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American Girl Library
Writing Smarts: A Girl's Guide to Writing Great Poetry, Stories, School Reports, and More!
A companion title to School Smarts shows girls how to use words effectively in creative writing and in their schoolwork, with topics including how to find their voice, create characters, and tackle research papers. Original. 65,000 first printing.
94 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2002
2 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Kerry Madden
13 books50 followersKerry Madden writes under both Kerry Madden and Kerry Madden-Lunsford. She has written plays, screenplays, journalism (Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Birmingham News, Salon, Southern Women's Review, Shenandoah, Carve Magazine, and Sierra Club Magazine), and published seven books including OFFSIDES, a New York Library Pick for 1997, and now just out as an ebook with FOREVERLAND PRESS.
Her book, WRITING SMARTS, was inspired by the writing workshops she's led with young writers for years and is a guide to sparking stories for kids ( American Girl Company.)
In 2005 she turned her hand to children's fiction with GENTLE'S HOLLER, the first installment in what became the award-winning Maggie Valley Trilogy set in the Smoky Mountains of Appalachia. It earned starred reviews in both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, was included in the New York and the Chicago Public Libraries' best books for 2005, and was the featured children's book of North Carolina at the National Book Festival in 2008.
"It is the genuine article," wrote Rosemary Wells of GENTLE'S HOLLER. "Its heroine is as bone-real and endearing as Opal in Because of Winn Dixie."
The next book in the trilogy, LOUISIANA'S SONG (2007) was equally well received, being named a Bank Street College Book of the Year and a finalist for several other awards.
The third book, JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, was published in 2008 to strong reviews.
Her biography of Harper Lee, published in Viking's UpClose Series, was a Booklist and Kirkus Pick of 2009.
Her picture book, NOTHING FANCY ABOUT KATHRYN & CHARLIE, illustrated by her daughter, Lucy Madden-Lunsford was published by Mockingbird Publishers, and in the summer of 2013, Kerry and Lucy went on a book tour to rural Alabama libraries to do art and writing workshops with children across the state.
Kerry received B.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Tennessee and has been honored as a Tennessee Williams Scholar and a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She has taught creative writing at Ningbo University in China, UCLA, and has visited schools across the country as a guest author doing writing workshops for young authors. She is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and editor of PMS, Poem Memoir Short Story, at UAB.
Her new book, FIFTH GRADE, WEREWOLVES, HAMLET & ME is out with publishers for consideration, and she is at work on a new novel, HOP THE POND, drawing from her time in Manchester, England as an exchange student.
Her book, WRITING SMARTS, was inspired by the writing workshops she's led with young writers for years and is a guide to sparking stories for kids ( American Girl Company.)
In 2005 she turned her hand to children's fiction with GENTLE'S HOLLER, the first installment in what became the award-winning Maggie Valley Trilogy set in the Smoky Mountains of Appalachia. It earned starred reviews in both Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly, was included in the New York and the Chicago Public Libraries' best books for 2005, and was the featured children's book of North Carolina at the National Book Festival in 2008.
"It is the genuine article," wrote Rosemary Wells of GENTLE'S HOLLER. "Its heroine is as bone-real and endearing as Opal in Because of Winn Dixie."
The next book in the trilogy, LOUISIANA'S SONG (2007) was equally well received, being named a Bank Street College Book of the Year and a finalist for several other awards.
The third book, JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, was published in 2008 to strong reviews.
Her biography of Harper Lee, published in Viking's UpClose Series, was a Booklist and Kirkus Pick of 2009.
Her picture book, NOTHING FANCY ABOUT KATHRYN & CHARLIE, illustrated by her daughter, Lucy Madden-Lunsford was published by Mockingbird Publishers, and in the summer of 2013, Kerry and Lucy went on a book tour to rural Alabama libraries to do art and writing workshops with children across the state.
Kerry received B.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Tennessee and has been honored as a Tennessee Williams Scholar and a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She has taught creative writing at Ningbo University in China, UCLA, and has visited schools across the country as a guest author doing writing workshops for young authors. She is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and editor of PMS, Poem Memoir Short Story, at UAB.
Her new book, FIFTH GRADE, WEREWOLVES, HAMLET & ME is out with publishers for consideration, and she is at work on a new novel, HOP THE POND, drawing from her time in Manchester, England as an exchange student.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 2, 2024
Nice intro to different types of writing for young girls.
October 11, 2015
This book is a helpful book on how to write better papers and great poetry. Writing Smarts breaks down all the compounds of writing a paper into making a huge project be more manageable. In this book it also helps you to catch grammar mistakes and to use more exciting words to describe instead of words that are used all of the time. Writing Smarts introduces two different types of poetry and explains how to write them. It also gives many fun exercises to get you brain "pumping" full of ideas.
Even though this wasn't the most entertaining book I have ever read, I'm very glad I chose to read this book. After reading this book I think I will be able to improve my writing skills by using more descriptive words and make my writing more exciting. I really enjoy poetry but I am not the best at writing it. This book helped me get my brain moving and thinking about how I wanted to write in the future. This book is definitely a must read to help with some basic writing techniques.
Even though this wasn't the most entertaining book I have ever read, I'm very glad I chose to read this book. After reading this book I think I will be able to improve my writing skills by using more descriptive words and make my writing more exciting. I really enjoy poetry but I am not the best at writing it. This book helped me get my brain moving and thinking about how I wanted to write in the future. This book is definitely a must read to help with some basic writing techniques.
May 6, 2017
This was OK. The prompts were fairly inventive, and editing info was solid, but the writing itself was somewhat vapid. There is no hint anywhere that writing could possibly be a struggle; whenever writing troubles are brought up, the advice is merely to "just write! it will be ok!" which isn't entirely helpful.
February 24, 2008
Geared for kids (girls) for writing in school. Still helpful though for first starting off with writing.
June 12, 2008
Good help for simple writing assignments in like middle school, though I've caught myself looking at it during my early high school years.
June 19, 2009
not what i was expecting I guesss, and wrong age range. Would be great for elementary students. Loved the graphics tho!
September 22, 2012
this is a very special book and educational too. I plan to read it many time in the future.
July 15, 2013
This book really helps get your creative juices flowing. There are all kinds of creative tips and tricks from this book that will surely be put to good use!
October 8, 2014
This helped me as a child to learn how to write better.
January 7, 2011
Nothing takes me further away from my troubles than going into this world of Harry Potter's.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews