Though specifically targeting young writers, this upbeat handbook is a wonderful instruction guide for writers of any age as...
A NaNoWriMo primer for young writers.
This instructional guide begins with an introduction from Jason Reynolds and an inspirational chapter assuring kids that their stories matter and are needed by the world. The following chapters provide step-by-step instruction to get a writer at any level ready to tackle the blank page. The chapter “Determine What Type of Writer You Are” provides a quick tutorial that affirms a diversity of writing habits that can be tamed to fit each individual’s writing practice. Once the writer is primed to begin, the next set of chapters helps lay the groundwork to write the novel: crafting the story plan and fleshing out characters as well as deconstructing the mechanics of plot and worldbuilding. Many chapters offer a “Dare Machine,” a series of writing exercises so varied that a young writer at any stage can easily engage with confidence and excitement. Once the writer is ready to tackle NaNoWriMo—to write a novel in four weeks—to fend off discouragement, each week’s guidance is prompted by a “PepTalk” written by different bestselling authors, including Daniel José Older, Celia C. Pérez, and Jennifer Niven.
Though specifically targeting young writers, this upbeat handbook is a wonderful instruction guide for writers of any age as well as a perfect text for any creative-writing classroom. (Nonfiction. 10 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-451-48029-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
There’s nothing like seeing a tenacious cowgirl wrangle a bronco to buck notions of a weaker sex—so it makes sense that suffrage came to the American West first, 51 years before the 19th Amendment would grant women the right to vote in the rest of the country. Hats off, indeed! Abundant photographs, rodeo programs and primary-source quotations from Wild West pioneers bring this invitingly designed cowgirl chronicle to life, from 19th-century trailblazers who came West in covered wagons to dime-novel outlaws Belle Starr and Calamity Jane to modern-day cowgirls such as 60-year-old Cowgirl Hall of Famer Jan Youren (who still rides bareback in rodeos) and Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who grew up on a Texas ranch. The straight-shooting if not rip-snorting reportage is at its best when contextualizing the cowgirl in America’s social history and less effective when it, as it often does, devolves into a dizzying litany of names and nicknames. Still, there’s plenty of rich fodder here for equestriennes and those interested in Western or women’s history. (bibliography, sources and photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-617-73738-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cold indeed is the heart not made warm by this bubbly fairy-tale romance. Raised by a kindly forest troll, Christian knows little of the world beyond what he can see through his telescope, but gazing upon a nearby castle, he falls head over heels for Princess Marigold. What chance has he, though, as a (supposed) commoner? When at last he nerves himself to send her a message via carrier pigeon, she answers and the courtship is on—via “p-mail” at first, then, after he lands a job as a castle servant, face to face. Setting numerous fairy-tale conventions just a bit askew, Ferris (Of Sound Mind, 2001, etc.) surrounds her two smart, immensely likable teenagers, who are obviously made for each other, with rival suitors, hyperactive dogs, surprising allies, and strong adversaries. The most notable among the last is devious, domineering Queen Olympia, intent on forcing Marigold into marriage with a penniless, but noble, cipher. The author gets her commonsensical couple to “I Do” through brisk palace intrigue, life-threatening situations, riotous feasting, and general chaos; Queen Olympia gets suitable comeuppance, and the festivities are capped by the required revelation that Christian is actually heir to the throne of neighboring Zandelphia. Fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Princess Tales will be in familiar territory here, as well as seventh heaven. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-216791-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
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