As a former teacher, I’m well aware that writing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Can I let you in on a little secret? It’s not always my thing, either.

This is a strange confession coming from a children’s author, but an important one, I think.

If writing is sometimes “unfun” for a person who does it for a living, how much more challenging is it for the kid who doesn’t enjoy it in the first place?

Here are some things I’ve learned about the writing life — both as a teacher and as a student of the discipline — that I hope might encourage you and your young writers:

1. Everyone is creative.

While writing might not be every child’s strong suit, every person has a creative side. (For grown ups, it might take a bit of digging to find, but I promise, it’s there.)

When it comes to writing, it’s easy to focus on mechanics or fluency as ultimate measurements of ability or skill, leaving some kids at a disadvantage before they’ve even begun. We need to help children understand they already have what it takes to write because they were born creative.

2. Choice and freedom are key.

There will be times when young writers need to tackle particular assignments like research papers or responsive essays, but I believe it’s even more important that kids are given the freedom to choose their own topics as often as possible.

They should be given the freedom to write without some higher purpose (including concerns about grammar and spelling) and have opportunities to create for their own pleasure and benefit alone.

3. Listen to the world.

Creative people listen to and observe the world around them. In listening, we catch details we might otherwise miss, bits and pieces that enrich our thoughts and lives. If we invite children to look and listen, they will come to their writing with artistic pumps already primed.

One simple way to do this is to regularly model the things that make us stop and wonder. Another is to ask kids to keep notebooks where they paste, color, and collect ideas or questions that might lead to future writing projects of their own. Here’s a ready-made notebook your writers might enjoy!

4. Tinker, explore, create, play!

I’ve transformed my own approach to writing in the last year by dropping the “w-word” from my vocabulary. Instead of writing, I now practice, explore, or play. It’s impossible to have a “bad” writing day when I’m simply practicing, just as there’s no right or wrong way to play.

Any time I show up to my work with this mindset, there is something to be gained.

When young writers can be taught to approach their writing playfully, the heavy burden of getting it “right” falls away.

5. Frustration is part of the process.

There comes a point when I’m writing a book that I’m sure I’ve broken it. The story feels like it’s beyond repair. Sometimes this happens multiple times!

If kids know ahead of time frustration is a natural part of the writing process, the experience can be less intimidating. Those moments of struggle might be shorter lived.

Instead of fearing them, writing challenges can be seen for what they are: opportunities to go deeper and wider, obstacles that if faced will eventually lead to breakthroughs, growth, and change.

6. Revision’s where the real writing happens.

Revision means exactly what it sounds like — a chance to see a piece of writing again, this time in a new light. As a young teacher, I didn’t understand how crucial revision was.

I wish I’d known then to ask my students the questions I now ask myself after I finish a draft:

• What is it you’re trying to say?
• What was your original idea?
• How has it changed, for better or worse?
• What changes need to be made to bring this piece of writing in line with your vision for it?

This book is an excellent collection of revision strategies based on the work of published authors.

7. Writing as self-directed learning.

One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is picking an era that intrigues me and digging in. I spend as much time as I need to learn all that I can. I’m both student and teacher in that I set the curriculum, scope of my studies, and pace.

The books that I write provide readers with a chance to learn, too. They’re not tools meant to point to historical facts but opportunities for readers to witness the world during another time, to see that though we might be different from people who lived long ago, our emotional experiences are largely the same.

My newest book, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine, is a middle-grade novel about the Klondike gold rush. In it, eleven-year-old Jasper follows his brother Melvin to the Klondike in search of gold. Along the way the boys hear of One-Eyed Riley’s mine, a mysterious claim worth millions.

Jasper’s convinced he and Mel will be the first ones to find it. All they have to do is survive the rough Canadian terrain and some unsavory fellows also after Riley’s treasure.

If you’d like to use my newest novel to create a unit study on the Klondike gold rush, or if you’d just like to learn more, here are some helpful links:

• Off to the Klondike! The Search for Gold (3:38 video) :: WatchKnowLearn.org
• Klondike Gold Rush (9:08 video — heads up: brief mention of prostitution) :: WatchKnowLearn.org
• Front Page of the Seattle-Post Intelligencer for July 17, 1897 :: Wikimedia Commons
• Routes to the Klondike :: Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
• Ton of Goods :: Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
• The Mounties: The Force in the North :: Virtual Museum Canada
• A visual of the Chilkoot Trail :: National Park Service
• “The Spell of the Yukon” by Robert Service (poem)
• “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service (poem)
• “To Build a Fire” by Jack London (short story)
• Shopping in Seattle for Supplies (lesson plan) :: National Park Service
• Panning for Gold! (lesson plan) :: National Park Service

A note from Jamie: All of Caroline’s books are imaginative and full of heart, and her newest release about the gold rush COMPLETELY captivated my two boys–Jonathan read it twice, Elijah begged me to read it aloud, & the two of them spontaneously decided to act out much of it together while listening. Such fun!

What’s the point of historical fiction? Publisher’s Weekly recently ran an interview with Newbery and Newbery-Honor medalist Karen Cushman, one of children’s literature’s most celebrated authors. Here’s what she had to say:

“I think for readers historical fiction is important because it helps them to see beyond the boundaries of their own experience. It helps them to stretch and to see what life is like for others. This helps illustrate both how we are the same and how we are different, and can give readers more empathy.”

As a social studies teacher turned children’s author, nothing fires me up as a much as a well-crafted historical novel. Nothing has made history more personal than the books I’ve treasured in childhood and beyond.

Here are some historical titles worth celebrating, worth sharing, worth reading with the young people in your lives.

