Writing for Children...

Okay, I'm working on a children's book, but i'm not sure what words I can use.  When I was a kid, cartoons suggested that children had brains. Starting with my own kids, cartoons were being dumbed down.  The last time I watched modern cartoons, they were making cartoons for preteens, that sounded more like cartoons for 4 year olds.  This makes it hard for me to know what words I can use, and expect my audience to comprehend.

The children's book I am working on, I guess is considered a "picture book", where each page has a picture, and the text basically fits the picture.  The book is based on a joke a friend of mine use to tell.  Since he was in the navy, it naturally was a joke about the old wooden ships.  The main problem is that the joke, or story if you prefer, deals with ranks onboard a ship...so you get the terms, Boson's Mate, Boson, First mate, and Captain.  Since reading a book is usually a parent/child event, I'm guessing the parent would atleast know what a first mate and captain are, even if they can't specifically explain what the other two ranks are. 

I have considered that, just in case my book does well, that i'd set it up to be a series, from the beginning.  Since this one is based on my friend, I decided I would make the main character look like him.  For each book, I would have the title, and a tag line "adventures of Michael"...but then, thought Michael, by itself would be too generic.  I then I thought I would dig deeper into his personality, his self.  He was born a christian, but while spending years overseas, in the navy, he learned zen.  He didn't take the final steps to becoming a zen master, simply because he didn't get around to it.  So, if you would ask him what religion he was, he would say he was a "zen-christian", borrow from both to create one belief system.  So I thought I would then make it "The Adventures of Zen Michael".  While most series tend to follow a pattern; however, with Michael, he would be able to be anywhere, at anytime in history, as long as I can create the circumstances, that would make children laugh.  I figured the best way to do this, is to simply invent a secret zen practice that allows him to travel through time. 

But I don't know if my concept will work....The story for the one book is fine, and can stand on it's own.  I'm jsut trying to decide, up front, if I should write it as the first of a series, or just let it fly solo, and if it works out, I can always make it a series later....