If You Want to Write a Story

by Jeff Mack

Crafting a great story can be as fun as reading one with this action-packed introduction to fiction writing as your child’s guide!

Nothing is quite as exciting and frustrating as chasing a story idea out of your head and onto the page. Award-winning author and illustrator Jeff Mack should know— he’s been telling stories since the second grade. With How to Write a Story, he brings the writing process to life for the next generation of yarn spinners.

“Ideas are hiding anywhere,” our narrator notes as we open on a pensive mouse at his writing desk. This proves true a moment later, when a stuffed bunny leaps from a shelf and out of the house, straight to a cardboard box spaceship. “Writing a story is like traveling through space,” we continue as mouse and bunny do just that: “It may take you a long time. You may not always know where you’re going.” Once landed on an alien planet, the adventure continues to the bottom of the sea, the stomach of a big fish, and the lair of a killer robot. Each thrilling beat illustrates a tool in the fiction writer’s kit.

Whether used in the classroom or gifted to the talented youngster in your life, How to Write a Story is timeless, multifaceted, and empowering.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals

40 pages, Hardcover

Published July 22, 2025

About the author

Born in Syracuse, New York, Jeff Mack has written and illustrated a long list of picture books, chapter books, and early readers, including Clueless McGee, Good News Bad News, Frog and Fly, the Hippo and Rabbit series, and Hush Little Polar Bear.

He has also illustrated many books for other authors, including James Howe's Bunnicula and Friends series and Eve Bunting's Hurry! Hurry!, one of School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007.

At home in Easthampton, Massachusetts, he continues to write, illustrate, and visit schools and libraries to talk about his work. Visit him at www.jeffmack.com.

Bio taken from Jeff's website: http://www.jeffmack.com/short_biograp....
More biographical information can be found at http://www.jeffmack.com/biography.html.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zany, futuristic digital artwork featuring a mouse and his stuffed bunny friend accompanies a helpful account [3.5 for me!] about how to write a story. Since many budding writers struggle with writing, this picture book offers something of a step-by-step blueprint. The illustrations fit the suggestions in an unusual way, taking readers into space as a simile for storytelling: "Writing a story is like traveling through space" (unpaged). The story even suggests reading the final version to others for feedback, regarding the ending as a new beginning for yet another story, and even realizing that sometimes it's necessary to start over or rebuild the story. This book would be helpful in a writing class for elementary students but also for children's literature classes where one assignment is to write an original children's book. Of course, the illustration process isn't covered here, nor is writing nonfiction, but still, this is a solid start for those individuals with writer's block or no clue about the writing process.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really gets at what it's like to write a story. All the details, the ups and downs, are described perfectly. i hope this book will inspire young writers to get their ideas out into the world.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fun way to help kids understand how go write a story and start their own writing adventure.

[Ossy Firstan · Rating 4 out of 5]

lucu banget dan menarik soal menulis.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely illustrated guide for a young reader/listener on how to write their own story.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute and helpful!

[Annese · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fun! Would be great to use for a writing and/or illustration program.

[Colorado Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great overview of the elements of a good story explained to kids. really liked it.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children's
picture book

"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" for budding writers!

Very cute!