One thing that we love in our house is reading good literature! Everyone loves curling up with a good book and, if possible, some homemade cookies and milk. Nothing is more wonderful than a good story. You might call it escapism....we call it growing intellectually.
Now, for all those who love reading a good story, there is a hidden desire to make up a good story. Most will not admit this, but it lurks quietly in the souls of almost all committed readers of fiction. Even young children want to make up their own stories. In fact, I think almost all children who have been exposed to good literature will have a desire, no matter how small, to write their own work of fiction.
I have reviewed a great curriculum for high school students, One Year Novel Adventure , that teaches teens to write their own adventurer novel. But, what about a great curriculum for younger children to write a great story?
Reach for the Stars Young Author's Fiction Workbook by
Susan K. Marlow is a new fiction writing curriculum for the younger set. Published by
Media Angels , this is another valuable resource for homeschooling families!
Designed specifically for younger children, the text is large, easy-to read. The explanations are clear and easy to understand. But what I appreciated even more was the fun layout of the workbook. Neat illustrations combined with a very attractive layout make the book a delight to thumb through. It was so cute that it could have been void of solid learning material and I still would have wanted to keep it. But such was not the case. It was chock full of wisdom!
I am very impressed by the material presented to young students in this workbook. All the important topics of writing fiction are covered clearly and concisely.
The workbook opens by talking about brainstorming and coming up with ideas for a good story. The audience of your child's story is covered next--this is very important because it will determine how your child writes, what things your child includes and doesn't include, and the kind of story it will be. Next your young student will discover the five elements of all good fiction.
- An appealing character
- An interesting setting
- An intriguing problem
- An exciting plot
- A satisfying solution
The rest of the workbook walks your child through the nuts and bolts of these five elements and more. One way children learn about these elements is by examining them in another work of fiction. When studying characterization, they talk about characters they like from the books they have read. This gets their brains working to examine why they like a character and how they can create characters that their own readers will like too.
One thing Susan mentions in her workbook is to "show not tell." This is very important in creating a character that your readers will identify with. When we meet people in real life, we discover who they really are inside by seeing what they do and say (on the outside!). This is the same way readers should get to know the characters in a book. Your sons and daughters don't want to tell their readers and their heroine is kind, they must show her extending kindness to other characters in the story.
Young people using this fiction writing workbook will also discover how to "hook" their readers from the very first word of the story. Susan gives us 7 ways to hook our readers.
- Dialogue
- Action
- Unusual Setting
- Thought or feeling
- A Question
- Interesting Character
- Sound Effect
Students are given boring beginnings and have to change them up to "hooks." I like that assignment!
Dialogue is covered in a thorough way, along with creating a scene. This difficult tasks seem easy and fun in Reaching for the Stars. Point of View is covered too with reminders to keep this consistent through out the story.
Finally, revising and editing are tackled. This no-nonsense, fast-paced workbook gets the job done! I am confident that your students could come up with their own great book of fiction using this workbook as a guide.
You can purchase Reach for the Stars: Let Your Imagination Soar Young Author's Fiction Workbook for $16.95 at Media Angels . You can also purchase the E-book for $12.95 at Media Angels .
This book would be a fun thing to do with the whole family for a few weeks over the summer. Everyone could go through their own workbook and work on separate stories. When the family is finished, you could throw a party where everyone reads aloud their finished works of fiction. I would serve punch, coffee, and lots of homemade cookies while each family member takes a turn reading his/her story aloud.
After using this workbook, you will not be scared any more to teach your children to write fiction. So, Reach for the Stars!
One thing that we love in our house is reading good literature! Everyone loves curling up with a good book and, if possible, some homemade cookies and milk. Nothing is more wonderful than a good story. You might call it escapism....we call it growing intellectually.
Now, for all those who love reading a good story, there is a hidden desire to make up a good story. Most will not admit this, but it lurks quietly in the souls of almost all committed readers of fiction. Even young children want to make up their own stories. In fact, I think almost all children who have been exposed to good literature will have a desire, no matter how small, to write their own work of fiction.
I have reviewed a great curriculum for high school students, One Year Novel Adventure , that teaches teens to write their own adventurer novel. But, what about a great curriculum for younger children to write a great story?
Designed specifically for younger children, the text is large, easy-to read. The explanations are clear and easy to understand. But what I appreciated even more was the fun layout of the workbook. Neat illustrations combined with a very attractive layout make the book a delight to thumb through. It was so cute that it could have been void of solid learning material and I still would have wanted to keep it. But such was not the case. It was chock full of wisdom!
The workbook opens by talking about brainstorming and coming up with ideas for a good story. The audience of your child's story is covered next--this is very important because it will determine how your child writes, what things your child includes and doesn't include, and the kind of story it will be. Next your young student will discover the five elements of all good fiction.
- An appealing character
- An interesting setting
- An intriguing problem
- An exciting plot
- A satisfying solution
The rest of the workbook walks your child through the nuts and bolts of these five elements and more. One way children learn about these elements is by examining them in another work of fiction. When studying characterization, they talk about characters they like from the books they have read. This gets their brains working to examine why they like a character and how they can create characters that their own readers will like too.Young people using this fiction writing workbook will also discover how to "hook" their readers from the very first word of the story. Susan gives us 7 ways to hook our readers.
Students are given boring beginnings and have to change them up to "hooks." I like that assignment!
Dialogue is covered in a thorough way, along with creating a scene. This difficult tasks seem easy and fun in Reaching for the Stars. Point of View is covered too with reminders to keep this consistent through out the story.
Finally, revising and editing are tackled. This no-nonsense, fast-paced workbook gets the job done! I am confident that your students could come up with their own great book of fiction using this workbook as a guide.
You can purchase Reach for the Stars: Let Your Imagination Soar Young Author's Fiction Workbook for $16.95 at Media Angels . You can also purchase the E-book for $12.95 at Media Angels .
This book would be a fun thing to do with the whole family for a few weeks over the summer. Everyone could go through their own workbook and work on separate stories. When the family is finished, you could throw a party where everyone reads aloud their finished works of fiction. I would serve punch, coffee, and lots of homemade cookies while each family member takes a turn reading his/her story aloud.
After using this workbook, you will not be scared any more to teach your children to write fiction. So, Reach for the Stars!