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we all just want to be heard

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Taking My Ball and Going Home (scott) - SCHOOL FRIENDLY

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Penny Kittle Mia Pischke Araceli Garcia Christina Rae Gail Mills Carriann Cook i don't know who the leader is here but I would like to share something I wrote Can I?

it is safe no bad words or anything I don't do that I'm also a author so can I share that stuff maybe

I'm also in high school

Gail Mills

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The White Birds poem talks about the beauty and natural actions of the white birds. As the author states: "The birds of listless thought, I hear them on their way. Indolently waiting for the sunless day to break." This quote just shows how the white birds await for the rising sun.

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Don't do it.

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ICYMI: Rep. Hill Op-Ed in Log Cabin Democrat: Working to Prevent ...

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A summary about the text i read . Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, she opens herself to a new and startling world. However, when one of them is found dead, Kya immediately becomes the main suspect. As the case unfolds, the verdict as to what happened becomes increasingly unclear, threatening to reveal many secrets. and its about how you she taught an man to not beat on women. and she has daddy issues when she was growing up .

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The University gives a speech about metophoirs.

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For those who are really going through it.

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Don't kill yourself today, you have to start school tomorrow.

Don't kill yourself today, your grandmother is expecting you to tell her about your day.

Don't kill yourself today, your little sister is sitting at the table with a pencil and sketchbook so you could teach her how to draw an eye.

Don't kill yourself today, your little cousin wants to watch movies with you tonight.

Don't kill yourself today, you have dogs at home to say hi too.

Don't kill yourself today, your godmother is expecting a call from you today.

Don't kill yourself today, you have people who love you.

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Simplistic repetitive writing with twist

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By Merrill Glass

Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented it?
I thought you'd kill me...
But you didn't.

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was
formal, and you came in jeans?
I thought you'd hate me...
But you didn't.

Remember the times I'd flirt with
other boys just to make you jealous, and
you were?
I thought you'd drop me...
But you didn't.

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,
to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam...
But you didn't.

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The excellent use of structure and repetition in this powerful poem contribute to the strong emotional reaction many people feel when reading this poem. When a loved one doesn't return from war there will be many unresolved feelings. Don't wait to tell the important people in your life how you feel about them, do it right away.

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Esmé Joy looks through books in Firestorm Books in Asheville, N.C., in January that were banned in Florida's Duval County. (Jesse Barber for The Washington Post)
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The American Library Association (ALA) announced this month that 2023 had seen a record number of calls for censoring books in public libraries and schools. More than 4,200 titles were targeted with more than 1,200 demands across the country that they be removed from circulation.

Data provided to The Washington Post by the ALA shows that this increase is part of a surge in such efforts in recent years - ones that are centered more heavily in Republican-voting states.
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The data compiled by the ALA - an incomplete total picked from news reports or submitted by librarians to the group's Office for Intellectual Freedom - stretches back to 1990. For the first three decades, the number of titles challenged across the 50 states generally hovered around 450, plus or minus 100. But then came 2020.
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That year, two significant disruptions helped spur a new push to target books. The first was the coronavirus pandemic, during which many children shifted to remote learning. Several parents, often politically conservative ones, took issue with what they observed their children being taught. School board meetings became centers of ferocious conflict centered on pandemic restrictions and curriculums.

This overlapped with the second disruption: the renewed focus on racism that followed the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police. The Black Lives Matter movement, viewed with skepticism by right-wing Americans, gained new prominence even as a small number of protests devolved into vandalism or violence. Donald Trump made this criminal activity a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, giving the issue added political salience.

These two disruptions were intertwined by politics. The argument (promoted by Trump and others) was that kids were somehow learning to hate America because they were learning about its racial history. There was a tangible fear promoted by Trump and in right-wing media like Fox News programming centered on that vandalism but, more broadly, on how the country was growing more accepting of the idea that marginalized populations should have a visible presence or a voice. School curriculums became a way to fight back; excising stories about Black leaders or LGBTQ+ Americans from libraries was a way to keep America from changing.

The data from ALA show how 2020 was a turning point. From 2021 to 2023, the number of titles being challenged in nearly every state spiked. From 2011 to 2020, an average of about 300 titles were challenged across the 50 states (including duplicates in multiple states). From 2021 to 2023, more than 6,800 were on average.

You can see the surge in each state below. Each state's number of challenged titles is compared with the 1990-to-2013 annual average, with each graph scaled to the state's smallest and largest annual totals since 2014.

Almost uniformly, the columns representing 2021 to 2023 are far higher than those prior. The number of challenged titles shot up in the past three years.

If we normalize those values, giving each state's graph the same scale, we can see how the phenomenon was more significant in states that voted for Trump in 2020 (identified with red).

The quarter of states that had the smallest average increase in challenged titles from 2021 to 2023 preferred Joe Biden's 2020 candidacy by about 11 points on average in 2020. The quarter of states that had the largest increases in challenges backed Trump by an average of 12 points.

One element of this is that challenges tend to target more titles. Before 2020, most states had about as many cases of challenges as titles; that is, a challenge targeted one book. Since then, the ratio has skewed heavily toward more titles per case. Here, again, you can see the shift in recent years.

The quarter of states with the most titles challenged per case (a 7-to-1 ratio since 2021) again preferred Trump by a 12-point margin on average in 2020.

In other words, it's not just that books are being targeted more often. It's that they are being targeted en masse, often by a small group of people (as The Post has reported). The effort is less about taking issue with individual titles than with trying to broadly purge libraries of material deemed unacceptable.

It isn't because kids are reading propaganda in school that younger Americans are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+; after all, older Americans have similarly grown more accepting of LGBTQ+ Americans without spending much time in middle-school libraries. It also isn't because kids are encountering stories about civil rights leaders that Americans are more open to combating systemic racism. Instead, it's the success of such movements as Black Lives Matter in drawing attention to those issues.

But calling for curriculums to be changed or books to be banned feels like doing something, one of the most sought-after sensations in our modern culture. It feels like a victory on behalf of the United States, though leveraging government power to restrict speech is obviously antithetical to the country's values.

If you're convinced that your opponents have been brainwashed, though, you're going to try to figure out where that happened. Libraries and schools have borne the brunt of that search.

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Analysis | The post-2020 surge in calls for banning books, visualized

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Data from the American Library Association shows how calls for removing books have been more common in red states.

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Jason Reynolds! An incredible interview... just the opening sentences make me want to write.

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Jason Reynolds! An incredible interview... just the opening sentences make me want to write.

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Jason Reynolds: The Power of Narrative Trailer | THE THREAD

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | March 27, 2024

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Over the next quarter-century, what is projected to happen to the distribution of young people around the world? What benefits and challenges might result because of this shift?

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Thursday Poem: 38 by Layli Long Soldier · Omar Sakr

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I do not know how to introduce this poem. In fact, I’m not even sure how to talk about it at all, to provide my usual preamble. I’ve decided, then, to take my tack from the work itself and state things simply and plainly. This is called “38” and it is by Layli Long Soldier. […]

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Here, the sentence will be respected.

I will compose each sentence with care, by minding what the rules of writing dictate.

For example, all sentences will begin with capital letters.

Likewise, the history of the sentence will be honored by ending each one with appropriate punctuation such as a period or question mark, thus bringing the idea to (momentary) completion.

You may like to know, I do not consider this a "creative piece."

I do not regard this as a poem of great imagination or a work of fiction.

Also, historical events will not be dramatized for an "interesting" read.

Therefore, I feel most responsible to the orderly sentence; conveyor of thought.

That said, I will begin.

You may or may not have heard about the Dakota 38.

If this is the first time you've heard of it, you might wonder, "What is the Dakota 38?"

The Dakota 38 refers to thirty eight Dakota men who were executed by hanging, under orders from President Abraham Lincoln.

To date, this is the largest "legal" mass execution in US history.

