The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander’s Guide for Inspiring Student Writers, Second Edition

by Kwame Alexander

216 pages, Paperback

Published July 14, 2026

About the author

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, and New York Times Bestselling author of 21 books, including The Crossover, which received the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American literature for Children, the Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor, The NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, and the Passaic Poetry Prize. Kwame writes for children of all ages. His other works include Surf's Up, a picture book; Booked, a middle grade novel; and He Said She Said, a YA novel.

Kwame believes that poetry can change the world, and he uses it to inspire and empower young people through his PAGE TO STAGE Writing and Publishing Program released by Scholastic. A regular speaker at colleges and conferences in the U.S., he also travels the world planting seeds of literary love (Singapore, Brazil, Italy, France, Shanghai, etc.). Recently, Alexander led a delegation of 20 writers and activists to Ghana, where they delivered books, built a library, and provided literacy professional development to 300 teachers, as a part of LEAP for Ghana, an International literacy program he co-founded.

Reviews

[January · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander’s Guide for Inspiring Student Writers, Second Edition by Kwame Alexander (2026)
216-page Paperback
218-page ADC courtesy of Teacher Created Materials, Shell Education, and NetGalley

Genre: Nonfiction (Adult), Professional & Technical, Resource and Reference, Education, Literature

Rating as a movie: PG

Featuring: Table of Contents, Full Color Photos, Forward, Preface, Introduction, Helping Students Find Their Voices, Writing, Poetry, Writing in the Classroom With This Guide, KwameTime Videos, Jumpstarts, Poems, Testimonials From Students, Educators and Authors, Q & A, Recommend Poems Lists by Grade, Types of Poems, Lessons in Action, Revising, Student-Run Publishing, Presenting, Appendixes, References, Index, Digital Resources, KwameTime Videos URLs, Cover for Advertisement for One Word Community

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟📚 ✍️ 🏫 📝💡 📖 🧠 🖋️

My thoughts: 🔖36 [page 29] Chapter Two Launching The Write Thing in Your Classroom - This is fantastic I'm just going to have to have time to sit for it.
🔖50 [page 43] Chapter Three Preparing to Write - Okay, I won't be writing down any more books. I know they're all going to be listed at the end of this book anyway. I absolutely love the recommended poem list. One of my favorite poems from third grade, "Homework! Oh, Homework!" by Jack Prelutsky, was listed under that age group, no less.
🔖65 [page 58] Chapter Four Writing the Draft - Hopefully, this is my last break, and I'll be able to sit down and finish this book today.

