Children's Story Draft

Please share a draft of your story for your children's book in a New Post on your blog by the end of class today.  You can make changes later, but push yourself to get something posted today so we can begin construction of the books next week.  At the end of your post, add a sentence or two detailing your plan for illustrating the book--are you going to draw on the pages yourself?  Find images online? Create images on the computer?  Have fun with it.

If your journal is ready with 20 new, full pages, you can leave it in the basket of my desk today.  You may also turn it in on Monday if you'd rather.

Have a great weekend!

Tell me a story!

Please draft a children's story of 300-500 words in the next couple of days, maybe first in your journal and then in a New Post on your blog.  You'll need your story to be finished and proofread before the end of this week so we can put together our children's books. 

Give your story a great title and think about how your book will be illustrated (kids' stories are often all about the pictures!)--you might do the drawing yourself, you might have someone else do some drawing for you, you might find images online or in magazines...

Children's stories aren't usually all that long, but because of their brevity, each line and word needs to count.  Try to make strong and effective word choices and eliminate any unnecessary rambling.  Also, decide on an age group to target with your story and keep that in mind as you craft your piece. What would a kid that age know, want to know, think about, be scared of, find funny, etc.?  You may want your story to rhyme--seems like many kids' books do--but it's not required. Your story could be funny or serious, silly or sentimental...

You are welcome to write about whatever you want, but there are a number of ideas for stories at this website if you're looking for inspiration, or maybe you could try the brainstorming process explained on this website.

Or maybe consider these ideas from the site Children's Book Writer:

Select one character, one character trait, one setting, one problem, and one magical element from the lists below and write a 200-250 word scene or story. To complete the exercise, eliminate the magical element and rewrite the scene/story. What had to change? Does the magical element make your main character, and the story he tells, any stronger?

Main Character (select one from list or create your own)
Cassandra
Joey
Lizard
Ardvark
Gollup

Character Trait (select one)
Shy
Curious
Loud
Slippery
Sad


Setting (select one)
Cruise ship
Hot air balloon
Zoo
School playground
Beach


Problem (select one)
Forgot lunch
Lost
Make a new friend
Bullied
Cold
Save the planet


Magical element (select one)
Skateboard
Bubble
Jumprope
Elephant
Dollar bill

...........................................................................................................

Select a beginning, a main character, and a moral to convey. Imagine yourself telling your tale to a rapt group of children... Keep interest high by using active verbs and phrases, use conflict to create tension, and try lots of dialogue. To complete the exercise, read it aloud!

Beginning:

My friends! Gather around, close to me. We are about to embark on a strange journey...

Once upon a time, in a land nearly forgotten...

I'm as old as the trees, as old as the stars in the night sky. Only I am old enough to remember what happened a long time ago...

Long ago and far away...


Character:

The Bovine King
Quiet Leopard
The Boy in the Moon
Two Sisters 
The Dancing Rabbit in the Moon
The Lonely Princess
Warty Frog

Moral or Lesson to be Learned:

Always practice kindness
A good deed can make a difference
Only you can control your attitude.
Sometimes things are not as they appear to be.
Don't be afraid to challenge authority

About the Author (That's you!)

Please post a brief but interesting bio of yourself as a children's author to your blog today.  These bios are written in 3rd person and at minimum generally include where the author lives (city and state) and who he or she lives with (family and pets).  You might also include some lines referencing your own childhood passions and preoccupations, or your inspiration for writing the story, or what else occupies your time besides writing great books.  These also usually include a picture of the author, so  post either a picture of yourself or an avatar or some other image to represent you.

Books for Kids

Please type up the information from the folded blue sheet regarding a children's book in the library as a New Post on your blog.  Include a couple of images.  Glue the half sheet in your journal to count as an entry.

Children's Lit Online Search

Hi there. I'd like you to do a guided search to see what's out there in the world of children's literature. I've put in links to the web addresses listed on the worksheet here on this post for you to make your search easier. A couple of the sites are interactive and have sound, video and other activities, and you're welcome to scroll around on those in addition to just answering the questions.

1. First stop: Cyberbee

2. Next stop: Pigeon Presents

3.  Ian Falconer's Olivia

 4. Walter the Dog link

5. Top 10 of 2013 by Breezy Mama

6. Top 10 "Classic" Children's Books @ Best Toys Guide

7. Current Trends in Children's Lit article

8. No link for this one--look for a review of your own favorite

9. Skippyjon Jones Home Page

10.  Leave a comment on this post about one of your favorite books when you were a kid.  Include: 

• a brief summary of the story
• why you liked it/what it meant to you

Add another few sentences to tyour comment to answer either one of these:

• who/what/where/etc. you might want to write a kids' book about OR 

• why you think it would be fun (or difficult) to write a kids' book

Turn in your completed Children's Lit Online Search packet to the basket on Mrs. Fraser's desk for points today.  If you're not able to finish the comment on this post about your favorite book during class on Friday, please find some time to do it on your own.  