The hanging took place on December 26, 1862-the day after Christmas.

This was the same week that President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

In the preceding sentence, I italicize "same week" for emphasis.

There was a movie titled Lincoln about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was included in the film Lincoln; the hanging of the Dakota 38 was not.

In any case, you might be asking, "Why were thirty eight Dakota men hung?"

As a side note, the past tense of hang is hung, but when referring to the capital punishment of hanging, the correct past tense is hanged.

So it's possible that you're asking, "Why were thirty-eight Dakota men hanged?"

They were hanged for the Sioux Uprising.

I want to tell you about the Sioux Uprising, but I don't know where to begin.

I may jump around and details will not unfold in chronological order.

Keep in mind, I am not a historian.

So I will recount facts as best as I can, given limited resources and understanding.

Before Minnesota was a state, the Minnesota region, generally speaking, was the traditional homeland for Dakota, Anishinaabeg, and Ho-Chunk people.

During the 1800s, when the US expanded territory, they "purchased" land from the Dakota people as well as the other tribes.

But another way to understand that sort of "purchase" is: Dakota leaders ceded land to the US government in exchange for money or goods, but most importantly, the safety of their people.

Some say that Dakota leaders did not understand the terms they were entering, or they never would have agreed.

Even others call the entire negotiation "trickery."

But to make whatever-it-was official and binding, the US government drew up an initial treaty.

This treaty was later replaced by another (more convenient) treaty, and then another.

I've had difficulty unraveling the terms of these treaties, given the legal speak and congressional language.

As treaties were abrogated (broken) and new treaties were drafted, one after another, the new treaties often referenced old defunct treaties, and it is a muddy, switchback trail to follow.

Although I often feel lost on this trail, I know I am not alone.

However, as best as I can put the facts together, in 1851, Dakota territory was contained to a twelve-mile by one-hundred-fifty-mile long strip along the Minnesota River.

But just seven years later, in 1858, the northern portion was ceded (taken) and the southern portion was (conveniently) allotted, which reduced Dakota land to a stark ten-mile tract.

These amended and broken treaties are often referred to as the Minnesota Treaties.

The word Minnesota comes from mni, which means water; and sota, which means turbid.

Synonyms for turbid include muddy, unclear, cloudy, confused, and smoky.

Everything is in the language we use.

For example, a treaty is, essentially, a contract between two sovereign nations.

The US treaties with the Dakota Nation were legal contracts that promised money.

It could be said, this money was payment for the land the Dakota ceded; for living within as signed boundaries (a reservation); and for relinquishing rights to their vast hunting territory which, in turn, made Dakota people dependent on other means to survive: money.

The previous sentence is circular, akin to so many aspects of history.

As you may have guessed by now, the money promised in the turbid treaties did not make it into the hands of Dakota people.

In addition, local government traders would not offer credit to "Indians" to purchase food or goods.

Without money, store credit, or rights to hunt beyond their ten-mile tract of land, Dakota people began to starve.

The Dakota people were starving.

The Dakota people starved.

In the preceding sentence, the word "starved" does not need italics for emphasis.

One should read "The Dakota people starved" as a straightforward and plainly stated fact.

As a result-and without other options but to continue to starve-Dakota people retaliated.

Dakota warriors organized, struck out, and killed settlers and traders.

This revolt is called the Sioux Uprising.

Eventually, the US Cavalry came to Mnisota to confront the Uprising.

More than one thousand Dakota people were sent to prison.

As already mentioned, thirty eight Dakota men were subsequently hanged.

After the hanging, those one thousand Dakota prisoners were released.

However, as further consequence, what remained of Dakota territory in Mnisota was dissolved (stolen).

The Dakota people had no land to return to. This means they were exiled.

Homeless, the Dakota people of Mnisota were relocated (forced) onto reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska.

Now, every year, a group called the Dakota 38 + 2 Riders conduct a memorial horse ride from Lower Brule, South Dakota, to Mankato, Mnisota.

The Memorial Riders travel 325 miles on horseback for eighteen days, sometimes through subzero blizzards.

They conclude their journey on December 26, the day of the hanging.

Memorials help focus our memory on particular people or events. Often, memorials come in the forms of plaques, statues, or gravestones.

The memorial for the Dakota 38 is not an object inscribed with words, but an act. Yet, I started this piece because I was interested in writing about grasses.

So, there is one other event to include, although it's not in chronological order and we must backtrack a little.

When the Dakota people were starving, as you may remember, government traders would not extend store credit to "Indians."

One trader named Andrew Myrick is famous for his refusal to provide credit to Dakota people by saying, "If they are hungry, let them eat grass."

There are variations of Myrick's words, but they are all something to that effect.

When settlers and traders were killed during the Sioux Uprising, one of the first to be executed by the Dakota was Andrew Myrick.

When Myrick's body was found,

his mouth was stuffed with grass.

I am inclined to call this act by the Dakota warriors a poem.

There's irony in their poem.

There was no text.

"Real" poems do not "really" require words.

I have italicized the previous sentence to indicate inner dialogue, a revealing moment.

But, on second thought, the words "Let them eat grass" click the gears of the poem into place.

So, we could also say, language and word choice are crucial to the poem's work.

Things are circling back again.

Sometimes, when in a circle, if I wish to exit, I must leap.

And let the body swing.

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38 by Layli Long Soldier | Poetry Foundation

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My students viewed this performance and then did some writing. Suggestions 1) What happens? Did they "leave tonight?" or "die this way"? 2) Take a line and let it lead your thinking. Suggestions: "I had a feeling that I belonged" or "I had a feeling I could be someone" 3) Write about a time that you wished you had a "fast car" so you could "fly away".

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@ 2024 - Recording Academy. All rights reserved.

Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.

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tracy chapman & luke combs deliver gripping performance of "fast car" | 2024 grammys | grammy.com

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Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs Deliver Gripping Performance Of "Fast Car" | 2024 GRAMMYs | GRAMMY.com

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Can you diagnose fear? The red tree blooming from uterus
to throat. It's one long nerve, the doctor says. There's a reason
breathing helps, the muscles slackening like a dead marriage.
Mine are simple things. Food poisoning in Paris. Hospital lobbies.
My husband laughing in another room. (The door closed.)
For days, I cradle my breast and worry the cyst like a bead.
There's nothing to pray away. The tree loves her cutter.
The nightmares have stopped, I tell the doctor. I know why.
They stopped because I baptized them. This is how my mother
and I speak of dying-the thing you turn away by letting in.
I'm tired of April. It's killed our matriarchs and, in the back yard,
I've planted an olive sapling in the wrong soil. There is a droopiness
to the branches that reminds me of my friend, the one who calls
to ask what's the point, or the patients who come to me, swarmed
with misery and astonishment, their hearts like newborns after
the first needle. What now, they all want to know. What now.
I imagine it like a beach. There is a magnificent sand castle
that has taken years to build. A row of pink seashells for gables,
rooms of pebble and driftwood. This is your life. Then comes the affair,
nagging bloodwork, a freeway pileup. The tide moves in.
The water eats your work like a drove of wild birds. There is debris.
A tatter of sea grass and blood from where you scratched your own arm
trying to fight the current. It might not happen for a long time,
but one day you run your fingers through the sand again, scoop a fistful out,
and pat it into a new floor. You can believe in anything, so why not believe
this will last? The seashell rafter like eyes in the gloaming.
I'm here to tell you the tide will never stop coming in.
I'm here to tell you whatever you build will be ruined, so make it beautiful.

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Poetry by Hala Alyan: "Can you diagnose fear?"

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A Brief But Spectacular take on making and remaking identity

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A Brief But Spectacular take on making and remaking identity

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Hala Alyan is an award-winning poet, author, and clinical psychologist.

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PBS NewsHour | A Brief But Spectacular take on making and remaking identity | Season 2023 | PBS

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A Brief But Spectacular take on making and remaking identity

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This story map was created with the Story Map Cascade application in ArcGIS Online.

