Writing for Your Readers


Book Description




Writing Irresistible Kidlit


Book Description

Captivate the hearts and minds of young adult readers! Writing for young adult (YA) and middle grade (MG) audiences isn't just "kid's stuff" anymore--it's kidlit! The YA and MG book markets are healthier and more robust than ever, and that means the competition is fiercer, too. In Writing Irresistible Kidlit, literary agent Mary Kole shares her expertise on writing novels for young adult and middle grade readers and teaches you how to: • Recognize the differences between middle grade and young adult audiences and how it impacts your writing. • Tailor your manuscript's tone, length, and content to your readership. • Avoid common mistakes and cliches that are prevalent in YA and MG fiction, in respect to characters, story ideas, plot structure and more. • Develop themes and ideas in your novel that will strike emotional chords. Mary Kole's candid commentary and insightful observations, as well as a collection of book excerpts and personal insights from bestselling authors and editors who specialize in the children's book market, are invaluable tools for your kidlit career. If you want the skills, techniques, and know-how you need to craft memorable stories for teens and tweens, Writing Irresistible Kidlit can give them to you.




Writers are Readers


Book Description

In Writers Are Readers, the mutually supportive roles of reading and writing are made visible through the idea of "flipsides;" how a reader's insights can be turned around to provide insights into his own writing, and vice versa. Lester and Reba's trademark engaging style is woven throughout chapters full of sample lessons, student writing samples, and recommended texts for maximizing the flipped concept across the year. "Leading the student to understand what he did as a reader can become a lens that brings into focus what the writer had to do before a reader ever saw the page," they write. Discover fresh new ways to turn reading strategies into writing opportunities that your students will be excited about and deeply understand.




Roots of Wood and Stone


Book Description

This historic home holds the keys to their destiny . . . and their hearts Abandoned at birth, her family roots a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to making sure others know theirs. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn't expect much from the common artifact . . .until she finds real treasure inside: a nineteenth-century diary.Now she's on the hunt to find out more. Garrett Anderson just wanted to clean out his grandmother's historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. With her advancing Alzheimer's, he can't afford to be sentimental about the family home. But his carefully ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who's fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane. A century and a half earlier, motherless Annabelle Collins embarks with her aunt and uncle on the adventure of a lifetime: settling the prairies of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The diaries she left behind paint a portrait of life, loss, and love--and a God who faithfully carries her through it all. Paging through the diaries together takes Sloane and Garrett on a journey they never could have planned, which will change them in ways they never imagined. This warm, beautifully written split-time novel will resonate with readers looking for stories that reveal the beauty of God's plan for our lives, and how our actions ripple for generations.




You Are a Reader! / You Are a Writer!


Book Description

Two rhyming books in one that inspire and encourage children who are learning to read and write. You are a Reader! / You are a Writer! is a book made to be read twice, once from the front and once from the back. Read one way, children will see all the joys that reading can bring--flip it over and they'll be inspired by the imaginative possibilities of writing! With a jaunty rhyme that’s great for reading aloud and a diverse cast of characters at various stages of reading and writing, there is something for everyone here. Learning to read? Scan, sound, simmer, think. You can guzzle words and ink. You might stumble, you might sigh. But readers practice, grow, and fly! Learning to write? Wake, watch, wonder, plot. You can weave with words and thoughts. Still staring at an empty page? Every writer knows that stage. Ask "What if?" Change your view. Try a pen--or stick--that's new. But writers read and draft, and fly! Throughout the book are suggestions for where to find inspiration for reading and writing and different ways to move on if you are discouraged. Christine Davenier's energetic illustrations add to the fun in this true celebration of what it means to be a reader and a writer, no matter how accomplished you are or aren't. Praise for Snowy Race "A girl gets to ride on her dad's giant snowplow in this delightful rhyming tale. They race through the heavy snow, but it's not clear where they're going until they arrive at the train station. . . Prince's (What Do Wheels Do All Day?) text is intriguingly spare, letting Davenier's (The First Thing My Mama Told Me) softly exuberant wintertime scenes shine." --The New York Times Rhyming, minimal text coupled with fetching illustrations by Davenier expertly convey the exhilarating drama of entering into a snowstorm as well as the comfy feelings of being in a warm house while the weather is frightful. --School Library Journal A winning, winter race. --Kirkus Reviews




Show Your Work!


Book Description

In his New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon showed readers how to unlock their creativity by “stealing” from the community of other movers and shakers. Now, in an even more forward-thinking and necessary book, he shows how to take that critical next step on a creative journey—getting known. Show Your Work! is about why generosity trumps genius. It’s about getting findable, about using the network instead of wasting time “networking.” It’s not self-promotion, it’s self-discovery—let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Filled with illustrations, quotes, stories, and examples, Show Your Work! offers ten transformative rules for being open, generous, brave, productive. In chapters such as You Don’t Have to Be a Genius; Share Something Small Every Day; and Stick Around, Kleon creates a user’s manual for embracing the communal nature of creativity— what he calls the “ecology of talent.” From broader life lessons about work (you can’t find your voice if you don’t use it) to the etiquette of sharing—and the dangers of oversharing—to the practicalities of Internet life (build a good domain name; give credit when credit is due), it’s an inspiring manifesto for succeeding as any kind of artist or entrepreneur in the digital age.




Reading Like a Writer


Book Description

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humour and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart – to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; to look to John le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O’ Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail; to be inspired by Emily Brontë ’ s structural nuance and Charles Dickens’ s deceptively simple narrative techniques. Most importantly, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted, and reminds us that good writing comes out of good reading.




How to Read Like a Writer


Book Description

When you Read Like a Writer (RLW) you work to identify some of the choices the author made so that you can better understand how such choices might arise in your own writing. The idea is to carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing. You are reading to learn about writing. Instead of reading for content or to better understand the ideas in the writing (which you will automatically do to some degree anyway), you are trying to understand how the piece of writing was put together by the author and what you can learn about writing by reading a particular text. As you read in this way, you think about how the choices the author made and the techniques that he/she used are influencing your own responses as a reader. What is it about the way this text is written that makes you feel and respond the way you do?




Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks


Book Description

This book provides you with all the tools you need to write an excellent academic article and get it published.




Will Grayson, Will Grayson


Book Description

Two award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author join forces for a collaborative novel of awesome proportions. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of faithful fans. A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice An ALA Stonewall Honor Book “Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a complete romp. [It is] so funny, rude and original that by the time flowers hit the stage, even the musical-averse will cheer.” —The New York Times Book Review ★“Will have readers simultaneously laughing, crying and singing at the top of their lungs.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review “It is such a good book. [Green and Levithan] are two of the best writers writing today.” —NPR’sThe Roundtable