Curriculum Center: Just a Story

Sara loves to draw and tell stories, but sometimes it can be difficult to get started. What if she doesn't have any good ideas or her drawings turn out terrible?! Lucky for Sara, she has a friend who is always by her side--her pencil. With a little help from Pencil, Sara learns it's okay if her story isn't perfect, as long as she's using her imagination and having fun.

Violet and Victor Small are twins on a mission: to write the best book in the whole, entire world--together! Victor is reluctant, but Violet is determined, and soon the ideas can't come quickly enough.

The library is having a contest for the best story, and the quirky narrator of this book just has to win that roller-coaster ride with her favorite author! But what makes a story the best?

Step 1: Choose an idea for your story. A good one. Step 2: Decide on a setting. Don't be afraid to mix things up. Step 3: Create a heroine - or a hero. Now: Begin.

The kindergartner who learned to use squiggles to write a story in award-winning Andrew Larsen's A Squiggly Story is now in second grade and learning to write an autobiography. Told in the same authentic child's voice, this playful book encourages readers to just start, even if they don't know how their story will go.

An uplifting story about the power of art, finding your voice, and telling your story even when you're out of step with your peers.

A lively story about a teacher's special jar where her students keep their story ideas--but watch out when those ideas go on the loose! The idea jar is where students keep their ideas--anything from a Viking to a space robot to a giant dragon. These ideas can be combined to make new exciting stories. But watch out when the ideas escape the jar--they might get a little rowdy!

This picture book explores a young child's process of learning to express himself. It promotes the idea that stories are available for everyone to tell, whatever way we can, and will inspire pre-readers to try writing stories of their own.

Alfonso the Alpaca loves nothing more than relaxing with a good book. Until one day it dawns on him that there is not a single alpaca in any of them--just wall-to-wall bears! Something must be done, so Alfonso takes it upon himself to write a story about alpacas. But before long he realizes that it's not so easy (especially when you only have feet) and soon he has to enlist the help of his friend Colin. A bear!

In A Girl from Yamhill, Beverly Cleary tells a more personal story--her story--of what adolescence was like. In warm but honest detail, Beverly describes life in Oregon during the Great Depression, including her difficulties in learning to read, and offers a slew of anecdotes that were, perhaps, the inspiration for some of her beloved stories.

You may think you know how this book was made, but you don't. Sure, the author wrote many drafts, and the illustrator took a long time creating the art, but then what? How'd it get into your hands? Well, open the cover and read through these pages to find out.

Nothing ever happens to Ralph. So every day when it's time to write stories, Ralph thinks really hard. He stares at his paper. He stares at the ceiling. But he has no stories! With the help of his classmates, Ralph realizes that a great story can be about something very little...and that maybe he really does have some stories to tell.

The Most Beautiful Story, both sad and hopeful, is a stunning testament to the saving power of stories. Together, Tjønn and Torseter have created a quiet, introspective book about longing, loss, and a love that transcends both.

In Story Matters, Liz Prather provides activities, lessons, exercises, mentor texts, and student samples to help teens learn to seamlessly weave narrative into their nonfiction writing.

Ready to build a picture book? First, you'll need the right tools. Open this title in the Writer's Toolbox series and discover plenty of tips and tools to get you started. Soon you'll be writing and showing stories like a pro!

The Newbery Award-winning author of Dead End in Norvelt shares advice for how to be the best brilliant writer in this funny and practical creative writing guide perfect for all kids who dream of seeing their name on the spine of a book.

From cave drawings to the invention of the printing press to our digital age, discover how a story has been told in many different ways from the past to today. It's always been around, making us happy, sad, excited, or scared and bringing people together.

My pen rides dinosaurs and hides an elephant in a teacup. What can your pen do? Acclaimed author and illustrator Christopher Myers uses rich black-and-white illustrations to bring a sketchbook to life, showing that with a simple pen, a kid can do anything!

In The Paper Boat, Thao's signature collage art tells the wordless story of one family's escape from Vietnam--a journey intertwined with an ant colony's parallel narrative.

Oliver Jeffers takes a dive into Oliver's own origin story, inspirations, art evolution, and passion for storytelling: from growing up loving art and creating stories as a young boy in Belfast, Ireland; to finding a huge audience for his lovable stories; to what led him to his enormously clever found painting; to his collaborations with U2, TED, Colette, and Apple, to his newest meditative dipped painting art events.

If you've ever tried to write a story of your own, you know it's not as easy as it looks. Words get tangled, pencils get broken, piles of pages get crumpled up. It's so much easier just to read all the lovely stories other people have written. . . . But their stories aren't your stories, and your tale is worth telling.

This fascinating story gives readers insight into the tale behind one of the world's most celebrated novels and the creation of an indelible figure that is recognizable to readers of all ages.

When young Elwyn White lay in bed as a sickly child, a bold house mouse befriended him. When the time came for kindergarten, an anxious Elwyn longed for the farm, where animal friends awaited him at the end of each day. Propelled by his fascination with the outside world, he began to jot down his reflections in a journal. Writing filled him with joy, and words became his world.

Patricia Reilly Giff breaks down the process of writing fiction into steps, all while trying to cope with the constant distractions from her exuberant seventy-pound golden retriever puppy, Rosie. Citing examples from her award-winning novels she explains how to proceed with each step in chapter sections titled "Can You See What I Did?" Young writers can find the inspiration and tips they need to try their hand in sections called "Your Turn."

This is a serious but accessible resource for undertaking your personal or family history writing. In these pages, you'll find: Tips on writing, Exercises to prod the memory, And advice on looking at the broad scope of a well-lived life. As Wiebe writes, "You've been living 24 hours every day, making decisions, objecting to certain ideas, endorsing others, and interacting with family and coworkers," the author writes. "I plan to convince you that if you took time to reflect, you'd find lots of meaningful stuff going on."

Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson's eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.

What do you do when an octopus captures Grandma? Put on your superhero cape and rescue her! This clever picture book tells two stories in one, from award-winning Afro-Latino artist Eric Velasquez.

There is the person who tells the story. This is the storyteller. And there is the person who listens to the story. This is the story friend.

Ready to build a scary story? First, you'll need the right tools. Open this title in the Writer's Toolbox series and discover plenty of tips and tools to get you started. Soon you'll be sharing scares like a pro!

Renowned literacy expert Stephanie Harvey teams up with authors and writing consultants Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger to introduce short writing scaffolds to support student writing and help strivers approach writing with energy and action.

Once there were many stories in the world. There were stories with sunsets and wonderful tales filled with fairies and dinosaurs. But one day, a story decided that it was the best, the most important story ever. It called itself the One and started to consume every other story it came across. The One ate stories made of seas and others full of dogs. Soon it seemed that the One was all there was . . . or was it?

An empowering reflection on the many things we are and the ways we relate to the world. Poet Bob Raczka's You are a Story highlights all of the nuance and potential of a growing person's identity, delighting in the things that make us special and connect us to others. You are and could be so many things, but whatever you choose to do, it's your life to write, you are a story.