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.

The new Arrow and Boomerang book lists have dropped! What a party!

If you did not catch the big reveal live, you can watch the REPLAY here or on the Brave Writer Facebook page.

Why the big party?

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 20 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.
• incorporate a variety of genres: fantasy to the classics.
• carefully orchestrate the sequence of the books.
• balance book length against the holiday demands of a given month.
• alternate moving, poignant books with silly, lighthearted books.
• 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!

This year’s Arrow list is all brand new, and the Boomerang list features only two re-boots. You can expect a lively, inspired reading journey!

About the Arrow and Boomerang

The Arrow (3rd-6th) and the Boomerang (8th-11th) are your specially crafted monthly guides to teaching literature and the mechanics of writing.

These programs include 10 month-long guides that feature:

• exciting read aloud novels each month,
• copywork and dictation,
• literary elements,
• Big Juicy Discussion/Think Piece questions,
• and Book Club Party School ideas.

A year’s worth of curriculum (10 month-long guides) for one low price!
When you purchase, you will be invited to a Private Facebook Group for year-long members.

The Brave Writer Arrow and Boomerang guides use living literature to bring writing mechanics to life.

A year of adventure, heart-break, humor, tenderness, history, and fantasy await you!

2019-2020 Titles

[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!]

Arrows

August: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien
September: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
October: Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
November: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
December: The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser
January: PIE by Sarah Weeks
February: Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper
March: Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
April: Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan
May: The Boy Who Saved Baseball by John H. Ritter

Purchase the 2019-2020 Arrow Subscription

Boomerangs

August: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (reboot)
September: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
October: The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
November: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
December: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (reboot)
January: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
February: Unbound: A Novel in Verse by Ann E. Burg
March: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
April: The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
May: The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Purchase the 2019-2020 Boomerang Subscription

It’s that time of year when our families get a little nutty enthusiastic. They’re excited for good reason! 

Each year at the end of May, I announce the new book titles for the coming academic year for our Arrow and Boomerang programs. 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 20 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!

This year’s Arrow list is all brand new, and the Boomerang list features only two re-boots. You can expect a lively, inspired reading journey!

Come to the live reveal! It’s always a blast!

Be sure to have your kids tune in too—they love it!

Some families get together and throw a community party for the big book reveal. 

We’ve got new surprises in store for this year’s books and subscriptions to the Arrow and Boomerang too, which we’ll share on book reveal day.

So are you IN? I hope so!

This year we are hosting the webinar on Zoom (our live webinar platform). You don’t need to register to participate. Just click the link below on May 31.

Date: Friday, May 31, 2019
Time: 11:30 am EDT
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/111145777

We’ll also simulcast on Facebook Live.

See you soon!