When Bif was still an integral part of BifSniff.com we discussed doing a children’s book, but the idea just never really solidified or took off. However, over on his new blog, Bif has resurrected the concept and is publishing the chapters online. Go there and read it.

He mentions that he feels it’s unlikely he’ll publish in any traditional form, but I hope he changes his mind.

As for unsolicited feedback, well I was always a big fan of the concept, and the first chapter is great so if the rest of it follows through I’d definitely buy it. For myself.

Because I’d personally like to see it published in a traditional form, I hope Bif keeps traditional formats in mind somewhat. I wonder what rough age group he has in mind, if any. I don’t hold with patronising kids books, but some of the vocabulary he’s using currently is pretty advanced.

If Bif is still thnking along the lines of a picture book, I think it might benefit to simplify some of the vocabulary while maintaining the complexity of the writing through the sentence structure.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a kids book aimed at adults either, or maybe he’s thinking more of an early/mid teen age group.

As for the subject matter, a book about Death for kids is definitely a winner as far as I’m cocerned. As it happens, just today I saw a French kids book which featured Death – ‘Le canard, la mort et la tulipe’ features Death visiting a duck in it’s last moments of life.

The concepts and styles of the books are very different really, but for showing precedent to squeamish publishers the French picture book might well be a handy tool!

‘Le canard, la mort et la tulipe’ is available from the French Amazon site for €14.14, the pictures are beautiful, the depiction of Death is wonderful and the words… are in French.

Somebody please publish an English translation while I wait for Bif to finish his book!