A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Did you miss the Book Reveal Party? Or would you like to watch it again? 

Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered!

Grab your tea and a treat. Pull your kids over to watch with you. Make a list of books you are looking forward to reading next year. 

Watch here!

Pressed for time?

Go directly to the Dart, Arrow and Boomerang pages on our website for the book lists and links to their pages on Amazon.

ETA: We have replaced Cricket in Times Square with The Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley for the Dart in September.

What’s included in our year-long language arts programs? 

• The Dart is designed for kids 8-10 years of age.
• The Arrow is for children 11-12 years of age.
• The Boomerang is teens 13-15 years of age.

Each Mechanics and Literature program includes:

• Four expertly selected copywork and dictation passages
• Lively, clearly worded notes about spelling, punctuation, grammar, and literary elements related to the passages
• Discussion of literary craft
• Big Juicy Questions to inspire conversation and writing
• Book Club Party ideas to celebrate the completion of the book and guide
• Guidelines that teach you how to use copywork and dictation to teach the mechanics of writing (Look for the separate guidelines PDF in the after-purchase email from Brave Writer.

Back in 2002, I dreaded opening a big thick textbook for any school subject. There’s something heavy about knowing you have 200+ pages of any program to get through, delivered all at once, to be parsed out correctly over ten months.

I had been using Family Fun magazine as my primary schooling inspiration in the 1990s, and loved it! Each month came fresh. Felt like a surprise package of good new ideas!

It dawned on me that we could do something similar for writing and education at home.

• What if we picked one read aloud per month for the whole family?
• What if all the language arts activities and practices were included in one package?
• What if the practices could be modified up or down for a variety of ages and skills?

The Arrow was born—one book to read aloud, one family to listen, four copywork/dictation passages to adapt to all levels + notes in conversational English, one literary element explored, one writing activity to try. The Arrow spread like wildfire. I think you all felt relieved, just like I did. One month at a time.

I must have tapped into something because the Arrow quickly became our best-selling product (still is). We expanded to create similar products for other levels (the Boomerang is the higher level). And we’ve expanded the contents to include discussion questions and book club party ideas.

Today, the monthly Arrow and Boomerang run some 40 pages! We don’t leave you to figure out how to use them either. We provide detailed, user-friendly guidelines, too.

What’s cool is we’ve been at it for 18 years so we have a slew of single issues for a wide variety of titles. You can pick a book you want to read and buy an Arrow or Boomerang to go with it.

For under $12.00 (!), you will purchase a month’s worth of reading, writing, and language arts for multiple ages of kids, complete with guidance for how to grow your writers.

Check out the Single Issues of the Arrow and Boomerang in our store.

We have free samples (click on single issues pages) for you as well. All products are digital and can be printed at home or via any print shop if you prefer.