A great resource for Key Stage 2 and 3 for encouraging and developing creative writing.
This is a really well designed, hands-on book. It is geared towards 7-11-year-olds, but I think that it could be used with Years 7 and 8 in a secondary school for creative writing lessons. The structure of the book is such that it is intended as a workbook, with spaces to fill in, thus building up confidence in writing and structure. However, I think that a teacher could use it as a textbook, writing the exercises on a display board for pupils to copy out and complete.
The book starts with a diagram proving that everyone is or has the capability of becoming an amazing author. Some myths are dispelled about the importance of spelling and grammar (let's eat grandma) and then the rest of the book is a series of exercises and story-writing techniques to try out straight away. There are a number of worksheets helping to develop characters, including deciding on names and ways of describing and developing them as credible people. The other worksheets cover descriptions, avoiding dull words such as 'nice' and 'pretty', settings, plans and themes. The final chapter pulls all of the ideas together for creating an amazing story. It is possible that the reader might like to work through the whole book or choose a theme or an exercise such as writing an acrostic poem based on their name or writing a story about a bad day at school in 50 words.
A really imaginative book which would make a great gift for a keen reader/writer. Many teachers and librarians would enjoy trying out some of these ideas in the classroom.
An appealing book packed full of quick activities to spark creative writing. Great prompts for challenging and stretching children in their writing!
Creative Writing Skills is a lovely book full of imaginative prompts to get children writing. Examples include being asked to imagine your teacher is an alien and having to write a story about their first day in the school, or identifying five things you can currently touch and writing a story about them or, my favourite, finding your school bag is full of spoons and having to write a story about how they got there. Genre, character development, changing viewpoints, story settings and dialogue are all covered. Everything is attractively presented and the book is stuffed full of activities that could easily be used in class. A lovely book and an addition to any classroom.
Any budding author aged 7-11 would love this book. It has over 70 activities to encourage writing and to challenge the creative mind.
This is a super book for any child aged 7-11 who is a budding author. It is well set out with easy to follow instructions and a range of different activities to encourage children to write. Essentially it would be best suited as an activity book for children who love writing to complete at home, or to support parents who are encouraging their children to write. Although the book centres around a worksheet style page, the ideas could be taken and used by newly qualified teachers to support ideas for planning narrative in the classroom.
There are prompts for writing which include activities such as choosing 6 words from a list and using these to write a story, designing a poster to encourage tourists to visit your home town, writing a story that uses every letter of the alphabet and making a comic strip relating to a superpower chosen.
An attractive looking book that is well set out and encourages creativity and writing.