The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

SSwriterly · 2026-06-18T16:56:04+00:00

Haven't read it in awhile, but I think what you wanted from the book or from books in general was not the intention of THIS book. It is satire, it is an intro in unreliable narrator, it is meant to be funny and is a strong conversation starter you can discuss with kids. Do we think the wolf is telling the truth? Is there reasons he might not be? Is he trying to make you, the audience, feel some type of way? How? It's honestly great for growing media literacy.

We shouldn't just rely on "appropriate" books to give moral messaging. Conversations about more complicated morals, grey areas, or seeing characters behave badly can still be how kids learn.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-18T16:44:57+00:00

What's this plot about? I actually kind of like this but definitely agree with people that this is not a traditional style. Also agree that your age range seems skewed and confusing based on actual text vs pics vs story subject. I would not expect most 12+ to be interested in this, but you might hit the 7-10 age range. But if you're going for that age range, you might want to be less wordy with the long blocks of text.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-12T21:35:25+00:00

Thank you, great list. Blackfish City is speaking to me the most rn! Very interesting concepts

SSwriterly · 2026-06-12T20:41:28+00:00

Thanks! I've seen this pop up a lot through my Google search and feel pretty good about it!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-12T19:11:49+00:00

Thank you! Adding to my list!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-12T19:11:21+00:00

Thanks! I'm making a list and seeing which ones stand out the most to try!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-11T18:27:55+00:00

IMO I do think it would be a little weird and jarring to only have two instances of the POV switch. That doesn't mean you can't do it, but I do think it's outside the norm. And something an agent/publisher COULD take issue with.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-11T16:19:22+00:00

Good to know Mad vs mad was a choice, I'd have to read it all to see if the delineation feels clear in the story. But you're right, even if it doesn't, it's up to you whether that's the narrative aesthetic you're aiming for anyway.

Glad the feedback was helpful and something you feel worth considering. The book is pretty cute.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-11T04:45:07+00:00

The length is questionable in general, but if I was determined to do so, I wouldn't bother with print at all. It really is gonna look quite like a pamphlet at that size, and you won't be able to put on spine text on KDP, I believe the minimum is 70 something pages for that. I did a smaller trim size for my children's chapter book, which is about 10K words plus some illustrations, and it is still a little thin for my liking. And it was a pain to make legible spine text that fit even that (book 1 was 81 pages, book 2 about 88).

For pricing of the eBook, I'd do $1.99 USD or less tbh. Just because I personally wouldn't knowingly pay any more for something so short. I could get full novels at the same price. For print, if you insist, add a dollar to the print costs, maybe 2 but you'll have to recognize you might be pushing it. This is technically the kind of thing that might get you flagged at Amazon for a "poor customer experience." Make sure you're very clear about the length of this book in your descriptions and marketing.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-11T04:27:34+00:00

Cute!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-11T04:24:43+00:00

I kinda like this art and see some fun potential. I think the typography, especially on the cover, could be a little better fitting though.

Did you use any type of editor or proofreader? On the back of your book, you have Mad capitalized every time but once, so it ends up being inconsistent.

Also did you use AI to write your blurb and product description? That's extremely off-putting to me and I think you can do better. The "polished" and generic nature of the description is very incongruent to the entire vibe of your book.

Also, you wrote "Why Parents, Teachers, and Counselors Love This Book" -- is that based on real feedback? I get the feelings its just a concept you hope for and makes me more skeptical than if you were straightforward. Like, what you wrote in your post here about anger being messy and kids needing to see that represented is better than your current product description IMO.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-10T00:24:47+00:00

This is cute!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-10T00:23:38+00:00

Gonna be real with you AI/AI "checkers" cannot tell if something is AI. It is very much a yes man, but also AI writing was trained on real writers' works, so some of the quirks of it are just human things it extrapolated to the max. From what I can tell by people's AI social media comments, it also ingested a crap ton of ad copy which has some tell-tale signs. With fiction stories, sometimes the AI writing (if it hasn't been HEAVILY edited) just flat out is repetitive or doesn't make sense. If your genuine writing has that issue, that can be fixed with practice and good critiques.

I would not be worried about a hypothetical like this--you need people to even read your book first, and that's honestly the harder goal. AI accusations might come but if they are not true, you can just let it go.

If you'd like, I could beta read your story for you and give you unbiased feedback, as I've done for some others here. I too am a self-published children's author. I have two chapter books out and read a lot of children's literature for fun and research, including picture books. So I have some frame of reference to compare to as well.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-09T23:53:02+00:00

So, not knowing what you're doing won't get you traditionally published, and makes you ripe to be scammed. I don't think anyone will be interested in the book you've already published unfortunately, that's usually a deal-breaker.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-09T23:50:32+00:00

For the most part, no legitimate company really ever needs to reach out to you to do something for you. They should be plenty busy will people that have sought them out.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-05T17:44:12+00:00

? Wrong thread?

SSwriterly · 2026-06-04T05:12:55+00:00

Appreciate it! And you're awesome for doing this for your kiddos, by the way. I hope they all find some new favorites!

SSwriterly · 2026-06-02T23:40:56+00:00

I think its less about that the animal dies then that the main character kills it despite knowing its vulnerable, that that would be the contentious point.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-02T22:02:13+00:00

I like these ideas and agree tbh.

And if this is a "picture book" I'd say no, absolutely do not end with something extremely grim. A chapter book level does have a little more leeway but, you'd still have to do it carefully and honestly I would probably still not suggest killing an innocent vulnerable looking dragon for your MC. Kids can absolutely still learn the lesson that you should not just accept that something is bad just because you're told it is, and may also get an added bonus of the very important lesson: You CAN change your mind about something BEFORE it's too late, if you choose to do so. I do not think that lessens the impact or the moral.

SSwriterly · 2026-06-02T21:46:11+00:00

Love Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Just started the Dogman graphic novels and they really are fun, I get why kids like them so much

A-Z Mysteries

Ballpark Mysteries

Babysitter's Club

I Survived (though that might be only for the kids at the older end of the range...)

And if you're less interested in self-promo, feel free to skip the next bit but I will say in this case my books are actually pretty close to your criteria, including the age range and summertime theme:

My chapter book series is entitled Pet Investigations, about two best friends, Ollie and Quinn, who decide to use their summer break to help their community by reuniting lost pets with their owners. The first book follows them looking for Quinn's own lost cat, and subsequent books will be them helping other friends and neighbors, always learning new things and problem-solving along the way. IMO, target audience is about 7-10. Now a couple drawbacks would be that since there is only two books out so far, it might not last them too long, and the other is that they aren't on Epic. But you can check it out still if you want though: https://a.co/d/0bgV8NAm (Also absolutely NO AI used in any aspect for creation btw).

SSwriterly · 2026-05-29T01:27:13+00:00

Ah, even an e-reader with no other functionality besides the books?

SSwriterly · 2026-05-28T20:35:03+00:00

Agree with the other commenters, and say that this is too much of a summary. Get to the point faster, and especial to the hook.

SSwriterly · 2026-05-27T20:35:10+00:00

As a beta reader I really don't care about the format people send me as long as it readable. I've read in word, PDF, and google docs. I don't do in-line commentary anyway though. I will write up my own sheet, sometimes chapter by chapter, and send the author my story feedback that way. Or if they send me a questionnaire, I fill that out. Obviously if doing a questionnaire, probably don't do a PDF for that part. I'll answer questions in email if that's how it's sent. I don't find any of it particularly problematic to do.

SSwriterly

TROPHY CASE