August is ripe with opportunities for adventure, enchantment, and discovery.

This month’s Quill reveals the wonders of wordless picture books. August’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang will transport you back in time.

Take a ride on the pages of this month’s stories to visit:

• a medieval setting,
• the mountains of Maine during the Great Depression,
• and boarding school in 1968.

Read all about it as you and your family explore writing mechanics and literary devices in meaningful new ways.

[This post contains Amazon affiliate links. When you click on those links to make purchases, Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]

Wordless Picture Books

In this Quill we’ll inquire about cover art and discover that books have anatomy; put words into action to develop vocabulary; play with pens and paper to engage with the symbols of writing; wallow in quantities to make numbers meaningful; and go on a shape hunt and have big juicy conversations about the shapes we see and what they mean. 

NOTE: You can use any wordless picture books you have in your stacks or find at your library.

Some suggestions:

• Brave Molly by Brooke Boynton-Hughes
• The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee
• Field Trip to the Moon by John Hare
• Flashlight by Lizi Boyd
• The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett
• Hike by Pete Oswald 
• I Got it! by David Wiesner
• I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët

Get the Quill.

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils them all—for the king of the land seeks just such a girl, and Brother Edik, who penned the prophecy himself, knows why.

The Literary Device in this Dart is Foreshadowing. 

We’ll also: 

• marvel at metaphors,
• launch an avalanche of adjectives,
• go on a proper noun scavenger hunt,
• time-travel with verb tense,
• imagine a world without nouns, 
• ponder paragraphs, and so much more! 

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

A story for dog lovers—and nature lovers. Our protagonist found more freedom, a new strength, and a love of the natural world after her family lost almost everything in the big financial crash, and moved to the mountains. An accident has left her father in a coma, and she is determined to try anything—even sting him with bees—to get him to wake up!

The Literary Device in this Arrow is Suspense.

We’ll also: 

• announce: colons,
• cut to the chase with short paragraphs,
• look up, down, and all around for prepositions,
• have a good, good time playing with repetition,
• talk all about dialogue,
• notice nouns and all that they can do, and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt

Following the death of her closest friend in the summer of 1968, our protagonist goes off to St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the boarding school’s traditions. In a parallel story, a boy has wound up on the Maine coast near St. Elene’s with a pillowcase full of money and a past that has him constantly looking over his shoulder. Both young people gradually dispel their loneliness, finding a way to be hopeful and also finding each other.

In this Boomerang, we’ll: 

• probe point of view,
• admire allusions,
• bask in bold writing choices,
• dig into dialogue,
• survey a script,
• wade into worldbuilding, and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

For ages 15-18, check out the Slingshot.

In this month’s Dart, Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot your family will encounter stories of adventure, enchantment, adversity, and discovery. The pages of these stories will take you to:

• an isolated island,
• an enchanted forest,
• a city fighting for survival in the midst of a pandemic,
• and a small town where big learning unfolds.

Buckle your seatbelts as you explore writing, mechanics, and literary devices this month—these books will take you on some wild rides!

[This post contains Amazon affiliate links. When you click on those links to make purchases, Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!]

Nim’s Island (Wendy Orr)

A girl. An iguana. An island. And e-mail. Meet Nim–a modern-day Robinson Crusoe! She can chop down bananas with a machete, climb tall palm trees, and start a fire with a piece of glass. So she’s not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. Besides, it’s not as if no one’s looking after her–she’s got a sea lion to mother her and an iguana for comic relief. She also has an interesting new e-mail pal. But when her father’s cell-phone calls stop coming and disaster seems near, Nim has to be stronger and braver than she’s ever been before.

And she’ll need all her friends to help her.

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

Midsummer’s Mayhem (Rajani LaRocca)

Can Mimi undo the mayhem caused by her baking in this contemporary fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson comes from a big Indian American family: Dad’s a renowned food writer, Mom’s a successful businesswoman, and her three older siblings all have their own respective accomplishments. It’s easy to feel invisible in such an impressive family, but Mimi’s dream of proving she’s not the least talented member of her family seems possible when she discovers a contest at the new bakery in town. Plus, it’ll start her on the path to becoming a celebrity chef like her culinary idol, Puffy Fay.

But when Mimi’s dad returns from a business trip, he’s mysteriously lost his highly honed sense of taste. Without his help, Mimi will never be able to bake something impressive enough to propel her to gastronomic fame.

Drawn into the woods behind her house by a strangely familiar song, Mimi meets Vik, a boy who brings her to parts of the forest she’s never seen. Who knew there were banyan trees and wild boars in Massachusetts? Together they discover exotic ingredients and bake them into delectable and enchanting treats.

But as her dad acts stranger every day, and her siblings’ romantic entanglements cause trouble in their town, Mimi begins to wonder whether the ingredients she and Vik found are somehow the cause of it all. She needs to use her skills, deductive and epicurean, to uncover what’s happening. In the process, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet.

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

Fever 1793 (Laurie Halse Anderson)

During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out.

Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie’s world upside down. At her feverish mother’s insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city turned frantic with disease.

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

Swing (Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess)

Best friends Noah and Walt are far from popular, but Walt is convinced junior year is their year, and he has a plan that includes wooing the girls of their dreams and becoming amazing athletes. Never mind he and Noah failed to make their baseball team yet again, and Noah’s crush since third grade, Sam, has him firmly in the friend zone. While Walt focuses on his program of jazz, podcasts, batting cages, and a “Hug Life” mentality, Noah feels stuck in status quo … until he stumbles on a stash of old love letters. Each one contains words Noah’s always wanted to say to Sam, and he begins secretly creating artwork using the lines that speak his heart. But when his art becomes public, Noah has a decision to make: continue his life in the dugout and possibly lose the girl forever, or take a swing and finally speak out.

At the same time, American flags are being left around town. While some think it’s a harmless prank and others see it as a form of protest, Noah can’t shake the feeling something bigger is happening to his community. Especially after he witnesses events that hint divides and prejudices run deeper than he realized.

As the personal and social tensions increase around them, Noah and Walt must decide what is really important when it comes to love, friendship, sacrifice, and fate.

Purchase the book.

Get the Slingshot.

Book Reveal Dates & New Product (ages 5-8) Alert!

It’s almost that time of year when our families get a little nutty enthusiastic.

They’re excited for good reason! 

Each June, I announce the newly selected book titles for the coming academic year for our mechanics and literature programs Dart, Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot.

We’ll also introduce Quill for ages 5-8!

These programs are designed to teach your kids the mechanics of writing through living literature!

The big reveal is exciting because these are:

• books your family will read aloud together and treasure all year 
• books that naturally teach writing mechanics and introduce literary elements

Here at Brave Writer, we take the selection of these book titles Very Seriously!

All year, we read, discuss, and delight in the year’s latest fiction as well as relishing the classics.

• We aim for diversity of authorship and protagonists.
• We incorporate a variety of genres: fantasy to the classics.
• We carefully orchestrate the sequence of the books.
• We balance book length against the holiday demands of a given month.
• We alternate moving, poignant books with silly, lighthearted books.
• We launch the year with a sure-fire winner and end with a warmhearted one.

By the time we’ve settled on a book list, we’re chomping at the bit to share it with you!
You can expect a lively, inspired reading journey.

Get ready for an incredible journey through literature!