Things I Love Thursday: You Can Write a Story!

We've been going to the library a lot lately; we usually go on the way to Tae Kwon Do. Anyway, I've been adding in a little bit of journal/story writing to Jacob's writing assignments, and he loves it! I found a book at the library that we are using right now, and I love it! It's called You can Write a Story! A Story-Writing Recipe for Kids by Lisa Bullard.
The book is divided up into 13 chapters with a story at the end. It breaks up the ingredients of a story into bite-size pieces for a child to comprehend how to write. It also gives practice activities with most of the chapters, so that as you go along through the book, you are creating a story. Yesterday, Jacob learned how to brainstorm and gather just a few ingredients for his story, including his favorite animal, a place he would travel, and a favorite activity. Now he'll use those later on as components of his story. He also learned about "Special Flavorings," which are types of stories. He could make his story realistic fiction or fantasy, etc. Next, he will be working on characters for his story, which might include cats and dogs, since they were his favorite animals.
The book is set up in such a way as to attract young minds, and the illustrations are wonderful. It's very colorful and attractive. It's spiral bound, so the pages lay completely flat on his desk; he's not having to fight with them to keep them open as he tries to write. Toward the end of the book, he will even be taught how to revise his story and how to get an editor for it. It even explains to him the different things he can do to share his story. At the end of the book is a glossary for those new terms and suggestions for further reading.

I am seriously considering purchasing this book because I'm not sure that we'll be able to keep it long enough from the library. I'm so impressed with all of the details in this book and how it works with Jacob to teach him how to write more creatively. You can check it out on Amazon.

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