To Be a Writer

VOYA - Florence H. Munat

In this handbook, Seuling has taken the excellent information contained in her adult guide, How to Write a Children's Book and Get It Published (Scribner, 1991), and distilled it into a readable and helpful text for young writers. The book's nine chapters include hints on how to get ideas, sketch a storyline, write a first draft, create unique characters, write and research nonfiction ideas, select words that create vivid images, revise, and approach publishers with finished works. Seuling offers just enough in the way of guidelines to encourage a young writer without being overwhelming. The examples she uses are contemporary, varied, and include excerpts from children's books. Approximately one-third of the book consists of appendices specifically for young writers and include names and address of publishers and what they buy, contests and prizes, market guides and software, writers' camps, online sources, sample formats for manuscripts and query letters, and writing exercises. The book also contains current information on ways to make use of the Internet for contacting other writers, doing research, etc. These resources serve to point in the right direction the would-be writer who wants more information. The highest compliment I can pay this book is to say that I wish it had been around when I was kid. Glossary. Index. Illus. Further Reading. Appendix. VOYA Codes: 4Q 2P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, For the YA with a special interest in the subject, Middle School-defined as grades 6 to 8, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9 and Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12).

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7Although the focus here is on writing for publication, Seuling covers much of the same ground traveled by the predecessors she cites for further reading. It is this excellent list and other appendixes that give the book its value; they include suggestions of publishers who accept the work of young writers, Internet sites, camps and activities, and contests and prizes. The first few chapters, however, do not offer much that is new or exciting. Finding good ideas, developing believable characters, plotting an intriguing story lineall have been discussed in a plethora of books for students and teachers of writing. There is also some confusion as to the audience for this book. Although most of the literary examples cited might be recognizable to intermediate grade readers, many students will not be familiar with Melville's Ahab or Bront's Heathcliff. Books of this genre may be useful for teaching writing at the elementary and middle school levels, but there are not many young people who will pick them up on their own. If your collection already has Marion Dane Bauer's What's Your Story? (Clarion, 1992), Sandy Asher's Where Do You Get Your Ideas? (1987) and Wild Words (1989, both Walker), or Sylvia Cassedy's In Your Own Words (Crowell, 1990; o.p.), this one is not a primary acquisition.Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, NY