This summer, try telling mixed-up fairy tales!  Recommended for road trips, plane trips, camping trips, bedtime and waiting rooms.

From three different fairy tales, pick a character, a setting and a plot.  Put it all together in your own unique way and voila — you have a mixed-up fairy tale.  You are now a storyteller. 

For example:

- Goldilocks

- in a candy house

- big bad wolf wants to blow her house down

Hmmm . . . what will happen?

Here’s a printable list of fairy tale characters, settings and plots you can cut up and mix up.  I’ve done this with my writing classes and it’s lots of fun.  The more you practice telling stories, the better the stories get.  It’s fun to write the best stories down and illustrate them!

Fairy Tale Characters,  Settings and Plots:
Mix and Stir for a Good Story!

Artist Date guest post by mom and author of Spilling Ink and other books, Anne Mazer.

Years before I read Julia Cameron, I was doing artist dates with my kids. It was called “writing with mom” and for years, it was a nightly ritual. Like many good things, it happened by accident, almost unconsciously, and without any intimation of how important it would become in our family life.

It began with my six-year-old son watching me at the computer. I don’t remember what inspired me to say, “Want to write a story? You tell it to me and I’ll type it up for you.” But my son immediately began to dictate a story that borrowed heavily from his favorite television show. I was astonished by his ability to play with and embellish a structure, to juggle ideas in his head. And he came back the next day to dictate more, picking up seamlessly where he had left off.  Short pieces turned into story cycles, starring his classmates. His little sister also dictated some very memorable poems and short stories. Sometimes we wrote with their friends.  Eventually, years later, one of my son’s best friends became his writing partner, allowing me to “retire” from my role as typist.

Here are the basics that made this work for all of us:

1. Respect their authorship.

Your kids have the right to explore their ideas in any way they see fit. Unless they asked (which they usually didn’t), I didn’t suggest endings or approaches, or try to direct their imagination. They were in charge of their own stories.

2. Feed their imaginations.

We read lots of books together. I was fascinated to see how my son incorporated ideas from them. For example, we all loved Sid Fleischman’s McBroom books, which inspired him to begin a whole story cycle of tall tales.

3. Celebrate their stories.

I always printed out their stories, so they could see them typed up like real books and illustrate them, if they wished.

We also shared the stories – giving copies to friends and relatives, reading them out loud, and bringing them to school.

And here are a few more ideas to get started…

1. Try an “I Dare You” from Spilling Ink: A Handbook for Young Writers, or check out one of the free downloads at www.spillinginkthebook.com
2. Make it special! For my kids, “special” was writing on a computer like Mom. But “special” could also mean a designated writing notebook, or a favorite pen or a cozy writing chair.
3. And make it fun. Your kids might like to pretend to write in blood (red ink) on a scroll of parchment, or on charcoal on a large piece of drawing paper. Or in colored chalk on a sidewalk. Or write on napkins. Or on a large white t-shirt.
4. If your child gets stuck in the middle of a story, ask questions. Recap what they’ve already written and ask them what happens next. Be curious about the world they’ve created.

Bio: Anne Mazer is the author of 44 books, including The Salamander Room, The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes (series) and the Sister Magic series. She co-authored Spilling Ink with her friend Ellen Potter. Her kids are adults now and they’re both fabulous writers.

Melissa’s Note: Wow!  Thanks, Anne! I’m going to try the t-shirt writing this week — my girls might not like the blood one but I bet I have some students who would!  Thanks for mentioning letting kids be totally in charge of the story, even if it’s from a t.v. show or needs some work. MANY times I need to remember that. Sigh.

Spilling Ink, Anne’s book with co-author Ellen Potter, is an amazing resource for all ages and levels of writers.  Read my review and enter to WIN SPILLING INK!

Spilling Ink, a Young Writer’s Handbook isn’t what I expected, it’s MORE!  I loved it – and think it’s appropriate for us older young writers, too!

*The only books for young writers I like are well, very few — Ralph Fletcher and Victoria Hanley’s books come to mind in addition to my new favorite, Spilling Ink.

Here’s why I recommend this book for your kids (and you):

• Encourages writing anything and breaking the rules.
• Broken into manageable sections, making it easy to read.
• Helpful ideas.
• Memorable - love the stories of writing shared by both authors.
• Relatable – all writers stumble and grow, Anne and Ellen show how they’ve failed and succeeded.
• Inspiring!
• “I Dare You” ideas.