Child's Play

In childhood, 
we press our nose to the pane, looking out.  
In memories of childhood, 
we press our nose to the pane, looking in.    
                                                                                                                  ~Robert Brault

Let's use CHILDHOOD as our theme this week and next and do some thinking about children's stories--both your own and fictional ones you might write for kids. 

Please choose some of these questions to answer in a New Post on your blog of at least 300 words.  Rather than answering many of them with short, surface answers, go into more detail about just a few.  Include images with your writing if you can. 

You could answer others in your journal, too.  You should have at least 20 new pages by the end of next week.

When you've finished your own, please leave a friendly and specific comment on 3 of your classmates' childhood blog posts.

I'm posting grades for progress reports before I leave school today, so be sure you're caught up.

1. What is your most poignant childhood memory? The one that sticks out the most? Write out as much as you can remember and then fill in the details with elaborate description.

2. Who was the most important person to you during most of your childhood? Your mom? Your dad? Another relative? A friend? An imaginary person? Show some examples in which you see how much influence this person (or imaginary person) had on you while you were growing up.

3. It seems like when you are a kid growing up you can't wait to get there and when you are a grown up you wish you could be back. Imagine one day in which you are granted adulthood as a child, and one day in which you are granted childhood as an adult. How do you utilize these 24 hour periods?

4. We all have that friend we had in childhood who later moved into a different popularity scale in middle or high school. Who was that friend and what did you two enjoy so much together when you were little?

5. What did you and your family do for entertainment when you were little? Did you play board games together? Go to movies? Go into extreme detail of a family fun night of some kind. 

6. What cartoon from your childhood is the most memorable for you? What made it stick in your head so strongly? Would you see a movie of it now if were made into a big blockbuster for the nostalgia purposes?

7.  What action makes you the most nostalgic for your childhood? Is it seeing old pictures or going through old clothes? Something else entirely? Write a story of you going through those nostalgic actions and having various memories of your childhood. 

8. How do you recall getting along with your family during your childhood? With your parents, siblings, and other relatives? Go though a typical reunion or holiday with your entire family in attendance during your childhood. Have fun going into excruciating detail. 

9. Is there something you know now you wish you knew when you were a kid?  Is there something you’ve come to know that you wish you didn’t?

10. It's your birthday! Pick a party that you had during your childhood or create an ideal birthday party for yourself at any young age and write a story about it.

11. You have been given the opportunity to go backwards. You can pick an age and start over again from that age. Do you pick one or not? What age would you go to? Describe your first week with your "old person" memories in your younger body. 

12.  Describe any childhood ailments or injuries you had. 

13.  Describe your favorite toy. What did it look like? How did it feel? 

14.  Describe your favorite books growing up. What made them special to you? 

15.  Describe your favorite game growing up. 

16.  Describe your nemesis growing up. Who made your life miserable and what did he/she do to make your life so rough? 

17.  Describe your favorite foods as a child. What did you eat then that you no longer eat?

18.  What was the biggest trouble you got into as a child? Describe what you did or didn’t do to deserve what happened to you. 

19.  What was your greatest childhood accomplishment? How did it make you feel? What influence do you think it has had on your life since? 

20.  Describe what you did or where you went as a child when you wanted to feel safe.

21.  Describe your personality as a child. In what ways has it changed as you’ve gotten older? In what ways has it stayed the same? 

22.  How has your opinion of your parents changed as you’ve grown older? 

23.  Describe your most interesting relative.

24.  Describe something that people would be surprised to know about your childhood.

25.  Describe some of the cultural influences in your childhood.  Do you know your heritage?

26.  Describe the home you grew up in. If you lived in several different homes, describe one or discuss the reasons for the frequent moves. Were you moving up or working your way down?

27.  Describe one of your first away-from-home experiences.

28.  Describe a smell that you remember from growing up. 

29.  What was your favorite family dinner as a child? 

30.  Talk about a time when you were grounded. 

31.  At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle? 

32.  What did you want to be when you grew up? 

33.  When you were a child, how did you imagine your teenage life?  Your adult life? 

34.  Describe someone who taught you to believe in yourself. 

35.  What frightening dream do you remember from your childhood? 

36.  What did you not like about your childhood? 

37.  Recall one of your favorite childhood movies. 

38.  What did you collect as a child? What did you like about these items

39.   Write about a photo of yourself as a child...

Keeping it real (like Dan)

In a New Post share your thoughtful answers to 4-5 of the Dan In Real Life questions.  Shoot for about 500 words.  Include an image.

Please be sure you're caught up on all blog posts so far this quarter so we can move on to a new topic next week when we return from our little break...childhood/children's stories! The last day to submit any of the work so far for credit will be Tuesday, 8 November.  Use your grade check as reference and make up what you can.