Children are intrigued with authors, artists and how books are made. Following are some books that could provide ideas for the budding young writer or illustrator:
FROM PICTURES TO WORDS: A BOOK ABOUT MAKING A BOOK by Janet Stevens (Holiday House).Using a sketch of herself, Stevens takes a collection of animal friends into her studio and demonstrates the process of finding an idea for a story, writing it and then illustrating it. While many writers begin with the story, this artist starts with the visuals or the pictures to make the story happen. Children will enjoy this animated books with its colorful and humorous characters that teach the book-making process.
THE YOUNG AUTHOR'S DO-IT-YOURSELF BOOK: HOW TO WRITE AND ILLUSTRATE by Donna Guthrie and Nancy Bently (Millbrook) shows how to interview, edit and illustrate a story. Rodney Martin and John Sion go one step further with THE MAKING OF A PICTURE BOOK by Gareth Stevens by providing a kit which includes ideas for beginning, four printed sections, a color proof and a folded print sheet taken from the authors' book "There's a Dinosaur in the Park!"
STEP-BY-STEP: MAKING BOOKS by Charlotte Stowell (Kingfisher) provides ideas for cover-making, printing patterns and designs for pop-ups and flap books. While there are many ideas here, my preference is Joan Irving's HOW TO MAKE POP-UPS (Beech Tree) which gives easy directions and step-by-step procedures.
One of the older books - but still a treasure - is Aliki's HOW A BOOK IS MADE (HarperCollins) where animated characters show the book-making process, even demonstrating the final printing.
If a young writer needs assistance, Eileen Christelow's WHAT DO AUTHORS DO? (Clarion) provides much information in a cartoon-like format. THINKING LIKE A WRITER by Lou Willett Stanek (Random) turns everyday actions and events into story ideas. The exercises for trying out some of them are practical and appealing.
Two longer books that would be appropriate for the older writer (grades 5-12) are IN YOUR OWN WORDS: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO WRITING by Sylvia Cassedy (Crowell) and Marion Dane Bauer's WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION (Clarion). Both of these give insight into what it means to be an author.
YOUNG AUTHORS OF AMERICA, published by the Trumpet Club, has several editions in paperback made up of young writers who submitted their manuscripts. (The 1992 edition had two Salt Lake writers who were chosen for publication.)
Another source where writers can send in manuscripts is a magazine, "Merlyn's Pen" East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Their recent collection of stories has been put into book format. SOMETHING LIKE A HERO: STORIES OF DARING AND DECISION by American Teen Writers, will give much encouragement and help in getting published.
MESSAGES IN THE MAILBOX: HOW TO WRITE A LETTER by Loreen Leedy (Holiday House) takes on the nearly lost art of letter writing. Considering all forms of letters - personal ones, love notes, those expressing sympathy and
standard form letters - this book will be much fun for children.
Many writers have collections of letters taken from fan mail or personal notes. C.S. Lewis and Judy Blume are examples of authors who have put letters into book form. DEAR LAURA: LETTERS FROM CHILDREN TO LAURA IN-GALLS WILDER (HarperCollins) is a new collection of letters ranging from 1932 to 1957 representing children of all ages.
DEAR AUTHOR: LETTERS FROM CHILDREN is taken from Weekly Reader's "Read" magazine about the books that changed their lives. This is an interesting collection since the letters are broken down into categories such as overcoming difficulties, self-discovery and lifelong inspiration. Some of the authors are still living but many are directed posthumously to writers such as Charlotte Bronte, Willa Cather, Upton Sinclair and Alex Haley.
Journal writing can be a good format for young people beginning to write and illustrate. There are many models of journals, but a recent one, OFF THE MAP: THE JOURNAL OF LEWIS AND CLARK (Walker) edited by Peter and Connie Roop, gives a slice of history as well as encouragement for would-be writers.
HOW TO GET FAMOUS IN BROOKLYN by Amy Hest (Simon and Schuster) is a series of childlike reports that could be impetus for a workshop answering the question, "What can I write about?"
For an overview of writers and their impressions, LIVES OF THE WRITERS: COMEDIES, TRAGEDIES (AND WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THOUGHT) by Kathleen Drull and Kathryn Hewitt (Harcourt) is the inside story on 20 literary luminaries. Most of these authors are for older readers. I recommend this for grades 6 and up.