​The second edition of The Write Thing by Kwame Alexander was a fantastic read. I say this as someone who hasn't read the first edition, but I know this version is enhanced and expanded—and I would have loved to have a book like this, not just as an educator, but as a student.
​When I was in 6th grade, I was handed one of the best books I’ve ever received from a school: The Write Source 2000. It was an awesome textbook covering verbs, nouns, and the proper use of the English language, alongside writing structure and types of literature. The Write Thing takes a resource like that, removes most of the basic grammar stuff you’d learn in any English class, and transforms those writing components into a workshop format. I loved it! This book could basically be called "How to Build a Writing Workshop in Your Classroom," and the fact that it focuses so much on poetry and publishing is phenomenal.
​I read When Everyone Reads—which is the reading version of this book—and I learned that when Alexander wrote that, he was inspired to rewrite and upgrade The Write Thing to go hand-in-hand with it. I totally agree; they are a perfect pair. I was able to devour When Everyone Reads, but The Write Thing took a little longer to process. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much downtime, so at first, I could only read a chapter at a time until I really had time to sit with it. It was beautiful. I learned a lot about my own writing process, as well as dozens of ideas for enhancing writing instruction for children of all ages. Whether you’re a preschool teacher or teaching English 12 Honors in high school, this book is a fantastic resource for you and your students.
​Writing is something I’ve seen fall by the wayside over the decades. When I was in first grade, I was writing half-page short stories—don't even get me started on those spelling words and sentences! By the time I was in third grade, we were writing pages of stories and essays. In middle school, I was expected to write essays with multiple drafts and an outline. My junior year of high school, I would show up to English class, and at any given time, I’d be expected to write a literary essay on the book we were reading. No prompt, no nothing: just start writing, set the timer for 45 minutes, and go.
​So, I was completely shocked when I discovered that in some schools, children can’t write to save their lives. I’m talking about high schoolers who cannot write a full-page essay or even a short story. The writing hurts their hand; they don’t want to write or interpret, so they literally copy/paste from the textbook or story without even knowing how to reword the sentences to make the words their own. True writing has fallen completely by the wayside, and with the rise of AI, it isn’t likely to get any better. It’s comforting to know there are genuine resources out there for true writers—and Kwame Alexander even included a page about AI along with the poem, A Not So Artificial Poem on Intelligence, which I found quite meaningful. I hope more educators pick up this book and get their students back into writing.
​The first portion of the book focuses on poetry, and there were so many types I didn’t even know about. The spine poems were so creative; I’m trying to figure out how I could make one with my book selections for book club. One of the best things about the book is that it features testimonials from students, teachers, and authors. I was particularly touched by one from Kate DiCamillo, where she talks about how she writes her books eight to nine times and takes all of her drafts into the University of Minnesota for their Kerlan Collection. Someone read the first draft of Because of Winn-Dixie and decided it was absolutely terrible—'If you're allowed to start a novel this way, then I could start a novel,' she did so and got it published. That was so inspirational. The final portion of this book focuses on presenting which is also another art that we are losing in our schools.
​I’m glad that Kwame Alexander took the time to speak with all these different authors, students, and teachers to contribute to this book. It seems like he is just as focused on helping the world read and write more as he is on his career as an author, and I appreciate that greatly. I plan on reading more of his nonfiction. I was also impressed by how many "former elementary teachers turned authors" were featured. The publishing portion is incredible, and the 3 appendixes take up about 60 pages; he has provided incredible resources that are formatted well and easy to find, and several are ready for the Xerox machine. That is not a typo, I'm giving this book 6 stars.

​Recommend to others: I cannot recommend this book enough. I think it should be a standard, required book on the shelf of every public school teacher, and private school and homeschooling parents should put it at the top of their list.

Books and Authors mentioned: Spike Lee, A Soldier's Story (screenplay) by Charles Fuller [based on] A Soldier's Play (play) by Charles Fuller; The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman, In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa by Laureate Ada Limón, Maya Angelou, Hug o' War by Shel Silverstein, William Shakespeare, When Everyone Reads: Kwame Alexander’s Guide to Inspiring a Lifelong Love of Books by Kwame Alexander with Tori Bachman; Phillis Wheatley, Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw, The Crossover by Kwame Alexander, Ralph Fletcher, Do the Write Thing: Seven Steps to Publishing Success by Kwame Alexander and Nina Foxx, Margaret Atwood, Charlotte's Web by EB White, The Outsiders by SE Hinton, We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks, All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson, Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry by Kenneth Koch; Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander; Jason Reynolds, Judy Blume, Mo Willems, Erin Entrada Kelly, Montage of a Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda, Ode to My Hair by Kwame Alexander, Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too by Shel Silverstein, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of 'Poetry With a Beat' edited by Nikki Giovanni; E. E. Cummings, Alice Walker, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty Eight Winters by Jackie Earley, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe [A lot more]

[Melanie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer, I was especially interested in The Write Thing, and I appreciated its focus on helping students see writing as a form of self-expression rather than just another academic assignment. Kwame Alexander encourages creativity, curiosity, and confidence, reminding educators and parents that strong writing often begins with giving students permission to find their own voice. The book is filled with ideas that make writing feel more inviting and less intimidating.

I also liked that the guidance feels practical and encouraging. Rather than emphasizing rules and structure alone, Alexander highlights the importance of storytelling, observation, and personal experience.