First Kids Step Into Reading

When I took composition classes in college, I many times became frustrated with all the reading I had to do, story after story after story, a good deal of times thousands of pages per assignment. Yet as we discussed the stories and what made them interesting or what didn’t, I was learning how to write. Even today, as I read and review, I learn more in regards to what makes a good story and what doesn’t.

I used the reading, discussion, and then writing idea when I taught, too. I tried to spotlight one or two conceptions per story, then had the students write something using those conceptions and any others we had already covered. First, even though came reading and reading and reading.

As I read the September, 2005, issue of The Writer, I came upon an article by Erika Dreifus titled “Learning short-story writing by example.” She agrees with my university professors and me: “We learn by reading closely and reading as writers – attending to the ways others apply the constituents of fiction: setting, plot, character, theme, and so on.”

So where may a person find short stories to study, ones that will aid learn rectify story writing? Of course books of short stories are found in all book stores. In fact Holly Jahangiri and I have a collection of short stories for sale at Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobles. Plus a great deal of bookstores connected to colleges have anthologies for sale. If someone couldn’t afford to buy an anthology or collection, used bookstores or libraries carry them.

Web internet sites may be found that have stories and counsel for writers. The Internet is an interesting and impressive source. Some magazines still publish short stories. Searching in cyber space will locate galore that do.

The best support found in reading, though, is to read well-written short stories, and read, read, read.

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Sources:

1. Dreifus, Erika, “Learning short-story writing by example,” The Writer, September 2005.

2. Notes and lesson plans by Vivian Zabel

First Kids Step Into Reading

Kids will be kids—even when they live in the White House! From Tad Lincoln (secretly called a “tyrant” ) to the Roosevelt gang (who held a pet badger, a rat, dogs, snakes, horses, parrots, and a one-legged chicken!) to the Kennedys (who used the oval office as a playground) to Chelsea Clinton (who transformed herself from an awkward teen into an accomplished scholar), the children featured in First Kids shared a distinctive experience and role in American history.

About the AuthorGibbs Davis is the author of galore graded readers and chapter books. The author lives in New York, NY.

First Kids Step Into Reading Picture

First Kids Step Into Reading Image

Most helpful client reviews

1 of 1 humans found the following review helpful.
Fun Book for Kids!
By Lynn Ellingwood
Children often wonder how they fit in to the world. This is a fun book for children and an eye opening one too. There were children in the White House! They genuinely played and had fun too. Kids will love this book.

0 of 0 humans found the following review helpful.
*OPPENHEIM BEST BOOK GOLD AWARD WINNER*
By Book Beast
Nearly 200 kids have lived in the White House. Some loved it. Others couldn’t wait to leave. Have students weigh the masters and cons of being First Kid. Short easy-to-read chapters describe Lincoln’s mischievous boys, Grant’s son, Teddy Roosevelt’s six children and menagerie of exotic pets, the Coolidge boys, Caroline and John Kennedy, Chelsea Clinton and the cover kids, Malia and Sasha Obama.

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