Young Writers' Camp

Last week I did a presentation for a Young Writers' Camp on Inspiration. We talked a lot about what inspires them - what breathes life into them - and we talked a lot about what helps us to write.

My top writing tip - no surprise - is in the words of author, Gary Paulsen,

READ LIKE A WOLF EATS.

What a great description - we discussed how wolves devour food because their very lives depend upon it and so too with books, we need to read them as if our very lives depended upon it.  

Because, in a way, our lives do depend on stories/books.

Literature is indeed linked to life like letters in a word, like words in a story.  Literature connects us to one another, to our ancestors, our descendants, and to the world around us.

What a wonderful way to start the summer for these kids with a Writers' Camp, where they discover that good writing is not just about getting better grades, or going to good colleges, but it is also about living better and happier lives:

GOOD STORIES = GOOD LIVES

TEACHER ELIZABETH MALONEY AND HER YOUNG WRITERS!

Story Connections

This month's read aloud is A Story for Bear by Dennis Hasely, a tender tale about a bear who becomes mesmerized by the sound of a woman's voice as she reads stories of sailors, goddesses, and far-off lands. 

I love the title of this book -it reminds us how important it is to take time to find just the right story for someone at different times in their lives.  

Often parents will ask me for a story recommendation particularly suited to their own child's problems or concerns- a move, a death, a new sibling, or some squabble in the classroom. 

 Stories are great practice for life - they can give children a model for coping with loss or betrayal or anger, but they work best, if we feed them to our children BEFORE they actually have to experience the loss or the trauma.

A Story for Bear is a marvelous tribute to the joy and beauty of reading aloud, and it shows us too that stories connect us to one another - to the world around us - to our ancestors and to our descendants, and in this case, to a gentle bear deep in the woods!

"The storytellers go back and back to a clearing in the forest, where a great fire burns and the old shamans dance and sing, for our heritage of stories began in fire, magic, the spirit world.  And that is where it is held today."   

Doris Lessing, Nobel Lecture, 2007