If you haven’t bought this book for your kids or yourself, it’s time. (Okay, if your child is only two, maybe wait a few years.  I’m just saying . . .)

Spilling Ink is written by two experienced children’s book authors — Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter who, besides having lots of books, host a great blog on writing. Today, Anne Mazer shares on Imagination Soup ideas for writing dates with your kids.

GIVEAWAY! Do you want to win a copy of Spilling Ink? Comment below and tell why you’d like to win.  Contest ends July 31, 2010. (U.S. and Canada only.)

Guest post by Jennifer Cervantes, YA author of Tortilla Sun, my newest favorite book and pick for this year’s Newbery Award –read my review here.

One of my favorite ways to spend time with my daughters is when we are involved in some sort of creative exercise. Of course, for me, writing is at the top of that creative list. As an author and teacher of writing, I’m always looking for ways to engage my girls in writing exercises. So I have created a list of the some exercises I do or have done with them. Like most parents, I want my daughters to learn how they can use writing to express themselves, communicate, persuade, explain, or reflect. The bottom line is to have fun and let them be a part of the design process too!

Post office: I started this with my youngest daughter, Juliana. She has the tendency to interrupt me when I’m working and since I do a lot of work from home, this means all the time.  So we devised a fun game we played on Fridays. Here’s how it works:  first, we crafted a mailbox out of an old shoe box. We decorated it and even gave it a little red paper flag and a small bell that hung from a string.  We set the mailbox outside my office and when she had mail for me, she put the flag up and rang the bell to alert me that I had mail. The deal was, once she left me mail, I would respond to it within fifteen minutes. Her letter could be about anything and often times we ended up co-writing poems.  She’d start the poem and I’d write the next line.  Did I get any work done on Fridays? Not usually, but we had a lot of fun.

Travel Fun: We love to have fun and create adventures together as a family. So whenever we go on a vacation, even camping for the night, the girls write a one page paper on the place we are going. They can select a popular attraction, history of the place, cultural tradition, etc.  One time, when we were off to San Francisco, they fought over who would write about the history of Ghirardelli chocolate.  This taught them a lot about research and delivery because once we got to the place of interest, it was their job to teach the rest of us what they had learned.  It’ s also fun to create travel journals and you don’t have to go far for these to work. You could even use your summer trips around town and kids can write about a day at the park or movies. They can glue their tickets on the pages, receipts, photos, etc. My girls still have all their travel journals and love them.

Child as Teacher: I think we can learn a lot from the kids in our lives and it’s such a confidence booster for kids to teach us something. You can use this in a multitude of ways. They can teach you how to do something, for example, how to make chocolate chip cookies.  Or maybe they learned a new fact and want to share it with you.  After the writing, let them show you how to complete the task.

It’s a Plan: if your kiddos are anything like mine, they are constantly after something. So, in order to teach them persuasion, I will often ask them to present a plan. For example, if they want to do something a little out of the ordinary, (like go to a midnight showing without me!) then I have them put together a plan that includes all of the details including a movie preview, rating, time ,date, place, friends going etc. Then they must list the reasons why I should allow them to go and this includes anticipating my responses. Believe it or not, we usually end up laughing at some of the reasons they come up with.

Word of the Day : We have a big framed chalkboard in the kitchen nook where we eat. Each week one of the girls is responsible for a word of the day. If you don’t want to come up with your own, dictionary.com will email you one every day.  Each night, it is my daughter’s responsibility to teach everyone the word.

Library Time: Check out a book at the library that they haven’t read and review the cover together. Have your child write a short story on what she thinks the book will be about then you can compare and talk about it after she has read it. This is always fun to compare how they perceive the cover and what the pages actually contain.

Co-write a story: We usually start with a photo in a magazine to get us started. Then my child writes the first sentence of the story based on the photo. I then write the next sentence and we build ff of each other. Sometimes it gets a little corny but it is always a lot of fun!  This can also be done with poetry.

This list could be endless and I hope it gives you some ideas of things you can do in your own home. Think about what makes your child unique. What does he or she like to do? You can incorporate music, sports, books, etc. And f you make it a game and fun, they will be much more likely to participate. J

Thanks Melissa to you and your readers for having me. Enjoy the summer!

WIN a copy of Tortilla Sun HERE!!

Melissa’s Note: I’m so excited to try these ideas – they’re practical and engaging, thank you so much, Jennifer! And readers, please, please, please read Jennifer’s YA book book, Tortilla Sun, it’s absolutely beautiful!

You need S is for Story, A Writer’s Alphabet for your library.  It’s the perfect book to kick off your summer reading and writing plans!

