Mama Skunk takes her children on a nighttime walk and shows them stars, fireflies, a stream, the moon, and other things they haven't seen before.

Whether by foot, boat, car, or unicycle, P. D. Eastman's lovable dogs demonstrate the many ways one can travel.
The new text emphasizes the concept element of the original while maintaining its rhythm and charm.

Wordsmith creative writing curriculum helps kids develop writing skills that will last a lifetime. Teaching writing skills has never been easier than in this dynamic writing program. The Wordsmith Student Book is an easy-to-use creative writing course for young people that will develop their love for writing while building practical writing skills. The major principles addressed in this book apply to both types of writing:

Use definitive nouns and verbs, descriptive modifiers.
Understand and use sentence structure to advantage.
Anchor your writing in concrete detail; don't generalize.

Creative writing, in the simplest terms, is literally expressing oneself: a person communicating what is in him to the world outside. Why is this important? After all, most of the writing a child will have to do throughout his student career will be of the expository type: factual and objective. In an information age, the demand will increase for articulate writers who can communicate information clearly, without artistic frills or "creative" flourishes. So why bother with creative writing at all?

Expository writing is from the head; creative writing is from the heart.
The most memorable non-fiction is not dry, but charged with life and emotional appeal. The best fiction deals in concrete incident and detail, not vague flights of fancy.

Creative writing is a good place to start learning these principles, because your child has all the materials needed close at hand....language and experience.

(grades: 7&up)

A story about a lion family, with many pictures.