Can a boy dancer be cool? Yes he can! And yet Alex, the main character in “Standing Alone,” is teased mercilessly by his classmates because he likes to dance. They call him “ballerina,” even though he actually does contemporary dance, not ballet. They make his life miserable every chance they get. Nobody likes to be made […]
creative writing
Everybody Is Different: Varied Characters Make For Believable Characters
No two people are alike. For that matter, no two animals are alike either! One mark of a great story is believable characters, each with his or her own distinct personality and habits. Author Kaley Birchfield is only eleven years old. Her story, “A Home for Barney” (the featured story from our March/April 2014 issue), […]
Talent Is Overrated: Teaching the Three Rs of Great Writers
When we think of writers who have left their names etched in history, such as Robert Frost or J.K. Rowling, two words that come to mind are talented, unique, and we lift them up on a pedestal of literary greatness. We set them apart as endowed with a gift for fashioning one-of-a-kind creations. But this idea […]