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0:00 / 0:54•Watch full video

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How Childhood Trauma Leads to Addiction - Gabor Maté

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Hannah Dains - "Don't Kill Yourself Today" | All Def Poetry x Da Poetry Lounge | All Def Poetry

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So much to unpack here.

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CGI Animated Short Film HD "Alike " by Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez | CGMeetup

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I love having students watch this short video. This video is especially useful for reluctant writers. After discussing what happened, I have them analyze the metaphors of life. Who are your water buffalo? Who are the lionesses and crocodiles in your life? When have you felt life wounded calf?

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Lamont Carey (I Can't Read) HBO Def Jam Poetry

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A found poetry collage for our second round of book clubs...collect meaningful quotes and images that represent big ideas in the book. We will write about these at the end of the book club.

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A found poetry collage for our second round of book clubs...collect meaningful quotes and images that represent big ideas in the book. We will write about these at the end of the book club.

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Love to use this to teach "drone view" and engage the imagination.

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Love to use this to teach "drone view" and engage the imagination.

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https://www.humansofnewyork.com/

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Chadwick Boseman Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech Example of extended metaphor

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Chadwick Boseman Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech Example of extended metaphor

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Example of an extended metaphor

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Chadwick Boseman's Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech

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Kramer, Stacy. "The Best Gift I Ever Survived." 

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Kramer, Stacy. "The Best Gift I Ever Survived." 

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I thought for sure she was going to talk about pregnancy, but instead she talked about a brain tumor. 3 minute TED Talk.

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Stacey Kramer: The best gift I ever survived

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Stacey Kramer offers a moving, personal, 3-minute parable that shows how an unwanted experience -- frightening, traumatic, costly -- can turn out to be a priceless gift.

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Andrea Gibson - America Reloading (Official Video)

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"First job..." is a great phrase to begin writing...

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"First job..." is a great phrase to begin writing...

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Royalty "Letter To Your Flag" | 2018 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam

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2014 - Brave New Voices (Finals) - "Somewhere in America" by Los Angeles Team

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Talk about a response to literature. After reading "The Warmth of Other Suns," Bisa Butler imagined, researched, and created this quilt. 

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Talk about a response to literature. After reading "The Warmth of Other Suns," Bisa Butler imagined, researched, and created this quilt. 

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Bisa Butler: In the Studio (Quilting for the Culture)

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Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman awed a nation with her poem, "The Hill We Climb." Share her poetry with books for all ages, including the poem heard round the world.

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Description
As seen on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!
Helium is the debut poetry collection by internet phenom Rudy Francisco, whose work has defined poetry for a generation of new readers. Rudy's poems and quotes have been viewed and shared millions of times as he has traveled the country and the world performing for sell-out crowds. Helium is filled with work that is simultaneously personal and political, blending love poems, self-reflection, and biting cultural critique on class, race and gender into an unforgettable whole. Ultimately, Rudy's work rises above the chaos to offer a fresh and positive perspective of shared humanity and beauty.

2018 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist

About Rudy Francisco

Rudy Francisco is one of the most recognizable names in Spoken Word Poetry. At the age of 21, Rudy completed his B.A in Psychology and decided to continue his education by pursuing a M.A in Organizational Studies. As... MORE

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As seen on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon! Helium is the debut poetry collection by internet phenom Rudy Francisco, whose work has defined poetry for a generation of new readers. Rudy's poems and quotes have been viewed and shared millions of times as he has traveled the country and the world performing for sell-out crowds.

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Description

Andrea Gibson's latest collection is a masterful showcase from the poet whose writing and performances have captured the hearts of millions. With artful and nuanced looks at gender, romance, loss, and family, Lord of the Butterflies is a new peak in Gibson's career. Each emotion here is deft and delicate, resting inside of imagery heavy enough to sink the heart, while giving the body wings to soar.

Awards

Independent Publisher Book Awards 2019 - Gold Medal Winner - Poetry

Midwest Independent Publishing Association 2019 Midwest Book Awards - Winner Poetry

The Eric Hoffer Book Award 2019 Poetry Category - Poetry

Praise for Andrea Gibson

Gibson expertly walks the line between grief and hope, giving readers a deeply layered collection . . . . With all the grace and hope that fans of Gibson's work have come to expect, the author finds beauty even in the most painful moments of their life.

- Ronnie K. Stephens, Lambda Literary

Andrea Gibson's unabashedly emotional poetry performances create communal spaces for audiences to feel through the pain and joy of being queer, express queer love, and break the isolation of mental illness. None of this emotional power is lost in the transition from stage to page. . . . Their work is full of transformations-the lighter beneath a crack spoon becomes dripping ice cream-and witnessing these transformations offers liberation and healing.

- Elizabeth Hoover, Star Tribune

Andrea Gibson's poetry surges on a wave of perseverance. Even as their poems reckon with depression and political turmoil, there's a thread of possibility and hope within them-it may be unraveling, but it's there, and Gibson wants you to take note.

- Caitlin Wolper, Nylon

About Andrea Gibson

Biography ANDREA GIBSON (they/them/theirs) is a queer author of five full-length collections of poetry, including Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry 2018) which sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. Winner of The Independent Publishers Award in 2019, Andrea is... MORE

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Andrea Gibson's latest collection is a masterful showcase from the poet whose writing and performances have captured the hearts of millions. With artful and nuanced looks at gender, romance, loss, and family, Lord of the Butterflies is a new peak in Gibson's career.

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Description

The first full-length collection of poems from Rachel Wiley, whose work spans from body image, to love and loss, and feminism. Fat Girl Finishing School is a love letter to Wiley's living body. When confronted with fatphobia, racism, misogyny, and shame each poem chooses self love, despite society's expectations of conformity. More than just a book about one single identity, Fat Girl Finishing School makes intersectionality dimensional. This is a book steeped in experience, every story is striking, powerful, and unmistakably palpable.

Praise for Fat Girl Finishing School

Fat Girl Finishing School overtook me. I don't know what else to say.

It left me both weeping in public and snapping my fingers alone...and I can't think of another book of poetry that's ever done the same.

Fat girls of the world will find their voice through Wiley's brilliance, and we all owe her for that.

- Jes Baker, Blogger, Baker, Advocator, TheMilitantBaker.com

About Rachel Wiley

Rachel Wiley is a queer, biracial poet and performer from Columbus, Ohio. She is a fellow and faculty member of the Pink Door Writing Retreat held annually for women and nonbinary writers of color in upstate New York.... MORE

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The first full-length collection of poems from Rachel Wiley, whose work spans from body image, to love and loss, and feminism. Fat Girl Finishing School is a love letter to Wiley's living body. When confronted with fatphobia, racism, misogyny, and shame each poem chooses self love, despite society's expectations of conformity.

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Description
A decade's worth of writing about family, love, and the importance of "never let[ting] gravity become too familiar."
Following the success of her breakout poem, "B", Sarah Kay, in collaboration with illustrator Sophia Janowitz, released her debut collection of poetry featuring work from the first decade of her career.

"Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call mistakes when you tuck them in at night"

No Matter the Wreckage presents readers with new and beloved poetry that showcases Kay's talent for celebrating family, love, travel, and unlikely romance between inanimate objects ("The Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire"). Both fresh and wise, Kay's poetry allows readers to join her on the journey of discovering herself and the world around her. It is an honest and powerful collection.

Praise for Sarah Kay

"Sarah Kay is a fearsomely open and generous talent. In this collection she will give you moments so intimate and beautifully rendered you will come to know them as your own. An unalloyed joy from beginning to end."

- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist of Hamilton: The Revolution

"Nowhere have I found such humble honesty laced with such beauty. Nowhere, such boundless grace. Sarah Kay writes with a particular and rare magic, evoking emotions we may have forgotten we possess. No Matter the Wreckage is both spare and dense, uproarious and healing. An enchanting collection, imbued with courage, wisdom, lament, and triumph."

- Jeanann Verlee, author of Said The Manic To The Muse

About Sarah Kay

* 2011 TED speaker (recording has been viewed 3 million times online)
* First book, "B" was ranked #1 Bestselling Poetry Book on Amazon
* Featured on HBO, American Public Radio, Huffington Post, CNN.com
* Founder and Co-Director of Project VOICE

SARAH KAY IS:
A New Yorker. The founder and co-director of Project VOICE. A playwright. A best-selling author of four books of poetry including B, No Matter the Wreckage, The Type, and All Our Wild Wonder. She has performed in over 25 countries. An editor for Write Bloody Publishing. A Gemini. The daughter of a Taoist mother and a Brooklynese father. A hapa. An alum of the United Nations International School and a graduate of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. An alum of Brown University. An alum of Brown University Graduate School's Masters Program in the Art of Teaching Secondary English. A recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Grinnell College.

SARAH KAY WAS:
A speaker at the TED Conference, "The Rediscovery of Wonder" in Long Beach, CA. A writer in residence at Hedgebrook. A Kundiman fellow. A Serenbe artist in residence. The artist in residence of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. the youngest honored speaker in the 34 year history of the Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series at Southern Methodist University. Featured on the CNN, HBO Def Poetry Jam. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, the Tribeca Film Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Nantucket Project, the Apollo Theater, the Royal Danish Theatre, among hundreds more. She is an education advocate and keynote speaker for education organizations like NAIS, ECIS, AISA, and IBO, among others.

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A decade's worth of writing about family, love, and the importance of "never let[ting] gravity become too familiar." Following the success of her breakout poem, "B", Sarah Kay, in collaboration with illustrator Sophia Janowitz, released her debut collection of poetry featuring work from the first decade of her career.

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Explore 1000 Poetry Quotes by authors including T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, and Carl Sandburg at BrainyQuote.

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An open platform for creatives from around the world showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine, who are fighting for the world as we know it.

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A friend shared this with me. I haven't tried it, but great mentor texts here and looks like an amazing experience for students who love to write.

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NYC Midnight hosts inspiring challenges for storytellers around the world. Writers receive prompts and have a limited amount of time to create flash fiction, microfiction, screenplays, and short stories.

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Austin Kleon's Notebook Tour! Like the one I have my students do at the end of the semester.

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Austin Kleon's Notebook Tour! Like the one I have my students do at the end of the semester.

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Hey y'all,

First off, thanks to everyone for the kind words about hitting 100,000 free Friday subscribers. In celebration, I'm continuing to offer 20% off paid subscriptions:

As for today's video: I just finished up my winter diary, so I thought I'd film another page-by-page tour. This video is a little longer and of a higher quality than the previous walkthrough. (I used a much better camera this time around.) It'll look best if you make it fullscreen. Feel free to skip around and scrub and pause to see any pages in more detail.

It is my diary, of course, so I had to censor some pages using sticky notes and paper clips:

Here's a short video of how I break in a new diary:

Here's a video I made with my son Owen of my silly weigh-out ritual:

You might not see a lot of "I did this, I did that" pages in the diary, because I save that for my logbook, which is basically just an appointment book filled out after the fact. Here's a look at the 3 notebooks I keep right now - the 3rd is my commonplace diary:

A few other links and resources:

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Hey y'all, First off, thanks to everyone for the kind words about hitting 100,000 free Friday subscribers. In celebration, I'm continuing to offer 20% off paid subscriptions: As for today's video: I just finished up my winter diary, so I thought I'd film another page-by-page tour.

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By changing a poem's words and message, a lot of fun can be had! I like to compare Michael Jackson's Beat It to Weird Al's Eat It and compare how a similar sounding song can be so different with different lyrics!

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First I teach students about observations versus inferences in photos, and let them practice writing both by using different photos. Then they write a list of describing words for various pictures. Then they choose a picture of their own to build a story! Very fun for Grade 6 writers.

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Maggie Smith's Keep Moving has lots of short pieces perfect for five minute writing. 

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Maggie Smith's Keep Moving has lots of short pieces perfect for five minute writing. 

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I show this poem and then ask students to write about a "page" from the story of their lives. 

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I show this poem and then ask students to write about a "page" from the story of their lives. 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gck7DtLAN0k

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Read about this poem in 4 Essential Studies and had to look it up. I loved it!

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Nineteen by George Bogin On the first day of Philosophy 148, a small girl walked in, freckled, solemn, cute, whom I liked right off. ...

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handouts for our Flash Fiction workshop.

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handouts for our Flash Fiction workshop.

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A year spent listening to conferences and watching for their impact... in Linda Rief's classroom!

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A year spent listening to conferences and watching for their impact... in Linda Rief's classroom!

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Conferences and Conversations: Listening to the Literate Classroom|Paperback

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It takes courage to open up your professional life to scrutiny, but that’s exactly what Linda Rief did when she allowed Doug Kaufman to observe her classroom over the course of a school year. His goal was to discover what exactly Linda does that makes her such an extraordinary teacher -...

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Idea in Brief

The Challenge

Managers today are bombarded with calls to give feedback-constantly, directly, and critically. But it turns out that telling people what we think of their performance and how they can do better is not the best way to help them excel and, in fact, can hinder development.

The Reality

Research shows that, first, we aren't the reliable raters of other people's performance that we think we are; second, criticism inhibits the brain's ability to learn; and, third, excellence is idiosyncratic, can't be defined in advance, and isn't the opposite of failure. Managers can't "correct" a person's way to excellence.

The Solution

Managers need to help their team members see what's working, stopping them with a "Yes! That!" and sharing their experience of what the person did well.

The debate about feedback at work isn't new. Since at least the middle of the last century, the question of how to get employees to improve has generated a good deal of opinion and research. But recently the discussion has taken on new intensity. The ongoing experiment in "radical transparency" at Bridgewater Associates and the culture at Netflix, which the Wall Street Journal recently described as "encouraging harsh feedback" and subjecting workers to "intense and awkward" real-time 360s, are but two examples of the overriding belief that the way to increase performance in companies is through rigorous, frequent, candid, pervasive, and often critical feedback.

A version of this article appeared in the March-April 2019 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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Why Feedback Rarely Does What It's Meant To

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For years managers have been encouraged to candidly praise and criticize just about everything workers do. But it turns out that feedback does not help employees thrive. First, research shows that people can't reliably rate the performance of others: More than 50% of your rating of someone reflects your characteristics, not hers.

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New from Travis Crowder, 8th grade teacher

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New from Travis Crowder, 8th grade teacher

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Imagine the dreamy poet writing in a leather journal about falling leaves. Okay, now banish that thought because with this book, Travis Crowder disrupts those clichés and shares lessons and strategies that crackle with newness. Teachers in Grade 5 and up learn to:

- Use Tweets and hashtags to teach students to write small bursts of reflection
- Model the ways a book sparks memory, emotion, conviction, action
- Look for the tipping points in students reflection and prompt them to dive deeper
- Embrace the idea that fiction and nonfiction authors want us to feel, so that as teachers we develop students comprehension by giving value to emotional connections

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Reflective Readers: The Power of Reader's Notebooks

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Reflective Readers: The Power of Reader's Notebooks [S. Travis Crowder] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Reflective Readers: The Power of Reader's Notebooks

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Collecting beautiful words from your independent reading or book club books.

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Collecting beautiful words from your independent reading or book club books.

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The World's Best Short-Short Fictions in a Big, Little Book that you could probably carry in your Pocket. Ten years ago, Jerome Stern, director of the writing program at Florida State, initiated the World's Best Short Short Story Contest. Stories were to be about 250 words long; first prize was a check and a crate of oranges.

