A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

November’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang selections feature unexpected heroes who, against all odds, use their special talents to rise and save the day!

And this month’s Quill invites you to explore the wild world of animals from the cozy comfort of your home while nurturing your child’s early reading, handwriting, and math skills.

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Great ready to ROAR and GROWLLLL your way into fall with November’s Quill: Wild Animals.

In this Quill we’ll dig into fantastic facts found in nonfiction books as we explore boxes, glossaries, and more; play with awesome adjectives as we craft a creature and name it; Hissssss. . . Caw. Grrrrrowl. ROAR! with onomatopoeia; put numbers in their places and hunt for them in the wild; stare at staggering statistics and make up some of our own; and pull out our rulers to make critter comparisons from the largest to the smallest and everything in between! 

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

Some Suggestions:

• A Nest Is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long
• Born to Be Wild: How Baby Animals Survive and Thrive by DK Publishing
• Eye Spy: Wild Ways Animals See the World by Guillaume Duprat
• Crowbar: The Smartest Bird in the World by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor
• Dear Wandering Wildebeest and Other Poems from the Watering Hole by Irene Latham, Illustrated by Anna Wadham 
• The Mitten: A Ukrainian Folktale by Jan Brett (and other Jan Brett books) 

Get the Quill.

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan 

Find out if Solimar can save her kingdom and the future of the monarchs from a greedy king! This page turner weaves themes of family, courage, and perseverance in ways your children won’t soon forget!

Your child will feel as bright as a button this month when they explore similes as a literary device.

We’ll also: 

• make noise with onomatopoeia,
• meet the handy-dandy hyphen,
• dig into dialogue,
• admire alliteration,
• ponder a powerful symbol,
• link phrases with conjunctions, and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith

You’ll see Peter Pan like you’ve never seen him before when you read this imaginative twist on a beloved classic.

The Literary Device is breaking the fourth wall. Find out what happens when writers use this technique to transport readers into the story. 

We’ll also: 

• hoot and howl over onomatopoeia;
• realize what retellings reveal; 
• discover the power of descriptive details; 
• boldly behold adverbs;
• chat about dialogue punctuation;
• ponder personification, and so much more! 

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac

This novel is the story of a sixteen-year-old Navajo code talker who played an important role in facilitating vital US military communications during World War II.

In this Boomerang we’ll:

• sink deep into symbolism;
• crack the code and appreciate anecdotes;
• enlighten with analogies;
• note names and nicknames galore;
• connect with conditional statements;
• play on words with puns, and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

For ages 15-18, check out the Slingshot.