Book Review: Your Child's Writing Life by Pam Allyn

Your Child's Writing Life: How to Inspire Confidence, Creativity, and Skill at Every Age by Pam Allyn

Pam Allyn is the executive director for LitLife and LitWorld, organizations that promote literacy nationally and globally. She has worked many years teaching children of many ages to write. In this book, she presents what has worked for her, along with some research on the value of writing for children of all ages.

She introduces five keys to writing for children, using the acronym WRITE. Word power is the first key. It emphasizes learning and using new words. Reading life encourages young readers to have a broad spectrum of reading--not just fiction, but other categories that will inform and challenge the reader. Identity is two-fold. First, it encompasses how the child likes to write in concrete details--where in the house, what time of day, what special writing tools (pens, pencils, paper, etc.), and so on. Second, Identity shows the style of writing, which naturally develops over time but can be quite distinctive. Time involves both finding time to write and building up stamina in writing, i.e. being able to sit and compose for longer and longer periods of time. Environment is the final key, which is the area where they write--at a desk, on the couch, under the blanket, and any other comfortable and inspirational spot they may find. So the five keys overlap a little but give some concrete steps to encourage writing.

She also has chapters focused in various challenges. One chapter goes through the various ages of children and what they may typically be doing in their writing life. Another recommends strategies for overcoming frustration or unwillingness to write. She recommends twenty children's books to serve as writing inspirations and gives fifty writing prompts to get the creative juices flowing.

The book has lots of useful tools and interesting recommendations. It also has a lot of encouraging words and inspirational stories. For me, there was too many "Rah-rah! You can do it!" parts in the book though I can see how that is appealing. The kids aren't the only ones who need encouragement.

Recommended.