A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

November’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang selections provide opportunities to see the world from different vantage points. These books deliver ideas to inspire Big Juicy Conversations as your family explores:

• writing,
• mechanics,
• and literary devices together! 

This month’s Quill—Weather: Clouds—reveals enchanting discoveries high in the sky! Look up, explore cloud types, measure rainfall, and practice fine motor skills with cloud art!

Weather: Clouds

The November Quill is an invitation to look up at the sky and experience the dazzling discoveries that await you there!

In the Brave Writer Book Shop, you’ll find books about weather and clouds that we adore! These are not required (you can use any books about these topics that you have in your stacks or discover at your library), but we find it’s helpful to have a list to get you started.

In this Quill, we’ll

• have heaps of fun learning about cloud types;
• sneak up on sequencing skills;
• fine-tune fine motor skills while collecting clouds in the pages of a journal;
• make irresistible cloud art;
• collect data and hone our graphing skills; and
• undertake an engaging experiment to measure rainfall!

Get the Quill.

The Adventures of Miss Petitfour by Annie Michaels 

Join the delightful Miss Petitfour and her sixteen cats for enchanting adventures and a celebration of life’s simple pleasures!

This month’s literary device focuses on Intrusive Narrators.

We’ll also:

• spy some similes;
• assess adjectives;
• observe an exclamation point in action;
• cobble together compound nouns;
• encounter appositives, useful phrases that add more information about a noun;
• happen upon some handy-dandy hyphens, and so much more! 

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich

In this historical fiction novel, the second in the Birchbark House series, Omakayas, a young girl, continues to chronicle life with her Ojibwa family. Note: It’s not required to read the first book to understand this story.

November’s literary device is Characterization. 

We’ll also: 

• do a mood flip-a-roo and discover how it feels;
• say hello to introductory clauses;
• go back in time with historical fiction;
• engage with the em dash;
• spot symbolism;
• focus on foreshadowing; and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

Disability Visibility (adapted for young readers) edited by Alice Wong

You’ll have lots to talk about in the month ahead, thanks to this collection of essays by disabled writers that examines a range of issues and their impact on disabled communities.

In this Boomerang, we’ll:

• elaborate on the ellipsis;
• focus on first-person stories;
• ask about audience;
• find answers about anthologies;
• discover dangling modifiers;
• jabber about genre; and so much more.

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

For ages 15-18, check out the Slingshot.

October’s Dart, Arrow, Boomerang, and Slingshot selections spotlight protagonists who are brave and thoughtful. These stories provide loads to talk about and consider as your family explores writing, mechanics, and literary devices!

And this month’s Quill—Music & Song Lyrics—will get your feet tapping and fingers snapping as your family reads picture books, looks at lyrics, and explores a symphony of symbols!

Music & Song Lyrics

Tune up your singing voices and get ready to tap to the beat! The Music & Song Lyrics Quill is here! Check out the Music & Song Lyrics booklist to help curate your read-aloud stack!

In this Quill, we’ll:

• look lovingly at lyrics on the page; 
• spot a slew of symbols that make meaning; 
• enjoy a bit of rhyme time—and make a few of our own; 
• make meaning with dots, lines, and curves; 
• make math stick with musical counting; and
• count along to the beat of a song.

Get the Quill.

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook

The lush terrain of Sri Lanka comes to life in this tale of friendship for fans of adventure and Robin-Hood inspired stories! We’re confident you won’t want to put this one down!

We’re “tickled pink” and “happy as clams” to share this month’s literary device—idioms. This device makes writing sparkle, inserts humor, and amplifies messages. Join us in October for a closer look!

Inside this Dart, we’ll also:

• litter a list with commas;
• ask a rhetorical question (or will we?);
• in-vestigate a common preposition;
• admire some action beats;
• take a look at words that can be both nouns and verbs;
• see how words grow from big to bigger to biggest; and so much more! 

Purchase the book.

Get the Dart.

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

In this historical fiction novel, Zomorod Yousefzadeh is making a fresh start with a new home and a new name. But fun and adventure can’t distract her from troubles brewing back in Iran and anti-Iran sentiments hitting too close to home. This poignant but lighthearted story will spark Big Juicy Conversations your family will remember!

October’s literary device is Figurative Language.

In this Arrow, we’ll also: 

• consider the clever comma; 
• dive into dialogue punctuation;
• assess the power of snazzy synonyms;
• discover the power of detailed descriptions;
• gather golden lines;
• see how a hearty dose of humor lightens a tense scene; and so much more!

Purchase the book.

Get the Arrow.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

This modern classic features a highly discussable plot that touches on deep topics. You might want to budget extra time for the Big Juicy Conversations this book is likely to inspire!

In this Boomerang, we’ll:

• ride the escalating action;
• ponder puzzling irony;
• toss around commas galore;
• juggle the question of genre;
• hunt for allusions;
• track the crisis all the way through the turning point until resolution; and so much more! 

Purchase the book.

Get the Boomerang.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

This autobiography of a power orator, activist, and spokesperson for civil rights will spark important conversations your family won’t soon forget.

In this Slingshot, we’ll:

• probe the past through Frederick Douglass’s courageous autobiography;
• tiptoe through timelines and jog through geography;
• pore over parallels and measure up metaphors;
• capitalize and hyphenate;
• ponder primary and secondary sources;
• use irony to tell the truth, and much more.

Purchase the book.

Get the Slingshot.