and silver lanterns a muslim book of colors

One of the trickiest things about writing picture books like this one is that it’s not enough to find two words that rhyme. Now let’s take a look at the rhyme in this book. Does the verse roll off their tongue in the rhythm you intended? Or do they stumble a little here and there? That will tell you where your meter might still need work. Hand it off to someone else to read aloud for you.

If you really want to know if the meter is working, don’t just read it yourself. Sometimes when we read our own work aloud, we can force a rhythm to sound okay by the way we read it. Reading aloud is a great way to find out if your rhyming picture book text is working, but it’s not perfect. But the overall pattern still has to be there. An extra unstressed syllable at the beginning of a line isn’t a deal breaker. It’s important to note that when you’re writing verse like this, the rhythm doesn’t have to be exact.

It’s simple and predictable – perfect for this group’s preschool and early primary readers. We see this pattern predicted throughout the book’s lushly illustrated pages. That old rhyme has a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that goes like this:Īuthor Hena Khan’s beautiful picture book GOLDEN DOMES AND SILVER LANTERNS, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, uses a similar pattern as it explores colors through the eyes of a Muslim child. Remember the old childhood rhyme where you’d make a church out of your hands, index fingers pointed together in a steeple?

Golden domes and silver lanterns a muslim book of colors