Students need to develop five kinds of knowledge to be successful in any kind of specific reading or writing task. These kinds of knowledge can be developed through five different kinds of composing that lead to deep understanding of how texts are constructed with specific content to create particular effects and meaning. Following this process…

Jane Yolen, the award-winning author of over 300 books, shares her writing process and invites us to understand the differences between writing for picture books, writing narratives, and collaborating on a graphic novel, as she experienced while writing her first graphic novel Foiled. The relationship between the illustrations and the text is…

In the summer of 2009, this author devised a Saturday program with an emphasis on writing for publication targeting three students as his nucleus. One of the students, Mariano, was the only one of the three to accept the invitation. This was a strong indication of his passion for writing. Thus, three weeks before school began, the author and…

From a 40-year perspective, Don Gallo examines the field of young adult literature, comparing it to ice cream--its various flavors and levels of richness. The article proclaims the profundity of the field and the quality of its writers, summarizes historical highlights, defends it against its detractors, and explains the importance of helping…

The Change Writers project was born in the Title I schools of Elk Grove, California, when Gail Desler, a technology integration specialist, became motivated to open up the district's mandated "Open Court" curriculum to better serve intermediate-grade students. Through writing, technology, and imagination, a larger conversation was…

Chris Crowe, a university professor and author of young adult novels, sits with Lesesne to discuss his writing of both Mississippi Trial, 1955 (fiction) and Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Murder Case (nonfiction), related books that tell the story of a murder case that speaks to us from a half-century ago. Detailing…

Growing up in Flemington, New Jersey, put Jen Bryant in the heart of the lore behind the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Family stories of the events of the day and extensive research led to "The Trial," a novel in verse. The first several parts of this novel are included here.

Hayes recognizes the value of connections kids make when authors and settings strike a familiar note. She invites readers to participate in a new event at this year's NCTE Annual Convention in New York City: The 21st-Century Literary Map Project gallery, where attendees are encouraged to examine affiliates' literary maps, see digital or…

Morgenroth recognizes the isolation writers must endure, as well as the fickleness of the process by which words flow onto a page. She has found that, for her, every book emerges through a slightly different process. We can only conclude that whatever she does, works. The chapter of "Jude" that follows proves it.

Describes events and mountain places that influenced the writing of the author's young adult novel "Beardance." (SR)

Offers the author's (a noted writer of children's novels and picture books) personal theories about mixing mirth and mayhem. (SR)

Describes how the author realized that his prepubescent Superboy hero is not brave and represents what can never be. Describes how he came to believe that true heroes are defined by how they respond to what they do "wrong." Notes how this affects the author's writing and the heroes he creates in his novels. (SR)

Describes how the author came to love Mark Twain's writings, taught "Huckleberry Finn" and other of Twain's writings to a ninth-grade class in a Hasidic Jewish Academy, and learned to really love Samuel Clemens. Describes how this love inspired the author to write two books celebrating what she has valued most in 40 years of reading Mark…

Describes the author's experience with editor rejection and acceptance. Discusses how he incorporates his experience with dog sledding into his work as a writer. (SC)

Joy is the inspiration for this Young Adult (YA) author who admits that life isn't without its angst, as well. But life, she says, is a fascinating continuum, and living life fully is bound to take us to several points along its path. An excerpt from "Fat Kid Rules the World" pulls us into one such journey.