What a Writer Needs, Second Edition
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"This is no recipe book: I have tried not to be formulaic. Rather, I want to suggest the richness of options, the myriad possibilities open to the writer at any given moment. Young writers need to know what can be done with language."
--Ralph Fletcher
For more than 20 years, Ralph Fletcher's What a Writer Needs has been a beloved bestseller, trusted in classrooms, district inservices, and teacher-preparation programs across the U.S. Now Ralph's second edition makes What a Writer Needs an even more powerful tool for turning students into writers--and for teachers to improve their own writing.
In What A Writer Needs, Ralph presents a crash course on the elements of writing, with chapters on how to create vivid details, compelling voice, a sense of place, believable characters, tension, engaging leads and endings, just to name a few. Readers will develop a deeper, more profound knowledge of writing and will find the book eminently practical as well. In fact, Ralph has added two entirely new chapters on revision and nonfiction writing that are immediately useful for meeting Common Core writing standards. It also includes a completely updated list of suggested mentor texts, handpicked by Ralph, and sorted by the craft element each demonstrates.
What A Writer Needs, Second Edition, is a desert-island book for any writing teacher. Personal and anecdotal, it includes a wealth of lively writing samples drawn both from student writers and professionals. Experience Ralph's keen instructional insight, his careful attention to students and their work, and his experienced-honed wisdom about the essentials of great writing. Discover the pleasure of reading and teaching from What a Writer Needs. You'll soon find out why Ralph Fletcher's timeless classic is more timely than ever.
Donald Murray
For nearly 60 years Donald Murray was a tireless explorer, chronicler, and advocate of writers, writing, and the teaching of writing. "We are coaches, encouragers, developers, creators of environments in which our students can experience the writing process for themselves," he wrote in 1972. Through the years and over numerous books, academic articles, newspaper columns, classroom handouts, writing conferences, and warm collegial conversations, thousands of students, writers, and teachers benefited from Don's work. Millions more continue to benefit by the wide circle of his influence over the fields of writing, writing instruction, journalism. Some of Don's most important insights about writing and teaching writing are collected in the Heinemann's The Essential Don Murray (edited by Thomas Newkirk and Lisa Miller).
A Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, Don was a columnist for The Boston Globe and Professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. He was also a writing coach for several national newspapers, wrote poetry for many journals, including Poetry, and authored several books on the craft of writing and teaching writing, including Learning by Teaching, Expecting the Unexpected, Shoptalk, and Crafting a Life in Essay, Story, Poem, and Writing to Deadline.
Read article on seacoastonline.com featuring Don Murray »
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Ralph Fletcher
Ralph Fletcher has always been a special person for children's literature. He is the author of picture books, nonfiction, and novels for young readers. How to Write Your Life Story is the fifth book in Mr. Fletcher's series of instructional writing books, which includes A Writer's Notebook, Live Writing, How Writers Work, and Poetry Matters. Mr. Fletcher lives with his family in New Hampshire.
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