Two to three thousand stories began to show up annually in Tallahassee, and National Public Radio regularly broadcast the winner. But, more important, the Micro form turned out to be contagious; stories of this "lack of length" now dot the literary magazines. The time seemed right, then, for this anthology, presenting a decade of contest winners and selected finalists. In addition, Stern commissioned Micros, persuading a roster of writers to accept the challenge of completing a story in one page.

Jesse Lee Kercheval has a new spin on the sinking of the Titanic; Virgil Suarez sets his sights on the notorious Singapore caning; George Garrett conjures up a wondrous screen treatment pitch; and Antonya Nelson invites us into an eerie landscape. Verve and nerve and astonishing variety are here, with some wild denouements.

How short can a Micro be, you wonder. Look up Amy Hempel's contribution, and you'll see.

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Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

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Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories [Stern, Jerome] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

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Chip Scanlan was a collaborator with Don Murray... so many lessons here!

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Chip Scanlan was a collaborator with Don Murray... so many lessons here!

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A TV ad for kayak.com features an unscrupulous doctor manipulating a patient's exposed brain, turning him into a puppet who flails away at a keyboard, hunting and pecking for online travel deals. It's funny to some, offensive to others, but it illustrates a larger point that is important for writers. The brain influences the way readers respond to words, for better or worse.

A growing body of research reveals that different parts of the brain respond to language in unique ways. Neuroscientists learned this by observing brain scans as subjects read. Writers can take advantage of these findings to connect with readers in deep, intimate and lasting ways. And you don't have to be a brain scientist to do it, just apply the same kind of techniques that writing teachers have been preaching for years.

The science of "this is your brain," "this is your brain on stories," is relatively straightforward. It starts with a geography lesson, based on the principle that the map of the brain locates multiple areas that control the way we move, see, hear, taste, smell, touch and remember.

It's long been understood that the neocortex, the thinking part of the brain that separates humans from all other species, interprets language through the Broca's area and Wernicke's area, which center on how the brain processes written words. But their powers are limited: they enable us to understand words, but nothing more.

That's why traditional news articles with their passive verb forms, collective nouns ("officials said") and clichés have so little impact on readers. Flabby prose turns off readers because it doesn't turn on the brain. Neuroscience shows how carefully chosen words and the tools of storytelling activate parts of the brain other than those that process language to make reading a deep, resonant and lasting experience.

A fascinating essay, " Your Brain on Fiction," by Annie Murphy Paul, details these developments.

She describes how researchers at Emory University discovered that the phrase "he had leathery hands" aroused the sensory cortex that activated the sense of touch. Spanish researchers found that words like "cinnamon" and "soap" triggered a response from the olfactory cortex which processes smells.

A French team learned that action verbs, such as "Pablo kicked the ball," fired up the motor cortex, which governs how the body moves. Not only that, but verbs that involved different parts of the body, such as the arm or leg, activated the parts of the brain that controls those specific limbs. Evocative language also reaches into the hippocampus, the seat of long-term memory, and plays an important role in the way the mind turns language into meaningful experience, a goal for all writers.

Based on these findings, we can take advantage of this three-pound organ with its 86 billion nerve cells to enrich our writing. Here are five ways:

Create scenes. The combination of characters in action, dialogue and evocative settings lies at the heart of what novelist John Gardner called "the vivid continuous dream" that captivates readers.

Dig for details, the more specific the better. If you want to get a reader's mind to visualize what they're reading, a "cherry-red '67 Mustang convertible" does a much better job than "a car." "The recording of such details is not mere embroidery in prose," Tom Wolfe wrote in "The New Journalism." "It lies as close to the center of the power of realism as any other device in literature."

Choose vivid action verbs. "Michaela grabbed her umbrella and dashed into the rain" triggers the motor cortex. Strong verbs are not just words on the page. They represent action in the reader's mind.

Avoid passive verb forms. "The body was found" is not only a flabby word choice that robs the verb of energy and fails to ignite the brain. It usually signifies weak reporting. "A seven-year-old newsboy found the body" heightens the senses.

Cultivate a "a nose for story." Consider the power of the scented details in this sentence by Anne Hull of The Washington Post: "Apartment 27 smelled like years of sweat and Lemon Pledge and perfect bacon." The brain's olfactory bulb not only lets us smell. It also triggers memories in the hippocampus. "Hit a tripwire of smell," Diane Ackerman writes in "A Natural History of the Senses," "and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth."

Neuroscience offers profound lessons on the power of story. You can use this knowledge to bring stories alive in readers' minds. For writers and readers, the brain is a terrible thing to waste.

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How brain science can make you a smarter writer

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A TV ad for kayak.com features an unscrupulous doctor manipulating a patient's exposed brain, turning him into a puppet who flails away at a keyboard, hunting and pecking for online travel deals. It's funny to some, offensive to others, but it illustrates a larger point that is important for writers.

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So much more here than we could teach in a few hours! We love this.

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So much more here than we could teach in a few hours! We love this.

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The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field

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The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field [Tara L. Masih] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field

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Opinion | Your Brain on Fiction (Published 2012)

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Stories stimulate the brain. Metaphors like “He had leathery hands” rouse the sensory cortex.

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Linda and her students are featured in Newkirk's book!

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Linda and her students are featured in Newkirk's book!

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How Fiction Transforms Student Writers

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

In Writing Unbound, Tom Newkirk argues that as a teaching profession, we shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to writing. We fail to take advantage of a huge opportunity that is before us. That opportunity is fiction writing.

Consider this: Our deepest wish is for students to develop a love of books- particularly a love of fiction. To discover the power of stories to transport us into worlds we never knew existed. At the same time, we want them to build a love of writing. To really love it; not just endure it.

So if these are our two primary goals, how did they become so disparate? Why is the writing we're asking our students to do so completely opposite from the fiction they enjoy reading? "My worry," Tom Newkirk writes, "is that we have been asked to buy a lie-or rather a series of them. That analytic writing is somehow a higher form of thinking than story, that "creativity" is for the talented few, and that fiction writing is unteachable... If we accept these lies, we lose our birthright as English teachers."

Through 40 in-depth interviews with student writers as well as teachers of writing, Newkirk builds an argument for bringing fiction back into our writing curriculum as a way to strengthen all writing. He addresses the common obstacles and resistance to fiction and illustrates, through students and teachers' insights, why keeping fiction writing on the outside of school walls is a missed opportunity. "If reading fiction is humanizing and valuable," Tom writes, "the same, perhaps even stronger, case can be made for writing fiction."

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

Writing Unbound, The Missed Opportunity of Fiction Writing

Meet Ernest

Fiction Versus Nonfiction Or, Why I'd Rather Not Write About Parking Meters

The Writing Zone

Going Deep: Fiction and Psychological Insight

Interchapter: Language, Violence, and Distress-Beyond
Censorship

Going Short: Four Invitations

Going Long: Writing the Novel

Going Close: What Does It Take to Be a Good Reader of Student Work?

Credo: What's the Story?