This informative and engaging picture book illuminates words from a writer’s life from A to Z starting with Alphabet, explaining the history and Greek word alphabetos, ending with Z for Zorro who signed his name with his sword drawn lines, and finishes with P.S. for post scriptum.

Each double page has a beautiful illustration, one or sometimes two letter(s) of the alphabet, a short poem, a writer’s tip and a sidebar with information. For example:

“So N? It’s for Notebook,

a writer’s must for sure,

for catching, keeping,

any time,

thoughts, ideas, and more.”

The sidebar includes information about a writer’s notebook plus this Writer’s Tip: “Copy words, sentences, or poems you admire into your Writer’s Notebook, to reread, study, savor, and model.”

Download this activity guide from the publisher and this Young Author’s Extras from the author, Esther Hershenhorn, to give you book extension ideas.

WIN: Would you like to win a copy of S is for Story? Sleeping Bear Press is generously giving two Imagination Soup readers this book!  All comments below will be entered to win.  Contest ends July 12, 2010.

*Congratulations to Heidi and Christine!  Random.org picked you both as winners of S is for Story!

My article for the fifth issue of Literacy Lava, talks about my discovery of graphic novels — and that graphic novels aren’t just for struggling readers.

Literacy Lava is a free pdf for parents or anyone who wants kids to love reading, writing and communicating, is now available from Susan Stephenson’s website.

In this fifth edition of Literacy Lava, you’ll find ideas for helping kids develop spelling skills, ways to pair fiction and non-fiction read-alouds, ideas for letter writing with your kids, my post on whether graphic novels are real reading, how to unwrap a picture book, tips for a loving bed-time story ritual, how to help your video-loving kid to love reading too, and all about encouraging kids to write poetry. Don’t forget to check out the Online Extras page, and the Activity page for kids.

Guest post by Deborah Underwood author of children’s picture books including The Quiet Book, Spring 2010.

I recently saw a video that shows an adorable little French girl telling a convoluted story with baby monkeys, frightening trees, crocodiles, a battling hippo and lion who go to heaven, a mammoth with claws, and a witch-killing orange ring. It reminds me of some of the plots I’ve written—and no doubt, some of your adorable children have written.

Even in my college writing classes, we didn’t talk about how to craft a strong plot.  Until recently, I would have assumed teaching early-elementary kids about story structure was overly ambitious—until theater educator Kenn Adams introduced me to his Story Spine exercise to teach the craft of story structure.

Kenn is a veteran improviser, a playwright, and the author of How to Improvise a Full-Length Play: The Art of Spontaneous Theater. He’s been doing school theater enrichment programs for 20 years. (Full disclosure: He is also my boyfriend. If you’re a writer, I highly recommend finding a partner who is a plotting prodigy.) The Story Spine exercise is one Kenn uses not only with kids, but also with adults in improv classes.

The Story Spine is exactly what it sounds like: a structure that supports a story. It consists of a series of sentence beginnings that you complete:

Once upon a time…

Every day…

But one day…

Because of that…

Because of that…

Because of that…

Until finally…

And ever since then…

Although the Story Spine seems simple, it’s really an ingenious way to help kids learn how to construct a satisfying story.

• Once upon a time and Every day set up “ordinary world,” the way things are before the action of the story starts.

• But one day cues what students of plot would call the inciting event—the thing that sets the story into motion.

• The Because of that series ensures that each story event causes the next one to happen, so that the plot elements aren’t just disconnected incidents.

• Until finally signals the climax and resolution of the story.

• And ever since then shows how the character or situation has changed over the course of the story.

There are many ways you can use the Story Spine exercise. For instance, you can write out the beginnings and have your child (or your students) complete them. If you write each beginning on a separate sheet of paper, the kids can write the endings, illustrate the scenes, and then compile the pages to make their own books.

You can also use the Story Spine to make storytelling a collaborative game. One person completes the first line—for example, “Once upon a time, there was an enormous dragon who lived in a magical cave.” Another person goes next: “Every day, the dragon flew through the skies looking for humans to eat.” And so on. This is fun for two people, and also works well for larger groups. (And it’s a much better option for your next car trip than singing “Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall!”)

I would never suggest clamping down on a child’s creativity by asking her to use a story template if she doesn’t want to. Kids’ rambling stories often contain brilliantly creative gems that adult writers envy. But if you have a child who wants to write a story but is stuck or frustrated, or if you want a fun game to play while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store, try out the Story Spine. (And the adult writers you know might benefit from it, too—I know I did!)

