Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing

Great great book to aid the creative writing process. Fletcher uses humor and personal anecdotes to assure the floundering writer that it's okay to think outside of the box. Love his writing!

My fourth graders love when I teach bits from this book. They still refer to hyperbole as talking like drama queens and drama kings.

Great book to inspire young readers and to implement play.. GREAT resources. wonderful mentor text!

great

Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing was inspiring to me as both a writer and a teacher of writing. Ralph Fletcher uses wonderful personal examples of how language has evolved and been the focus of playful experimentation within his family and classroom. His ultimate goal is getting the reader to enjoy experimenting and having fun with words and to instill that same passion in children. What a breath of fresh air from the mandates of standardized testing in which the word `playful' rarely factors into the equation! Pyrotechnics helped me understand the functionality of word play on a whole new level, and showed me just how critical it is to authentic writing purposes (next time you pick up a newspaper, pay attention to how many headlines are comprised of puns and alliteration-Fletcher argues for a real world application that is undeniable.) This author realizes that getting kids to fall in love with words is the key to developing strong readers and writers, and his enthusiasm is catching as he explores similes, allusions, idioms, cliches, slang, sentence reversals, and more. Best of all, an entire section of the book is devoted to writer's craft lessons that use mentor texts, which makes it easy to implement the ideas with a wide variety of age groups.[Originally posted on the reviewer's blog.]

I bought this as soon as it came out since I trust Ralph Fletcher as a writer and as a teacher. But I had no idea I would have so much fun reading it. I started trying the experiments in my notebook and weaving them into my thinking for fall before I was out of the first few chapters. I can't wait to try these with students!I'm a literacy coach in elementary classrooms. I know my students will delight in these ideas and sparks will happen--sparks of interest, sparks of delight, and sparks of great writing. I am recommending this book to all of the teachers I see now. We know we learn more when we're having fun. Naomi Shihab Nye said, "I am always reminding kids to, as Kim Stafford says, play with their writing, not just work on it." I think we all need this book.