Reviews

"Writing Unbound removes guardrails from writers (and their teachers) to unpack how skills migrate from type to type. That would be enough for any book, surely. Worth the cost of a few lattes. But Newkirk and a collection of wise young students convincingly answer an essential question for English teachers: can writing fiction improve all writing? The exercises and examples sent my thinking spinning faster with each chapter. As I folded down pages, I found myself answering out loud, "Yes!" This book invites us to be curious, entertained, and inspired by our students. Let the fun-yes, I said the f-word-begin. Delight awaits you here. I promise."-Penny Kittle, coauthor of 180 Days and author of Book Love and "Tom Newkirk is one of those very rare writers from whom I ALWAYS learn something new, and who always forces me to deepen, rethink, revise or defend deeply held positions. Reading anything by him is transformative to my understanding and ways of teaching and being in the world. This book is about so many things, but it's core is about how we can be generous and co-conspirators with learners as they undertake their journeys as writers - and as they use writing to undertake the journeys of their very lives."--Jeffrey Wilhelm, author of Reading Unbound

"What defines us as human beings, perhaps more than anything else? We are storytellers. Stories are the way we understand ourselves. Stories are the way we understand others. Stories are the way we understand the world (and even the worlds beyond our world). So the place of writing in our schools should match the place it has in our minds: as a primary tool of creation, exploration, critical thinking, empathy, imagination, and adventure. In Writing Unbound, Thomas Newkirk helps us understand the vital role that fiction should have in every student's writing education. By writing a new writing education, he gives teachers and students the freedom to dive into their passions, write the stories that matter to them, and pursue that fundamental question of fiction writing: 'What if?' That is the place where innovation and knowledge reside."-Grant Faulkner, Executive Director, National Novel Writing Month

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Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more. In Writing Unbound, Tom Newkirk argues that as a teaching profession, we shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to writing. We fail to take advantage of a huge opportunity that is before us.

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with 65 fresh mentor texts from Dave Eggers, Nikki Giovanni, Pat Conroy, Jesus Colon, Tim O'Brien, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and many more

Use the 37 innovative, step-by-step, common-core-correlated lessons with the reproducible texts provided, with selections from your literature textbook, or with your own best-loved texts to teach close reading skills and deep comprehension strategies.

Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

"The experiences provided in these 37 lessons parallel the readings and tasks recommended by the Common Core State Standards. The main difference is that our lessons put student curiosity and engagement first."
-Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Nancy Steineke

In this highly anticipated follow-up to Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading, Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Nancy Steineke share their powerful strategies for engaging students in challenging, meaningful reading of fiction and poetry using some of their favorite short, fresh texts-or, as they put it, " full-strength adult literature that gives us English majors a run for our interpretive money- but is still intriguing enough to keep teen readers digging and thinking." Use the 37 innovative, step-by-step, common-core-correlated lessons with the reproducible texts provided, with selections from your literature textbook, or with your own best-loved texts to teach close reading skills and deep comprehension strategies. Give students opportunities to read and synthesize across texts with the 8 thematic text set lessons provided, or use the model unit outlines for using the lessons with The Giver, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Great Gatsby as springboards for planning your own novel studies.

Better Together!
Used together, Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature and Texts and Lessons for Content-Area Reading give you all the lesson ideas you need for all text types. Save 15% when you buy them together in a Texts and Lessons Bundle.

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

Chapter One: Welcome
Chapter Two: How to Use This Book
Chapter Three: Sharing Literature Aloud
Chapter Four: Smart-Reader Strategies
Chapter Five: Lively Discussions
Chapter Six: Closer Readings
Chapter Seven: Up and Thinking
Chapter Eight: Literary Arguments
Chapter Nine: Coping with Complex and Classic Texts
Chapter Ten: Text Set Lessons
Chapter Eleven: Keeping Kids at the Center of Whole-Class Novels
Chapter Twelve: Extending the Texts and Lessons
Appendix: How the Lessons Correlate with the Common Core Standards

Companion Resources

Chapter 2, How to Use This Book Chapter 4, Smart-Reader Strategies Chapter 5, Lively Discussions Chapter 6, Closer Readings Chapter 7, Up and Thinking Chapter 8, Literary Arguments Chapter 9, Coping with Complex and Classic Texts Chapter 10, Text Set Lessons Chapter 11, Keeping Kids at the Center of Whole-Class Novels

Related PD Services

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Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature

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Use the 37 innovative, step-by-step, common-core-correlated lessons with the reproducible texts provided, with selections from your literature textbook, or with your own best-loved texts to teach close reading skills and deep comprehension strategies. Special Offer: Save 30% off our list price automatically when you buy 15 or more.

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Flash fiction, also known as short-short stories, are stories no longer than 1,500 words in length. Indeed, they're usually shorter than 1,000 words! They are designed to be read in four or five minutes. It's not easy to get an entire story across with so few words, but if the author does it well, flash fiction can be a very rewarding experience for both writer and reader.

reading small book with magnifying glass

Flash Fiction Characteristics

If you're writing a flash fiction story, it's important to know how they are similar-and different-to longer stories. Flash fiction is shorter, but it should not feel too short. Here are some traits of strong flash fiction stories.

Story structure: A flash fiction story is not the shortened version of a longer story; it still follows the elements of plot, including a beginning, middle and end, as well as a conflict and satisfying resolution.

Setting: Most flash fiction stories take place in one setting, as moving between locations uses up too much space. It allows the writer and reader to focus on the plot.

Characters and backstory: Flash fiction pieces are plot-driven and include no more than three or four characters. They may include some character development, but too much backstory can use valuable space.

Description: One may think that flash fiction stories are short on description to save space. However, a strong piece can balance vivid descriptions with a quick-moving plot. Stories that lack description are not satisfying to read, and a flash fiction piece should feel complete.

Famous Examples of Flash Fiction

From Twitter #flashfiction to The New Yorker's Flash Fiction series, you can find great examples of flash fiction everywhere. Here are some examples that are sure to inspire readers with only a few minutes on their hands.

"The Pedestrian"

Originally published in The Reporter in 1951, "The Pedestrian" is one of Ray Bradbury's most famous works. Its 1,445-word format reveals a dreary reality where a man's desire to escape the glow of a television is a highly suspicious activity.

To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do. He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in this world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone, and with a final decision made, a path selected, he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar.

Bradbury folds description, a futuristic setting, and characterization into his introductory paragraph, allowing the plot to unfold throughout the remainder of the story.

"A Haunted House"

Virginia Woolf's ability to quickly establish tone is evident in " A Haunted House. " Dialogue, sensory description, and action blend to create a poignant ghost story in only 710 words.

Whatever hour you woke there was a door shunting. From room to room they went, hand in hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure-a ghostly couple.

"Here we left it," she said. And he added, "Oh, but here too!" "It's upstairs," she murmured. "And in the garden," he whispered "Quietly," they said, "or we shall wake them."

But it wasn't that you woke us. Oh, no. "They're looking for it; they're drawing the curtain," one might say, and so read on a page or two.

In three short paragraphs, Woolf shifts perspectives until the reader learns that the story features two ghosts, but is told from a first-person perspective. The ghosts' search for treasure escalates until the story's ending, which reveals what they seek-and will never have again.

"A Telephonic Conversation"

Mark Twain experimented with format in his 810-word short story " A Telephonic Conversation." He portrays a wife's half of a telephone conversation, overheard by her husband.

Yes? Why, how did that happen?

Pause.

What did you say?

Pause.

Oh no, I don't think it was.

Pause.

No! Oh no, I didn't mean that. I meant, put it in while it is still boiling--or just before it comes to a boil.

Pause.

What?

Twain stretches the conversation full of pauses and non sequiturs, allowing the reader to share his character's annoyance with the uninteresting conversation. By making the story short and quick, he doesn't risk tiring the reader.

"Everyone Cried"

Famous for her very short stories, Lydia Davis is the modern master of packing a lot of emotion and meaning into a few words. Her 423-word work, " Everyone Cried," is an example of an effective flash fiction story.

Often, people cry when they are unhappy. This is natural. For a short time, when I was young, I worked in an office. Toward lunchtime, as the people in the office grew hungry and tired and irritable, they would begin to cry. My boss would give me a document to type, and I would push it away crossly. He would yell at me, "Type it!" I would yell back, "I won't!" He himself would become petulant on the phone and slam it into its cradle. By the time he was ready to leave for lunch, tears of frustration would be running down his cheeks.

The introduction to Davis's satire brings in the motif of crying that carries through the remaining five paragraphs. She uses the brevity of the piece to emphasize the importance of each emotional word, such as "unhappy," "irritable," "crossly," "yell," "slam," and "frustration."

