Beginning our Write A Books

The Write A Book project is run

by Education Centres around the country.

 

We are working on our Write A Books.

The closing date is not until the new year,

but we can prepare for it by integrating it

with work we are doing in class,

like the art we are doing

and the English and

learning about maps and plans.

 

We are making picture books.

Each of our books contain a map.

We deliver the Write A Books to the

Blackrock Education Centre.

They send them out to another class teacher.

He or she will show them to her class

and decide on one writer to be invited

to the prize giving and

he or she will decide on the runner ups.

Winning the competition is not the important

thing. Creating a wonderful book that you can

treasure and be proud to show your children

and grandchildren is! 

 

You can read more about how to write a book HERE

7. Preparing for ‘Write A Book’ – Writing A Dedication – Examples from Famous Authors

Parole perdute
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Valentina_A via Compfight

To dedicate a book to someone is to give them a very special present.

Who would you like to dedicate your Write A Book to?

13/365: My favorites since 1982
Photo Credit: Sarah Sphar via Compfight

C.S. Lewis who wrote the Narnia Series of books,

dedicated one of them;

‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’

to his god daughter Lucy.

Here is what he wrote:

To Lucy Barfield;

My dear Lucy,

I wrote this story for you,

but when I began it

I had not realized that girls grow

quicker than books.

As a result you are already too old

for fairy tales,

and by the time it is printed and bound

you will be older still.

But some day you will be old enough

to start reading fairy tales again.

You can then take it down

from some upper shelf, dust it,

and tell me what you think of it.

I shall probably be too deaf to hear,

and too old to understand a word you say,

but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,

C.S. Lewis

 Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine cupcake
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Julie Elliott via Compfight

Roald Dahl dedicated many of his books to his children but

he dedicated ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’

to ‘Doctors everywhere’.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Sharon Drummond via Compfight

J.K. Rowling wrote this dedication in a Z shape

(like the scar on Harry Potter’s forehead)

at the beginning of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:’ 

The dedication of this book is split seven ways:

to Neil, to Jessica, to David, to Kenzie, to Di, to Anne,

and to you,

if you have stuck with Harry until the very end.

 

6. Write A Book – How To Come Up With A Name for Your Publishing Company

When we do ‘Write A Book’,

part of the fun is to 

make our books look like real books.

 

One of the things we do is

to come up with the name

of a publishing company.

 

Some children get ideas for what

to call their publishing company

from what their own book is about.

Just Rome
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Stefano Corso via Compfight

One child wrote about the dreams

of visiting foreign countries a girl had

when she fell off her skateboard

and bumped her head,

she called her publishing company

‘Foreigner Press’

Her other ideas were;

‘Sweet Dreams Publishing Company,

‘Big Bump Books’

or ‘Kickflick Press’  (a ‘kickflick’ is a skateboarding trick) .

Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes
Photo Credit: jamieanne via Compfight

Some children like to call their company

after their own name

a favourite pet

food

sports team

or the place they come from.

Ladybird Books. Pirates. The Vikings.
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: www.vintagecobweb.com via Compfight

We can also get ideas by looking

at the books in the classroom library. 

They are published by companies like

‘Ladybird Books’

‘Firefly’

‘Puffin’

‘Red Fox’

‘Little Tiger Press’.

‘Sleeping Bear Press’

Young Puffin PS263
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Keir Hardie via Compfight

So publishing companies can be called

after living creatures; animals and insects

and some have an adjective describing the noun

in their titles too.

 

So if you are stuck, an easy way to come up

with the name of your publishing company

is to answer these two questions:

1. What is your favourite animal?

2. What is your favourite colour?

So you could end up with

‘Green Giraffe Books’

‘Orange Cat Press’

‘Blue Bird Publishing Company’.

Propuesta Identidad Metaposta 01 Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Zorraquino via Compfight

Then you design your logo.

Keep your drawing very simple.

In real books the logo is very often

on the back page,

the spine of the book

and the title page.

 

If naming your company in this way

doesn’t work out for you,

the class could try this;

make a list of nouns

and then a list of adjectives.

Cut the list up.

Put the nouns in one box

and the adjectives in another

and then pull out an adjective

followed by a noun.

Minty Dave the early Years
Photo Credit: Neal Fowler via Compfight

In this way we came up with

the following very random names:

‘Unusual Shoe Company’

‘Unhappy Mint Publishing Company’

‘Jealous Acorn Press’

‘Unfriendly Rabbit Company’

‘Giddy Buttercup Books.’

