by Alena Rivers

Summer is upon us and that has many librarians, teachers, parents and caregivers thinking about the summer reading programs that will encourage children to continue reading over their school breaks. As much as we love reading, we also love the creative writing process that brings to life the stories our children encounter.  Reading books will always be a worthwhile endeavor but, this summer, let’s also encourage our children to explore the creative writing process. The Butler Center has a few nonfiction selections that can help children expand their vocabularies and give them a better understanding of the origins and definitions of commonly used word phrases. Then pull it all together with some imaginative activities that challenge a child’s writing process, or get them inspired by reading an author’s biography to see how the creative writing process develops. Stop by and take a look at some of these books!

You’re Pulling My Leg: 400 Human-Body Sayings from Head to Toe by Pat Street and Eric Brace, illus. by Eric Brace (Holiday, 2016). Humorous illustrations of animals demonstrating human-body part phrases and an index of body parts referenced throughout the book will give children plenty of possibilities to include in their next writing experience.

Will’s Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk by Jane Sutcliffe, illus. by John Shelley (Charlesbridge, 2016). Children will be surprised to see how many common phrases we use today were created or popularized by William Shakespeare’s plays. The author includes a note about William Shakespeare, a timeline of his life and a bibliography.

Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs by Linda Sue Park, illus. by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). Words have multiple meanings and young children will discover several animal words and their active counterparts, when noun meets verb!

Koob: The Backwards Book by Anna Brett, illus. by Elle Ward (Scholastic, 2016). Try out this activity book that includes some creative ways to think outside of the box when writing. A fun option to address the summer mantra, “I’m bored”!

Some Writer: The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oct. 2016). Melissa Sweet wrote and illustrated this biography about E. B. White’s early love of writing and how he became the author of the classic stories, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. This book will be released in October. Come see the advanced reader’s copy in the Butler Center, today!