The I Love to Write Book: Ideas & Tips for Young Writers

by Mary-Lane Kamberg, John Riddle (Preface)

The I Love to Write Book is a get-started guide to launch young writers on a journey to success . . . in the classroom and beyond. The I Love to Write Book is an instructional and inspirational get-started guide for young writers, ages 8-14, to launch them on a journey to become successful, confident, and self-motivated writers. Featuring many practical tips, techniques, and exercises, the book is ideal for use in the classroom as well as individually. Published in support of national ''I Love To Write Day,'' celebrated each year in mid-November in more than 20,000 schools and libraries. Includes activities, worksheets, and examples for developing ideas, observing the world, writing different types of pieces (such as news articles, book reviews, thank-you letters, how-tos, and more) and best practices for writing poetry and fiction. Also covered are the basics of revising work and submitting pieces for publication. While ideal for classroom use, the book focuses on writing for personal satisfaction, community impact, and publication. The I Love to Write Book features a preface by John Riddle, founder of ''I Love To Write Day.''

Genres: Writing

135 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2008

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good not only for young writers but writers of any age. Well organized and presented.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first section of the book pretty much serves as an overview of typical college English writing - ideal for teenagers who want some preparatory pointers for essays or creative writing. For me, there’s nothing new to learn here, but I did find the suggestion to keep a notebook as a “description dictionary” of sorts as a nifty idea I’ll want to implement into my repertoire.

Section II: I love how the author stresses the importance of writing every day. It doesn’t matter how well-written it is or what the contents are. Just write whatever comes to mind. Like with any other skill, one can only improve from practice. Brief how-to guides in this section discuss: journaling, letters to newspapers, advertising copywriting, news stories, thank-you notes, obituaries, letters of complaint/compliment, and even how-to guides, to name a few. Techniques for developing story elements (characters, plot) conclude this section. There are plenty of areas here that I’m bookmarking and will use for future reference.

Section III covers reviewing and rewriting, improvement tips, and submitting and publishing your work. Additional writing resources are also provided in the back of the book. This is yet another great section teeming with ideas and helpful information.

It doesn’t matter if this book is intended for junior high/high schoolers. All writers should check this out, whether they’d like to learn about and experiment with different writing forms or to discover new ways to hone their writing ability.

Random side note: Whenever I see the title, I’m reminded of the song “I Love To Laugh” from Mary Poppins. Maybe this warrants a rewritten parody.

[Jared Salomon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dislike not finishing things that I start. I started this book when I was a kid, and after taking a long break, I committed to finishing it. I kinda wish I had read this whole thing when I was younger 'cause there's a lot of stuff in here that would've been very helpful to me back then. But there's still stuff in here that's helpful to me in my twenties. It's a book that's clearly supposed to be read by kids, but I still enjoyed reading it as an adult.

[Kassyreadsalot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great very well organized book on writing tips for anyone of any age. I loved this book when I received it as a prize and I recommend it to anyone who wants to become better at writing.