2 New Writing Books by Ralph Fletcher

Ralph Fletcher has written two new books for writers. One is HOW TO WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY. This is part of the series that he has written that includes POETRY MATTERS, A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK and HOW WRITERS WORK. All of these books are written to help young writers grow as writers and in each Ralph Fletcher shares his own process. In this new book, Ralph Fletcher focuses on writing memories and memoir. He does it in a way that makes sense for kids, helping them think through things like ideas, focus and craft. He also deals a bit with writing difficult scenes or topics. As with his other books, he's included interviews with other children's authors who have written their life stories. (He has chosen authors who have written memoirs of their childhoods.) Author interviews included in this book are Jack Gantos, Jerry Spinelli, and Kathi Appelt.

The other new book about his writing process is REFLECTIONS: AUTHOR AT WORK. This one is a short text--64 pages--with lots of great photos. In this book, he shares his writing process and little things about his life as a writer. The photos allow readers to see how his writing happens. He has specific examples from many of his books that readers will know.

Between the two of these new books, I can see possibilities for lots of great minilessons in Writing Workshop next year. I can also see these two books as books that kids will pick up to read cover to cover.