Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing

by Ralph Fletcher, Katie Wood Ray (Foreword by)

Children have a natural affinity for language play; Pyrotechnics on the Page demonstrates how writing teachers can tap into it. This book provides a wealth of resources for teachers, including information on the roots and developmental importance of language play, a how-to on using the writer's notebook as a playground for students to explore and experiment with verbal pyrotechnics, an in-depth look at the kind of language play commonly used by writers, twenty-four brand new craft lessons to bring pyrotechnics into the classroom, and an extensive bibliography of relevant mentor texts. Pyrotechnics on the Page is vintage personal, anecdotal, and practical.

Genres: Writing, Teaching

175 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2010

About the author

Ralph Fletcher is a friend of young writers and readers as well as writing teachers. He has written or co-authored many books for writing teachers includng Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide, Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Lessons for the Writer's Notebook, Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices, and Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing. Ralph has worked with teachers around the U.S. and abroad, helping them find wiser ways of teaching writing.

Ralph's many books for students include picture books (Twilight Comes Twice, Hello Harvest Moon, and The Sandman), novels (Fig Pudding, Flying Solo, and Spider Boy), poetry (A Writing Kind of Day and Moving Day), and a memoir, Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. His novel Uncle Daddy was awarded the Christopher medal in 2002. He has also written a popular series of books for young writers including Poetry Matters, Live Writing, and A Writer's Notebook. Ralph lives with his family in New Hampshire. He is a strong environmentalist who believes we all must work together to live in a more sustainable way. His other passions include travel, good food, dark chocolate, growing orchids, and sports.

Reviews

[Tammy Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first 100 pages of this book, the author tries to explain language development, how important it is for children to "play" with words and he also explains how important and meaningful various word techniques (metaphor, allussions, puns,idioms etc.)are to writing. He also argues that as teachers we spend to much time trying to get students to identify the various types of figurative language/techniques and not enough time allowing students to practice in their writing. He feels that students recognizing "play with words" rather than the specefic name of the technique is much more important.

For me this book fell short of my expectations. He did convince me that I should spend more time teaching and allowing students to play/experiment with words, rather than just teaching basic construction of sentences. Students do need to play with sentence structure and have a little "fun" with writing. There are a few mini-lessons which I liked and I appreciate that his lessons gave cited examples books/texts to pull from. Overall though, just not enough bang for the buck!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one that will take some re-reading and contemplation. I'm a teacher librarian so some of this will be tweaked a bit for the times when classes come to the library. But there are some ideas in here that I think will hit right on target for some past requests for library activities.

I love the idea of kids playing with words! They can do amazing things if you just give them the time to play. As the book suggests ... "recognize that for many young learners play is the surest means toward mastery" (95).

The lesson ideas will be helpful, as will the "Pyrotechnics Glossary."

One thing ... I wish there had been more title suggestions for each of the lessons or terms. I mean, I know I can come up with my own. But I think it was kind of silly how many times some of the suggestions were repeated. At least come up with different ones for the ones you ARE going to specifically list.

[Colby Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great resource from Ralph Fletcher. I loved the way this book was broken up: Playing Around, Getting Serious, and Playful Classrooms. The layout of the book really helped me understand word play, learn about the importance, and then the book ended strong with a slew of craft lessons from the master himself.

(I tried thinking of some cool word play for this review, but I failed.)

This book really helped me understand what word play truly is and how I can implement it effectively in the classroom. Often the most challenging professional books for me are the ones focused on something that I would consider a weakness of my practice. Wordplay is one of those areas, so this book was a challenge for me. The book will resonate with me for a while as I begin to think about revisions to my workshop in the upcoming year.

Great read!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this entire book on the way home from our summer vacation. The writing in this book makes you feel as if you are listening to Ralph Fletcher explain his ideas to you face-to-face. He stresses the importance of teaching our kids to write with playful language. Ralph Fletcher defines pyrotechnics as "deliberate playfulness with language used by writers to create a particular kind of effect as well as the specific tools used to create that effect." He encourages us as teachers to introduce puns, allusions, alliteration, expressions, idioms, hyperboles, similes, metaphors, double meaning words, and even invented words to our students.

He includes several sample lessons in the back of the book.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything written by Ralph Fletcher! Funny,m but he writes teacher resource books that I don't want to put down. It's like having a good friend and colleague sit next to me and just talk about craft. This book is geared to teachers but it certainly does help a reader appreciate how language and word choice can really make a good piece of text fabulous! As in his other books, Fletcher gives excellent grade appropriate mini lesson ideas and of course, his bibliography is loaded with rich titles to use withing the classroom.

[jmjester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie Wood Ray said it best in the preface, Fletcher teaches us how to be better writers (and teachers) in every one of his books. I'm so glad I took time from a very busy weekend to read his take on word play.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5- Great ideas for writing workshop! Get your students to play with words again. Fun read, yet practical and packed with suggested resources and even some mini-lesson plans. Definitely one to add to the teacher book bookshelf.

[Jen S · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't as helpful as I had hoped it would be for the classroom, but it did give some good food for thought if you write on your own.

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will definitely be using Fletcher's suggestions (or rather, my own take on them) in my classroom to get my students excited about writing and language play. Great professional read.