Sample Flash Fiction Story: Reunification

Take a quick read of a full flash fiction story below. Does it meet the criteria for flash fiction?

Amelia knew from the beginning that the boy wasn't hers. His nose was too pointed, his hair too thin; when he turned to the side he resembled a cliff swallow who'd lost his muddy nest. When he cried, Amelia's ears rang. She could bring no comfort to his pointy shoulders, which shook against her chest during his night terrors.

Until one week, his nocturnal screams had given way to the soft sobs of a broken child. He hadn't fought her as she held him, his tears sinking into Amelia's cotton nightgown as she ran a hand up and down, up and down, up and down his back. The next night, Amelia's embrace got him to sleep in just a few minutes. And the night after that, he'd slept all the way through.

The boy liked pancakes with grape jelly, Amelia learned, on the blue-and-yellow plastic plate. He liked cowboy pajamas and the glow-in-the-dark stars she'd painstakingly pasted on his ceiling just minutes before he'd stepped through her doorway, his possessions stuffed into a garbage bag at his feet. He liked these things, and soon, he loved them.

His laughter vibrated through the house like the satisfied lilt of a starling, declaring his place in this tree. It tickled the inside of Amelia's ribcage and sent her into fits of tearful giggles. Bubble baths made him laugh. She could make him laugh. Everything made him laugh. She drank in the sound like it was sweet nectar.

On the last day, the same white car that had dropped him at her doorstep months ago rolled into Amelia's driveway. An officious woman clutched the wheel with the same grip that Amelia found herself clutching the boy's hand. It was time for reunification, which Amelia knew was the goal of the foster system. The boy was going back.

Amelia looked down and took in his features one last time. Soon he'd be back with his flock, his delicate features matching those around him, in the nest where he belonged. He was theirs.

But in those last seconds, as the car settled into a parked position and he squeezed her hand back, Amelia's heart swelled. He may not have been hers, but in that moment, she knew she'd always be his.

Even Shorter Types of Flash Fiction

Believe it or not, stories can be a lot shorter than the maximum 1,500 words of flash fiction. Here are two types of short stories that take only a minute to read.

Microfiction includes stories under 250 words. Microfiction tends to start in the second act of the story to focus more on the climax. They also tend to have a surprise ending.

Six-Word Stories are especially challenging to write. They have no beginning, middle, or end, but tell an entire story in only six words. The most famous example of a six-word story is attributed to Ernest Hemingway: "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn."

With Hemingway's example, the story structure manages to establish character, conflict, and tone without direct exposition. Readers are left to their own tragic interpretation when it comes to the words that are not present.

Creative Writing Exercises

Ready to get started on your own flash fiction story? Check out a list of creative writing exercises that are perfect for shorter stories. Just keep an eye on that word count!

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5 Flash Fiction Examples to Inspire and Entertain

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Flash fiction, also known as short-short stories, are stories no longer than 1,500 words in length. Indeed, they're usually shorter than 1,000 words! They are designed to be read in four or five minutes.

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21. My father is run over by a car.
He is passed out in the road with a blood alcohol content
4 times the legal limit.
I do not cry.
Four months later,
The nurses lose his pulse,
And I wonder whose life
Flashed before his eyes.
Rewinding VHS tapes
Old home videos

20.

19. I haven't brought a friend home in four years.

18. My mother sips the word "divorce"
Her mouth curls at the taste
Like it burns going down.

17. ...

...Please watch the video for the full poem.

Patrick Roche

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21. My father is run over by a car. He is passed out in the road with a blood alcohol content 4 times the legal limit. I do not cry. Four months later, The nurses lose his pulse, And I wonder whose life Flashed before his eyes.

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"We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't," says poet and teacher Clint Smith. A short, powerful piece from the heart, about finding the courage to speak up against ignorance and injustice.

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Zigzag: A Life of Reading and Writing, Teaching and Lea…

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Read reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. undefined

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Write What Matters from a master teacher...

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Write What Matters from a master teacher...

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Many want to write. But sometimes they lose heart. They are cowed in the face of so many fine writers of fiction, memoir, poetry, columns, and creative nonfiction. Their confidence wanes. If you want to write, but are hesitant, let Tom Romano lift your confidence. In Write What Matters you will find discussions of writing processes that make sense, demonstrations of effective strategies to try, advice about developing productive habits to get your writing done, and examples of illuminating writing from fearless writers, both professional and novice. Your voice, your vision, your way with words matter. They are tied to your identity. You know that you are more alive when you put words on paper. Accept that you not only want to write. You need to write. Write What Matters will help you learn to dwell in your written words and craft them into writing worth reading by others.

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Write What Matters: For Yourself, For Others

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Many want to write. But sometimes they lose heart. They are cowed in the face of so many fine writers of fiction, memoir, poetry, columns, and creative nonfiction. Their confidence wanes. If you want to write, but are hesitant, let Tom Romano lift your confidence. In Write What Matters you will f...

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Mini-texts of delight in the J.Peterman catalog...

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Mini-texts of delight in the J.Peterman catalog...

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The Winner’s Circle. You had two hunches this morning. The first was that this dress would make you feel divine, demure, flirtatious, whimsical. (It does.) The second was that the grey would win at the track. (It did.) “Always bet the greys, Peterman.” Well, I have a hunch of my own: you happen to a…

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A student's digital interpretation of Clint Smith's "what the ocean said to the black boy"...

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A student's digital interpretation of Clint Smith's "what the ocean said to the black boy"...

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what the ocean said to the black boy - clint smith

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India's famous "Blue City." Who lives here?

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India's famous "Blue City." Who lives here?

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Write what happened five minutes before this...

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Write what happened five minutes before this...

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They have just committed a crime... write their conversation.

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They have just committed a crime... write their conversation.

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Happy Monday! Just One Flake , written and illustrated by Travis Jonker, releases tomorrow. I'm grateful Travis stopped by to finish my sentences. We discussed Just One Flake 's book trailer, Liam, Pete's a Pizza , and more. I wrote the words in purple, and Travis wrote the words in black . Thank you, Travis ! Just One Flake' s book trailer fulfills my life goal of using the 2001: A Space Odyssey music for a completely silly purpose. Design Credit: Heather Kelly Just One Flake tells the story of a boy named Liam who has one goal: to catch a snowflake on his tongue. His attempts get increasingly ridiculous, with no success. In the end, Liam doesn't get exactly what he wants - he gets something even better. The whole story came out of a spontaneous drawing I made on February 6, 2021: Just One Flake's illustrations were made with a brush pen on watercolor paper, scanned, and then painted digitally. This is my author/illustrator debut, and before I began, I made a list of

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Exploring Children's Literature through Interviews and Book Trailers

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When I was young in... a great place poem.

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When I was young in... a great place poem.

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"Rylant delights in the simple joys of living with her grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains: fresh cornbread, the swimming hole, bathing in the tin tub, snakes, and the community church. Surrounding all of these memories is the loving relationship with her grandparents. Warmly rendered illustrations complement the lyrical text."- School Library Journal

"An evocative remembrance of the simple pleasures in country living; splashing in the swimming hole, taking baths in the kitchen, sharing family times, each is eloquently portrayed here in both the misty-hued scenes and in the poetic text."--Association for Childhood Education International

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When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant: 9780140548754 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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"Rylant delights in the simple joys of living with her grandparents in the Appalachian Mountains: fresh cornbread, the swimming hole, bathing in the tin tub, snakes, and the community church. Surrounding all of these memories is the loving relationship with her grandparents.

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I always buy this when a friend loses a dog...

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I always buy this when a friend loses a dog...