Drawing logos for these was fun.

Have you ever seen an unhappy mint

or an unfriendly rabbit?

CubeDude Bugs Bunny
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Regonold via Compfight

4. Children’s Work: How we make our Write A Books look like real books.

We have fun making our Write A Books

look like real books.

IMGA0268 

We write a blurb or short summary

of our story on the back cover.

IMGA0336

We dedicate the book to a person

or people that we care about

IMGA0265

We write acknowledgements to people.

This means we say thank you to those

who have helped us in some way.

IMGA0294

We fill a page with information ‘About the Author’.

IMGA0295

We also put in a title page, just like a real book.

We put in a contents page

and give the chapters names.

IMGA0266

Sometimes we include pop ups or lift the flaps;

IMGA0275

doors,
IMGA0288

windows

IMGA0291

or gates

IMGA0290

A good story can often start with a mysterious letter

or an invitation. So sometimes we have included envelopes

with letters inside.

IMGA0303

We often put a map in which our story is set

in the very centre of our book.

IMGA0274

We enjoy adding page numbers.

IMGA0340 

At the back of the book

we add a page or two we call

‘What the critics say’.

We send our book around the room

and ask our school friends

to make a positive comment there.

We bring our finished book home

and ask our family to do the same.

 IMGA0271

You will find other ideas for making  your Write A Book

look like a real book here.

 

You will find some really great resources to help you

with your ‘Write A Book’ on Seomra Ranga.

 

2. Preparing for ‘Write A Book’ – A Checklist Of What You Could Include.

We love the Write A Book project.

We really enjoy writing stories

and drawing the pictures to go with them.

Some of the best fun is to make our own book

as close to a real book as possible.

To do this we take a good look

at a number of books in our class library.

May book display: bikes 'n books Klara via Compfight

We write our stories,

draw the pictures

and design a cover.

 

But to make our books like real books

we also have fun doing the following:

 

We write a blurb or short summary

of our story on the back cover.

 Camellia sasanqua, a November treat
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Vicki via Compfight

We dedicate the book to a person

or people that we care about.

You can read more about

writing dedications here.

 

 

We write acknowledgements to the people

This means we say thank you to those

who have helped us in some way.

 

We fill a page with information ‘About the Author’.

 

We decide on a name for our ‘publishing company’

and a logo (like the real companies Puffin and Penguin)

 

We add a bar code and an IBSN number.

 

We decide on a price (not real, just pretend).

We also put in a title page, just like a real book.

We put in a content page

and give the chapters names.

 Smithsonian Institution Libraries Movable books
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Smithsonian Institution Libraries via Compfight

Sometimes we include pop ups or lift the flaps;

doors, windows or gates perhaps.

 Envelope from Dad
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Jeff McClain via Compfight

A good story can often start with a mysterious letter

or an invitation. So sometimes we have included envelopes

with letters inside.

 
Photo Credit: tanakawho via Compfight

We often put a map in which our story is set

in the very centre of our book.

 Marcapaginas
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: dmmalva via Compfight

We enjoy adding page numbers.

If we have time, we design a bookmark

and include it with our book.

 

At the back of the book

we add a page or two we call

What the critics say‘.

 light love
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Petra via Compfight

When our book is finished

we have great fun asking

our grown ups, our family

and friends to read our book

and to write a line or two about

what they liked about our book.

 

You will find some really great resources to help you

with your ‘Write A Book’ on Seomra Ranga

and a more recent powerpoint from

Seomra Ranga here on designing your book.

 

 

1. Preparing for ‘Write A Book’; Make your book cover eye catching!

Here are the books we love to read:

 

 

Take a look at a number of your favourite books

from the class library.

Look at the ones that jump out at you from the shelf.

What is it about these books that makes you want

to pick them up in the first place?

Take a few moments to think about this…

That’s right!

1. The covers of these books

are colourful and eye catching.

2. The titles of the books are interesting.

What is a Country Pancake you may wonder

What is a Stone Mouse or a Hodgeheg?

3. You may like the sound of the

‘blurb’ or short summary on the back cover.

 

Designing your book cover,

deciding on a title for your book

and writing the ‘blurb’

are some of the last things you will do.

You need to have the book written first.

 

But do give it some thought, even now.

Plan to have a cover on your book that looks good

a title that sounds interesting

and a summary on the back

that has your reader wanting to find out more.

 

For those of you doing the ‘Write A Book’ project

there is an excellent selection of resources

on this link to ‘Seomra Ranga’.

 

.