This is an inexpensive book (under four dollars) that describes to young authors a formulated style of writing short stories. It is written at a second grade reading level for aspiring children that like to write but needs guidance in developing story part techniques. Write Up a Storm would be a good title to recommend to parents in a primary classroom newsletter.

Ms. Giff explains reasons for the story part in examples easily understood by the student. She shows you the steps she uses to write great stories. Then she quickly reviews the steps and offers the student a turn. The format suggested elements of ITIP in that she actively demonstrates the lesson (by chapter), reviews the main concepts and then prompts the writer in exploring their own skills.

Story elements are in all good stories. Students need to learn the basics. Ms. Giff separates the story into characters, setting, problem/conflict, and makes suggestions on how to keep the story moving by making your character talk. She makes the character worry about the problem and makes the problem worse. In the end you solve the problem.

Often times, parents do not know how to help their children in the difficulties of academic literary progress. Writing is easy to encourage, but often times hard to facilitate direction. With this book, parents of primary aged children have the ability to encourage their children in writing techniques of short stories.

Paralleling the same concept of self-directed studies by aspiring young authors, two other books are worth mentioning but are no means as easily self-taught as the above book. The following books are for more advanced readers Grades Four to Six,

Where Do You Get Your Ideas? By Sandy Asher, published by Walter and Company, ISBN: 0-8027-7421-OP

Sandy Asher provides insight to writing with a balanced mix of instructional examples of how to get started on a story with antidotes of published authors revealing their writing secrets in Where Do You Get Your Ideas? This is more for leisure reading rather than self-instruction. It gives examples of how to brainstorm and narrow down a chosen subject. The famous authors reveal in general ways that writing takes time and an aspiring author must be patient.

What’s Your Story? A Young Person’s Guide to Writing Fiction, by Marion Dane Bauer, published by Clarion Books, ISBN: 0-395-57780-2

What’s Your Story? could be a good round-robin read for a small group of middle school aged students. A discussion would need to follow for maximum effect. The author breaks a story down into parts. I liked the introduction of the book because it states that all stories have a conflict. Bauer preferred the word struggle because it implies movement of the main character. A tight story and good pacing create tension when the reader cares for the main character and makes them worry about the problem. When the readers share the character’s thoughts and feelings, they will understand how important the problem is. Bauer also discusses passing of time within the story by using scene changes. Serious authors should be aware of these sophisticated techniques that can enrich their story elements.