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children’s / teenage fiction: general fiction

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children’s / teenage fiction: nature and animal stories

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: death and bereavement

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early learning / early learning concepts

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juvenile fiction / social themes / death

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teenage fiction: nature and animal stories

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teenage personal and social topics: death and bereavement

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juvenile fiction / social themes / death

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early learning / early learning concepts

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children’s / teenage fiction: general fiction

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children’s / teenage fiction: nature and animal stories

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children’s / teenage personal and social topics: death and bereavement

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Dog Heaven [Rylant, Cynthia, Rylant, Cynthia] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Dog Heaven

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Cynthia Rylant and Brendan Wenzel explore the beauty and tenacity of life.

Life begins small, then grows...

There are so many wonderful things about life, both in good times and in times of struggle. Through the eyes of the world's animals-including elephants, monkeys, whales, and more-Cynthia Rylant offers a moving meditation on finding beauty around us every day and finding strength in adversity. Brendan Wenzel's stunning landscapes and engaging creatures make this an inspiring and intriguing gift for readers of all ages.

Cynthia Rylant is the author of more than 100 books for young people, including the beloved Henry and Mudge, Annie and Snowball, Brownie & Pearl, Motor Mouse, and Mr. Putter & Tabby series. Her novel Missing May received the Newbery Medal. She lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Brendan Wenzel's artwork often explores the natural world and our relationship to it and he has teamed up with many groups working to preserve wild places and creatures around the world. He has illustrated several acclaimed animal-themed picture books, including Some Bugs and Some Pets by Angela DiTerlizzi, Beastly Babies by Ellen Jackson, and his own They All Saw a Cat. He lives in New York.

Rylant (Creation) looks to the natural world for wisdom and consolation as Wenzel's (They All Saw a Cat) lush, heavily worked artwork imagines a primordial Earth with few signs of human existence. "Life begins small," Rylant opens; among bare hills, a lone plant sprouts from red earth. "Then it grows." A fantastic gathering of wild animals and birds looks out at readers expectantly. "Ask any animal on earth, what do you love about life?" Each animal has its own answer ("The hawk will say sky"), and its distinctive nature and perception determine the way it sees the world, just as ours do. Difficulties appear and fade, and when low moments come, "trust the rabbit in the field and the deer who crosses your path." Animals are not just wise: twin vignettes of an eager dog and a wide-eyed cat remind readers that "in every corner of the world, there is something to love." Readers in search of inspiration that does not need to be taken on faith will find it in Rylant's message that to live is to grow.

- Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW, April 10, 2017

Readers are invited to reflect on life with the help of animals.Addressing readers directly, the narrator opens with a modest statement: "Life begins small." See an elephant grow bigger as it walks underneath the fierce sun and gentle moon, through days and nights. Life, it seems, also promises change-and wonders. A hawk soars in the sky, while elsewhere, a camel stands tall in a desert. Sitting on a rock, a turtle relishes the "rain on its back." Each glimpse of an animal in the natural world elicits a small jolt of joy thanks in part to Caldecott honoree Wenzel's exquisite illustrations, which render these moments with low-key precision. On one page, dark and soft blues bathe an adult elephant and its smaller companion, both gray beacons in a picture of a nighttime march. On another page, a snake blends in with the smeared greens, yellowed brown, and hints of reds that make up the grass. But even with all these merry images, moments of bleakness can follow. The narrator proposes another fact: "Life is not always easy." A small bird flies alone and vulnerable through a storm, seeming lost before it finally breaks through. Thankfully, Rylant keeps the narratorial voice direct and brief during scenes serene or frightful. Flashes of levity in the illustrations and text (think "grassssssssssss") serve to underscore the creators' trust in readers. A splendid tribute to the world and its splendors, with something to offer audiences of a broad range of ages. (Picture book. 4-adult)

- Kirkus Reviews, 5/1/17

Veteran author Rylant tackles a subject both as tiny as a leaf and as huge as the cosmos, as various animals are born and work their way through the beautiful, though sometimes scary, world. Most heartening here is the message that when things seem tough, there is always something to love, something to protect, and a reason to arise each morning, if only to find out what happens next. Rylant's poetic text is as spare as Wenzel's artwork is effusive. Occasionally, his nature scenes bring to mind the work of Henri Rousseau, but there is also humor, courtesy of the animals' faces. Both text and art have disjointed moments-asking what the animals love about their lives takes away some of the grandeur, as does the one-and-done appearance of house pets amidst depictions of the natural world. But more important, this book gives a shining overview of life's peaks and valleys and conveys the importance of understanding that a curve in the road only starts a journey anew.

- Booklist, May 15, 2017

A spiritual yet not overtly religious epistle on hope and the many reasons to embrace life. It opens with the notion that "life begins small." Wenzel shows a seedling surrounded by mountains. The next spread declares: "Even for the elephants. Then it grows." A calf is seen looking up to the enormous adults in its herd. Several animals discuss what they love about life, and as the author acknowledges that "life is not always easy," readers observe a bluebird flying through a storm. They are asked to remember that there is always "something to love...and to protect." The narrative continues in this vein, promising that "it is worth waking up in the morning to see what might happen." The mood of the child-friendly illustrations shifts appropriately from the darkness of the wilderness to the vitality of life seen in a flock of birds crossing the moon. The illustrator infuses the book with humor where possible, such as in the expression of a floppy-eared, stick-bearing dog or a camel kicking up sand across a spread...Wenzel's exuberant paintings...are quite engaging and convey a deep appreciation for the wonders of the natural world.

- School Library Journal, June 2017

NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts

Great Lakes Great Books Master List (MI)

Oregon Book Award Finalist

Choose to Read Ohio Booklist Selection

Wisconsin State Reading Association's Reading List

Ohioana Book Award Finalist

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Cynthia Rylant and Brendan Wenzel explore the beauty and tenacity of life. Life begins small, then grows... There are so many wonderful things about life, both in good times and in times of struggle. Through the eyes of the world's animals-including elephants, monkeys, whales, and more-Cynthia Rylant offers a moving meditation on finding beauty around us every day and finding strength in adversity.

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A Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2021 A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2021 An Amazon Best Children's Book of 2021 A New York Public Library Best Book of 2021 , Dad Bakes, Katie Yamasaki, 9781324015413

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Granddaughter approved... a big hit for preK...

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Granddaughter approved... a big hit for preK...

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A Caldecott Honor Book and ALA Notable Book of the Year! An innovative and charming tale about a plucky little bird, from the award-winning author-illustrator of Fox the Tiger.

Readers will delight in turning their book sideways and upside down to follow Mel on her journey from downward fall to triumphant flight in this tale of self-confidence and taking a leap of faith. Please note: For the best reading experience, ebook customers may want to lock the orientation of their device before beginning to read.

An especially enjoyable and satisfying read-aloud!

Sometimes, you might fall

down,

down,

down,

before you learn to fly

up,

up,

up...

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A Caldecott Honor Book and ALA Notable Book of the Year! An innovative and charming tale about a plucky little bird, from the award-winning author-illustrator of Fox the Tiger.

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The Undefeated (Caldecott Medal Book) [Alexander, Kwame, Nelson, Kadir] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Undefeated (Caldecott Medal Book)

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Librarian and book advocate Schu invites readers into a school community in which all voices are heard, each person learns, and everyone-and everything, including the plants in the school garden-grows. . . . This introduction to school communities shows children what happens inside a classroom via a vision of school at its best-one that leaves readers with a sense of belonging and inclusion.

-Publishers Weekly

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This Is a School by John Schu: 9781536204582 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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Librarian and book advocate Schu invites readers into a school community in which all voices are heard, each person learns, and everyone-and everything, including the plants in the school garden-grows. . . . This introduction to school communities shows children what happens inside a classroom via a vision of school at its best-one that leaves readers with a sense of belonging and inclusion.

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Respect the Mic: 9780593226810 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

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An expansive, moving poetry anthology, representing 20 years of poetry from students and alumni of Chicago's Oak Park River Forest High School Spoken Word Club. "Poets I know sometimes joke that the poetry...

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Transcript created with the intention of honoring the flow of the spoken word it is presented in.