Review of A Writer's Notebook

A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking The Writer Within You by Ralph Fletcher is an exquisite book that gives you ideas for and helps you understand the writer's notebook, a writer's best friend.

Right when you look at the cover, you know that it's going to be fun, with the literal pictures of a girl capturing the past and the picture of an arrow shooting a heart that says, "If you don't write your heart will burst."

In the book, the author tells you useful information like how to read back your notes, how to pick the right notebook, and how to pour your heart into your book.  The seeds that you plant in your notebook, may grow to be a great forest of ideas.

For example, I was waiting for the UPS or Fedex guy to bring my Viva Piñata DS game.  I waited such a long time, one day to be exact, so this is what came out of it into my writer's notebook:

I felt like a kernel of popcorn in the oven.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Then I saw the Fedex truck.

I felt like I was going to explode,

I jumped up and down, and I grabbed the package, tore it open.

But, it wasn't there.

I felt the shell come back on.

I felt like I fell when I almost made it to the top of a long climb.

I think maybe in the future, I'll look back on this in my writer's notebook, and think about how much of a big deal I made over a little game. 

My mother read The Writer's Notebook to me as part of my homeschooling for writing.  She would read a chapter, like the one called Seed Ideas, and then I would go and write something.  She would seriously hope that I would write something inspired by the book, but I'd go on writing something completely different like Superclean Versus The Grungenator.

When we read the chapter called Memories, Mom made me go around the house and yard collecting artifacts to put in my writer's notebook.  I ended up putting in some of Leperdy's shed skin but I wasn't too happy putting in a Spectrobes card.  Now, when I look back on it, I really wish I had kept the card instead of sticking it in there for all that time.  Someday, if I don't take it out before then, I might appreciate all this.

I recommend this book for people who are thinking about starting a writer's notebook or people who want to become better writers.  I became a better writer in the two years that we've been reading this book.  I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You: Ralph Fletcher: Books ISBN: 0380784300 ISBN-13: 9780380784301

Camouflage Poetry

Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed... and Revealed  is a beautiful poetry book where you get to find animals that are hiding.

My favorite poem was Vagabond.  It’s about a newt that is hiding in the leaves.  The book also gives you information about the Red-Spotted Newt.

I recommend this book for kids who’d lift a finger for poetry, and who like animals.

My Dog Yoohoo

My is a stealer, a crook, a thief he is.

He will steal snacks of all sorts:

chicken, broccoli, steak, and more.

That is why he is very, very fat.

Snow Poems

Snow

Snow, snow, bright and white, keep on falling, left and right.

Snow Everywhere

Snow, snow, left and right, it's here and it's there, it's everywhere.

Snow Taste

Snow, snow, here and there, it tastes so much like water and it's bright. I'm not taking a flight.

Here are some great flake links:

Snowflake Page - Snowflake pictures, patterns, and more links.

Snow Crystals Electron Microscopy -Check out snowflakes under a microscope.

Snowcrystal.com - Snowflake crystals.

Make a Flake - Make a virtual snowflake and download the picture like mine.

Snowflake Factory - Make virtual snowflakes and watch them explode, melt, blizzard, and crack.

The Funniest Poems

Roses are orange, violets are pale
You smell so horrible, and so do I

Captain Underpants is in his underwear
My Dad is walking down the stairs
in his underpants making such a sight
cameras in the air
the screams of Kayla saying,
"Daddy is in his underwear!"

Mother's Day Card

Roses are red, violets are yellow

I have a gift for you.

The gift that I'm going to give means not only that I care for you, it means that I will take the time to build it and make it beautiful and it also means that I need a bigger allowance.

Cats!

Super cuddly

playing in a tree
cats purring and meowing all around the house
respecting Mom's breathing
MEOW!

This image was borrowed from Daily Pets.

Baby Birds

Birds Chirping for Food

Baby birds in a nest

chirping for some food

while the mother bird is pecking in a tree

to bring the babies something good to eat.

Mother Bird and The Nest

Mother Bird searching for twigs

and fluff and all the stuff she can find.

She flies to the barber and picks up some hair.

Then she flies to the garden for some mud.

She flies to the woods to look for a tree.

Then builds up the nest and lays an egg.