Embedded Files
Topics on the Page
Topics on the Page
Picture Books to Inspire Young Writers
Picture Books to Inspire Young Writers
National Novel Writing Month
National Novel Writing Month
A Writing Process Fit for Young Writers
A Writing Process Fit for Young Writers
Resources for English Language Learners
Resources for English Language Learners
Digital Tools for Language Learning
Digital Tools for Language Learning
Picture Books to Inspire Young Writers
Picture Books to Inspire Young Writers
Characters in these books (including children and adolescents) write and draw creatively to express ideas and make sense of life experiences.
Pencil. Hye-eun Kim. Toons Books, 2025. The story of a pencil and what it and a young artist can create.
The Dot. Peter H. Reynolds. Candlewick Press, 2003
Celebrate International Dot Day that is held yearly around September 15. Connect to your creativity. Make Your Mark.
The Red Pencil. Andrea David Pinkney. Illustrated by Shane Evans. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2014. The gift of a red pencil gives a 12-year-old girl in Darfur a new way to process the challenges of her life in a refugee camp.
Harold and the Purple Crayon. Crockett Johnson. HarperCollins, 2005. First published in 1955, this classic book shows a young boy using a pencil to create a world of imaginative fun and mystery. See also:
The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art. Barb Rosenstock. Illustrated by Mary Grandpre. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.
One Day, The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-Than-Ever Stories. Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Illustrated by Fred Kohler. Boyds Mill Press, 2015.
Little Plane Learns to Write. Stephen Savage. Roaring Brook Press, 2017.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. William Joyce. Illustrated by Joe Bluhm. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012.
Our Library. Eve Bunting. Illustrated by Maggie Smith. Clarion Books, 2008. Raccoon and his friends use teamwork to keep their library from closing.
Marguerite Makes a Book. Bruce Robertson. Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999.
The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane. C. M. Millen. Illustrated by Andrea Wisnewski. Charlesbridge, 2010.
Do Not Open This Book. Michaela Muntean. Illustrated by Pascal Lemaire. Scholastic Press, 2006.
The Pencil. Allan Ahlberg. Illustrated by Bruce Ingman. Candlewick Press. 2012. A delightful story about a pencil and the world it creates.
National Writing & Picture Book Month
National Writing & Picture Book Month
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program (YWP)
In 2005, the YWP was launched so that kids in grades K–12 would be encouraged to partake in this nonprofit organization’s program.
In 2015, 81,311 students and educators participated in the Young Writers Program.
Writing Process Fit for Young Writers
Writing Process Fit for Young Writers
Explore our Writing Process Fit for Young Writers wikipage to learn more about a writing process fit for young writers.
Position Statement on Writing in Schools, National Council of Teachers of English (August 2022)
Visit the Resources for English Teachers wiki for books, resources, and tips for teaching writing to kids that features:
Examples of young children's writing
An overview of the writing process
Resources from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
The novelist Ian McEwan was asked how his writing process has changed with the onset of technology, he answered:
“In the seventies I used to work in the bedroom of my flat at a little table. I worked in longhand with a fountain pen. I’d type out a draft, mark up the typescript, type it out again. Once I paid a professional to type a final draft, but I felt I was missing things I would have changed if I had done it myself. In the mid-eighties I was a grateful convert to computers. Word processing is more intimate, more like thinking itself. In retrospect, the typewriter seems a gross mechanical obstruction. I like the provisional nature of unprinted material held in the computer’s memory — like an unspoken thought. I like the way sentences or passages can be endlessly reworked, and the way this faithful machine remembers all your little jottings and messages to yourself. Until, of course, it sulks and crashes." (quoted in The Writer's Almanac, June 21, 2020)
For background on how to talk with young writers, see the following:
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7. Joanna Faber & Julie King. Scribner, 2017
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish. (Updated edition). Scribner, 2012.
Resources for English Language Learners
Resources for English Language Learners
Bilingual Picture Books
Bilingual Picture Books
2017 Bilingual Children's Books, School Library Journal (December 2017)
9 Bilingual Children's Books That Make Learning a New Language Easy
Family Pictures/Cuadros de Familia. Carmen Lomas Garza. Illustrated by Sandra Cisneros. 15th Anniversary Edition. Children's Book Press, 2015.
My Name is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River. Jane Medina. Illustrated by Fabricio Vanden Broeck. Wordsong, 1999.
My Diary From Here to There/Mi Diario de Aqui Hasta Alla. Amada Irma Perez. Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Children's Book Press, 2013.
Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx/La Juez Que Crecio en el Bronx. Jonah Winter. Illustrated by Edel Rodriguez. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009.
What Can You Do With A Paleta? Carmen Tafolla. Illustrated by Magaly Morales. Dragonfly Books, 2014.
Digital Tools for Language Learning
Digital Tools for Language Learning
Language Translators
Language Translators
Picture or Visual Dictionaries
Picture or Visual Dictionaries
Apps and Games for Language Learning
Apps and Games for Language Learning
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Borrowing Words from the Children's University of Manchester. Guess which words come from which languages!
Google Sites
Report abuse