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Most children’s book editors feel pretty strongly about rhymed text. From those who despise it or merely tolerate it to those who adore it, editors are pretty picky about rhyme. Why? Because authors often sacrifice the story for the sake of the rhyme — not to mention torturing the English language to create rhymes, paying little attention to whether the rhymes even make sense. Much more often than not, amateur writers of rhyme skimp on plot and character development, throwing in extra words just to make the rhyme work. Make sure that the story and the language come first; rhyme is secondary. A good rhyming story can sell, but it has to be written as tightly as a story in prose.

If you want to write poetry, take it from us: Dr. Seuss did a fabulous job with the particular rhyme schemes he used in his books, and his books continue to sell tens of thousands of copies a year, despite the author having passed away in 1991. But if you want to rhyme, don’t use Seussian meter; make up your own.