1001 Brilliant Writing Ideas: Teaching Inspirational Story-Writing for All Ages

by Ron Shaw

How often do you hear your pupils cry 'what can I write about?' 1001 Brilliant Writing Ideas offers teachers endless ideas and inventive suggestions, opening up new opportunities for creative writing lessons. With over 1000 different ‘story-starters’ across a vast range of genres and narrative styles, this versatile book provides food for thought for pupils of a wide range of ages and abilities. This highly practical and richly illustrated photocopiable resource Any teacher whose inventiveness is flagging, and whose pupils are running out of ideas, will find this an essential classroom resource.

Genres: Writing

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Naiá Lusvarghi]

Acho que eu teria gostado mais dessas idéias se eu tivesse uns 13 anos. Mas tem propostas interessantes.

[Corvidianus]

It's put together really well, and very nicely organized, engagingly presented, but the ideas themselves - purported by the title to be "brilliant" - are too predictable and hackneyed at this point. Children follow a rainbow and find a pot of gold at the end <- it would take a lot for this to jostle someone who isn't already inspired to write and hasn't mastered the underlying techniques of creativity.

Children don't need books of prompts like this. They're good at coming up with their own ideas, if they aren't brainwashed by too much TV and Disney junk. So I don't actually know that a book like this is even necessary, for all that it's nicely put together. A better book concept would be to teach kids how to generate their own ideas and develop them, and trust their intuitive hunches, and develop first person observational skills rather than relying on secondhand sources. Build critical thinking and engage their perception with the world around them rather than being buried in video games and other people's narratives.

Three stars, no less, for the work that went into this. Ron Shaw seems like quite a sweetiepie from the way this is written, but I think it's actually a little dumbed down for kids of writing age, and somewhat condescending to their intelligence and imaginations. The language and concepts are suited to toddlers, but the fact that they are supposed to be writing stories implies they are older.

The alliteration was both adorable and impressive, however!

[Misbah]

Fun writing ideas for kids, to hep get the creative juices going. I got this book hoping to find some interesting writing prompts, but it seemed too kiddish to me at the time.