At a critical juncture in the future of children’s literacy—when reading for pleasure has dipped nationwide and access to school libraries has been upended by decreased funding—comes a national writing project that supports the next generation of budding writers. The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance has launched Empowering Young Writers, a series of slideshows and educational resources—culled from more than 500 children’s trade books—demonstrating various writing elements and techniques for fourth through ninth graders. The online tools, which are available for free, are designed to assist educators, librarians, and parents as students return to the classroom this year.
Speaking Their Language
The Empowering Young Writers initiative emerged as a result of Mary Brigid Barrett’s experience teaching creative writing. In addition to serving as NCBLA’s president and executive director, the author-illustrator spent more than 20 years reading and critiquing thousands of elementary and middle school students’ stories, which proved to be eye-opening. “Schools in poverty-challenged communities often do not have access to the same writing instruction materials that are available in affluent communities,” she told PW. “I learned that teachers, especially elementary teachers, are eager to know more about how they can help their students become better writers.”
Barrett also witnessed how, for today’s students, exposure to screen-based storytelling surpassed reading from printed books. Her concern for a diminished skillset—namely, kids’ inability to communicate their observations in writing—prompted her to take action and develop a slideshow to share with the NCBLA board members. With their approval, Barrett and her dedicated team—spearheaded by NCBLA VP and founding board member Katherine Paterson, who funded the entire project; assistant director Geri Eddins, who managed website content, electronic publishing, and permission requests; and Cleveland Public Library’s children’s librarian and youth department services manager Annisha Jeffries, serving as literature and diversity consultant—got down to work.
Tasked with all research and outreach, Barrett began compiling the art and book excerpts for all 26 slides. Diversity in subject matter was top of mind when selecting materials, as was a range of geographic settings, socioeconomic conditions, and book genres. Also part of the Empowering Young Writers toolkit are educational guides to enhance classroom content. Writing concepts are divided into five categories: Writers’ Tools, Story Basics, Characters, Plot, and Setting, each with guided activities and themed prompts.
Each of the slides’ featured works amounted to more than 18 months of permissions acquisition, spearheaded by Eddins. NCBLA publications editor Karen Lotz (publishing director-at-large at Candlewick), along with publications agent Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown, Ltd., also assisted in the time-consuming process, which required obtaining permission from the publishers and, in some cases, contacting the writers and illustrators themselves.
Barrett tapped James Ransome for use of his artwork in Grandaddy’s Turn in the Writers’ Tools: Your Five Senses, as well as Jack Wong for his illustrations from When You Can Swim to incorporate into a slide about developing a sense of wonder. “We had a lovely e-mail correspondence… He expressed admiration for our work, and I was able to thank him for writing a book that helps kids learn to love water and swimming,” she said.
Publishers granted permission for five years of access to the featured works, which will be promoted via such organizations as the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. Their efforts couldn’t come at a better time, according to Barrett, who pointed to a recent Scholastic survey that found that reading for fun drops steadily as children age, most noticeable by age nine, and never recovers.
In addition, Barrett cited the essential roles that school librarians play in getting books into kids’ hands and educators in encouraging and cultivating emerging writers. “Teaching young people to read, to write, to understand how a story works—not only in books, but in the greater media that surrounds them—teaches them to think, to observe and assess, to communicate what is important to them and their future,” she noted. “Reading books and writing fiction and nonfiction stories provides inspiration for their dreams and gives them the tools to achieve those dreams.”
This article has been updated.