————————————————–

Note from Melissa: I LOVE Deborah’s post here, don’t you?  Thank you, Deborah, for contributing to Imagination Soup and helping us all become better plotters.  (In the good plotter sense~!) 

Please read my review of her new book, The Quiet Book on Bookmarkable and enter to win a copy.

Deborah Underwood grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. After graduating from Pomona College with a degree in Philosophy, she worked as a street musician, puzzle writer, jewelry maker, and administrative assistant before embarking on her career as a children’s author.

Deborah has written over 20 nonfiction books for kids. Her first three picture books—The Quiet Book, illustrated by Renata Liwska (Houghton Mifflin); A Balloon for Isabel, illustrated by Laura Rankin (Greenwillow Books); and Granny Gomez & Jigsaw, illustrated by Scott Magoon (Disney-Hyperion)—are being published this spring.

Summer – I can’t wait and yet . . . I’m not ready.

But, I’m excited because I’m going to have an artists’ summer with my kids.

(I hope.)

Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way, recommends artist dates with yourself.   She writes, “An artist date is a block of time, . . . committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. . . a play date that you preplan . . . you do not take anyone on this artist date.”  On her website she says, “The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic”– think mischief more than mastery.”

I’ve tried and failed to commit to the artist date.  If I’m having a date with myself, I’m running errands, working out, trying to see a friend or two, reading a book.  To add an artist’s date? – it isn’t realistic.

So, I’m going adapt the solo artist date and create a family artist date—a playful time for creating, imagining, dreaming.

To prepare, I’m going to get:

• Bare Books -you know how much I love these – and my kids go through a few a week!

• Recycled Treasures – start saving the cool recyclables like your egg cartons, random pieces of cardboard, etc.

• Journals – look at the dollar store and stock up

• Yard Sale Goodies – fabric, buttons, picture frames, anything to use for creative projects

• Pens, markers and pencils

• Craft supplies – Play dough, beads, colorful paper, sticks, . . .

What else should I get?

Will you join me?

Every week, I’ll post an artist date suggestion that you can do with your kiddos.  (If you’d like to contribute, let me know.)

Let’s nourish ourselves and our little ones this summer with writing, drawing and playing!

Guest post by Kenn Nesbitt, poet and founder of Poetry for Kids. Read his book, My Hippo Has the Hiccups FREE in April.  See below for details.

I visit a lot of schools and libraries, and I speak to as many as 30,000 kids each year. Because the poems I write tend to be creative and imaginative, one of the most common questions I get is “where do your ideas come from?”

I guess the assumption is that all of my ideas come from the same place, so I start by telling students that every poem is it’s own idea, and that every idea is unique and comes from somewhere that no other ideas came from. But to help young writers come up with their own ideas for poems, I compiled the following list of easy places to find ideas.

Write about:

• Something you like. If your favorite thing is video games, your dog, pizza, soccer, cartoons, or just about anything else, write a poem about that.
• Something you don’t like. Maybe you don’t like homework, or Brussels sprouts, or something else. Whatever it is that bugs you, write a poem about it.
• Things you see around you. Look around you right now. What’s the first thing you see? A chair? A computer? A stapler? A clock? A plant? Use that thing as a starting point for a poem.
• Something that happened to you.  Did something good happen to you? Did you find a five-dollar bill while you were walking down the street? Or did something bad happen? Maybe you were riding your bike and you crashed into a tree. Whatever it was, write a poem about it.
• Somewhere you went. Gone anyplace interesting lately? Write a poem about it. Did you go someplace not so interesting? Write a poem about that.
• Make something up. Claim that your dog can speak French, or that you just came back from Mars, or that you built a house out of Jell-o. Tell the reader about a fictional character who has some amazing ability. Invent something new.

These are just a few of the places where I “get my ideas,” and they are probably the easiest places for young writers to start looking for their own ideas.

Also, rather than trying to find that ONE GREAT IDEA for a poem, I will try to come up with 20 ideas of any kind.  Instead of thinking of one thing and then trying to write a poem about it, I will write down as many “first lines” as I can think of, whether or not they are any good. Then I will go over the list and pick the one or two that look the most promising and try to work on those. This gives me a better chance at success.

Finally, I will often go to the library to write.  Before I start, I pick out a few books of poetry from the shelves to read. I’m not looking for other writers ideas. Rather, I find that reading other authors poetry can put my mind in a poetical mood and get me thinking in rhythm and rhyme, making it easier to get started writing.