Middle-Grade Books:

FEVER 1793
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Age Range: 11 – 13

In an intense, well-researched tale that will resonate particularly with readers in parts of the country where the West Nile virus and other insect-borne diseases are active, Anderson takes a Philadelphia teenager through one of the most devastating outbreaks of yellow fever in our country’s history.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: I read this book with students during a summer book club. The story is riveting, and the subject matter made for some memorable activities perfect for the weird and wonderful middle-school set (interpretive performances of the stages of yellow fever, anyone?).

THE MISADVENTURES OF MAUDE MARCH
or, Trouble Rides a Fast Horse
By Audrey Couloumbis
Age Range: 9 – 18
“Some days it isn’t even a good idea to get out of bed,” muttered Aunt Ruthie as she stepped out of the mercantile. Just then, a bullet hits her in the heart and kills her, leaving 11-year-old Sallie and 15-year-old Maude orphans once again. Soon thereafter, the sisters are headed west, about to live the adventures Sallie had read about in her dime novels. They are involved in a bank robbery, struck by a headless rattlesnake, attacked by a mountain lion and forced to be on the run when wanted posters featuring “Mad Maude” begin appearing in the newspapers.

What a pleasure to read something just for the sheer fun of the storytelling. Sallie’s fresh and feisty voice, girls dressed as boys, an outlaw with a heart of gold, adventure and humor add up to great family entertainment.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: Rollicking good fun!

HEART OF A SAMURAI
Based on the True Story of Nakahama Manjiro
By Margi Preus (Author) , Jillian Tamaki (Illustrator)
Age Range: 9 – 13

In 1841, 14-year-old Manjiro joined four others on an overnight fishing trip. Caught by a severe storm, their small rowboat was shipwrecked on a rocky island. Five months later, they were rescued by the crew of a whaling ship from New Bedford. Manjiro, renamed John Mung, was befriended by the captain and eventually lived in his home in New Bedford, rapidly absorbing Western culture. But the plight of his impoverished family in Japan was never far from Manjiro’s mind, although he knew that his country’s strict isolationist policy meant a death sentence if he returned.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: Adored it!

INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN
By Thanhha Lai
Age Range: 9 – 12
An enlightening, poignant and unexpectedly funny novel in verse is rooted in the author’s childhood experiences. In Saigon in 1975, 10-year-old Kim Hà celebrates Tet (New Year) with her mother and three older brothers; none of them guesses at the changes the Year of the Cat will bring. On the eve of the fall of Saigon, they finally decide they must escape.

In her not-to-be-missed debut, Lai evokes a distinct time and place and presents a complex, realistic heroine whom readers will recognize, even if they haven’t found themselves in a strange new country.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: This book is tender, beautiful glimpse into another culture. Using unrhymed poetry to tell her story, Lai’s spare language reflects the vulnerability of a child thrown into a new world with honesty and heart.

Young-Adult Books:

A NORTHERN LIGHT
By Jennifer Donnelly
Age Range: 12 – 18

Donnelly combines a mystery with a coming-of-age story about a girl choosing among family obligations, romance, and education. The mystery derives from a true event, the death in 1906 of a young woman in northern New York. In this fictional rendition, 16-year-old farm girl Mattie Gokey is working for the summer at the hotel where the murdered woman has been staying and has given Mattie letters to burn. As the details emerge about the possible murder, Mattie struggles with whether to burn the letters or turn them over to the police. She also wrestles with a deathbed promise to her mother to stay and raise her younger siblings. Mattie, who loves language and excels at creative writing, longs to go to New York City for college, encouraged by a feminist schoolteacher.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: As an author, I was caught up in the sheer beauty of Donnelly’s writing. As a reader, Mattie reminded me of one of my all-time favorite characters, Francie Nolan.

CODE NAME VERITY
By Elizabeth Wein
Age Range: 14 – 18

In a cell in Nazi-occupied France, a young woman writes. Like Scheherezade, to whom she is compared by the SS officer in charge of her case, she dribbles out information—“everything I can remember about the British War Effort”—in exchange for time and a reprieve from torture. But her story is more than a listing of wireless codes or aircraft types. Instead, she describes her friendship with Maddie, the pilot who flew them to France, as well as the real details of the British War Effort: the breaking down of class barriers, the opportunities, the fears and victories not only of war, but of daily life.

Through the layers of story, characters (including the Nazis) spring to life. And as the epigraph makes clear, there is more to this tale than is immediately apparent. The twists will lead readers to finish the last page and turn back to the beginning to see how the pieces slot perfectly, unexpectedly into place.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: Unbelievable storytelling. Masterful writing. A beautiful picture of the bond of friendship. I couldn’t leave this story for days after reading.

THE WICKED AND THE JUST
By J. Anderson Coats
Age Range: 12 – 18

Two girls of very different degree are brought together unwillingly by the English conquest of Wales.

Cecily is in a pet at having to leave the home of her youth—where her mother is buried—and relocate to the Welsh frontier, but her father is a younger son. He will take a burgage in Caernarvon, recently conquered by Edward I. In exchange for a home, he will help to keep the King’s peace. Cecily hates Caernarvon. She hates its weather, its primitive appointments and its natives, especially Gwinny, the servant girl who doesn’t obey, and the young man who stares at her.

Never opting for the easy characterization, debut author Coats compellingly re-creates this occupation from both sides. It all leads to an ending so brutal and unexpected it will take readers’ breath away even as it makes them think hard about the title.
— Kirkus reviews

My take: J. Anderson Coats started keeping copious notes on the middle ages as a teenager. I know no one with such passion for or knowledge of this era. This book is a masterpiece.

What historical fiction for young readers has left its impression on you?