Share these ideas with the young writers in your life, or even try them out yourself. You may just be surprised to see what ideas are waiting to come out.

I love this, thank you, Kenn!  Also, Kenn is offering his new book for for free during National Poetry Month.  Go here to download: My Hippo Has the Hiccups.

Guest post by Riley Carney, author and literacy advocate.  Read more about Riley after the post or on her website.

Encouraging Your Child To Write

Because I’m a teenager, a published author, and the founder and director of a nonprofit for children’s literacy, adults often ask me what they can do to get their kids to write. My childhood had an enormous impact on my love of writing so that’s an easy question for me to answer.

The love of writing comes from the love of reading. From the moment I was born (and before) my mom would read to me. We read together three to five times a day; I felt safe and happy, and that created extremely positive feelings about reading.

The best way for parents to encourage kids to read is to give them books that they actually enjoy reading. Parents should spend time with their kids at libraries and bookstores to find genres and authors that tweak their kids’ imaginations and make them excited about reading.

Often teachers and parents try to make kids read books that they think are good for them, but kids are frequently bored by those books and reading becomes a chore. For example, if you were a twelve-year-old boy, would you rather read the Percy Jackson series and the Harry Potter series, or would you rather read Pride and Prejudice?

That’s not to say that there’s not a place for the classics, especially in school, but pleasure reading should be gratifying. I’ve listed some authors and books below for various ages that are appealing to kids and are loaded with imagination, whimsy, and adventure. Your child may have other interests, but a little digging on your part should uncover a wealth of books to fit every child’s taste.

Reading is a significant trigger for a children’s and teen’s imaginations. If they read enough, they will eventually feel the urge to put their imaginary worlds onto the page, and they will begin to write. In addition to reading, there are other things a parent can do to trigger a child’s imagination:

• Play imaginary games and dress-up with your children. Even if you don’t feel comfortable participating yourself, be sure to have a box or closet full of old clothes and accessories. I had many stuffed animals when I was younger (okay, I still have themJ) and I used to make up very elaborate stories with them. We would have such grand adventures that it would take weeks for the animals to get from one side of my bedroom to the other side.
• Sit down together and make up an impromptu story together. You can begin by saying a sentence or two and then let your child finish the sentence and add another sentence. Going back and forth like this creates a fun, exciting story and nobody knows what will happen next!
• People watch together. Ask your child what he/she thinks the man with the plaid pants on standing three people ahead of you in line might have had for breakfast, why he picked those pants, why he keeps looking at his watch, and what is he late for?  Your child can quickly begin to create a whole imaginary world involving him.
• Good movies are a wonderful way to trigger a child’s imagination. Movies like Toy Story and Bug’s Life for younger kids and Star Wars for older kids are a great example of how a little imagination can create whole new worlds. My older brother and I played imaginary Star Wars games frequently!
• Help your child build forts out of blankets and chairs or boxes and let them take a snack and some of their prized possessions in there with them. Before long, your child will be on an adventure, on a boat running from pirates, or a train snaking up a mountain peak, or hiding from an alien creature who wants to take them to Pluto.
• Have colored and plain construction paper, crayons, markers, scissors, glue, cardboard, Playdough,  and packing tape on hand and easily accessible so that your child can draw, build, or mold their imaginary worlds, or at the very least, trigger the thoughts that might eventually become a story.
• Give your kids a really cool notebook/journal as a present but don’t tell them that they have to write in it, just let them use it for whatever they want to use it for. You’ll be surprised by what happens!

Reading Favorites For Children, Tweens, and Teens

For younger readers:

Anything by: Roald Dahl, Jerry Spinnelli, Louis Sachar, Kate DiCamillo, Beverly Cleary, Frances Hodges Burnett, Avi, and Lloyd Alexander.

Captain Underpants Books, The Magic Tree House Books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid books

For older readers:

The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Merlin series by TA Barron

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson

The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan

The Redwall books by Brian Jacques

The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix

His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Pendragon series by DJ MacHale

The Heir series by Cinda Williams Chima

The Narnia Chronicles by CS Lewis

The Leven Thumps series by Obert Skye

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Thanks so much to Riley Carney, the teenage author of The Reign of Elements YA Fantasy series and guest blogger on Imagination Soup today.  Riley founded a non-profit called Breaking the Chain with the goal of eliminating illiteracy for children. Currently, she is focusing on a new program called Bookin’ It, which buys books for classrooms in underfunded and/or low-literacy schools in the United States.