A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

There are big ideas brewing in this month’s Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang guides!

While we discuss mechanics and literary devices, we’ll also experience the power of stories. We’ll read tales of:

• loss,
• love,
• resilience,
• and learning.

We’ll notice how stories shape and shift the way we think and help us to understand the world in wondrous 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!]

Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan

Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna’s point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes from Maine to the prairie to answer Papa’s advertisement for a wife and mother. Before Sarah arrives, Anna and her younger brother Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she sing? Will she stay?

This children’s literature classic is perfect for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books, historical fiction, and timeless stories using rich and beautiful language. Sarah, Plain and Tall gently explores themes of abandonment, loss and love. ~Amazon

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Purchase the novel here.

The People Could Fly, Virginia Hamilton

The well-known author retells 24 black American folk tales in sure storytelling voice: animal tales, supernatural tales, fanciful and cautionary tales, and slave tales of freedom. All are beautifully readable. With the added attraction of 40 wonderfully expressive paintings by the Dillons, this collection should be snapped up. ~School Library Journal

Note: Purchase or borrow the collection of folk tales, not the picture book version.

Get the Arrow.

Purchase the novel here.

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance...Blink reveals that great decision makers aren’t those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of “thin-slicing”, filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology and displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way. ~Amazon

Get the Boomerang.

Purchase the novel here.

If there is a thread that runs through the Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang issues this month, it is moving and the change that comes with it! Whether a penguin, a fox, or a young girl, a change of scenery often means adjusting to a new way of life.

As we explore the grammar, punctuation, spelling, and literary devices that make stories move, we’ll experience adjusting to a new environment right alongside our protagonists.

[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!]

Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Richard Atwater

Mr. Popper’s Penguins was first published in 1938. Author Richard Atwater, a newspaper columnist and one-time classics instructor, began writing the novel until serious illness forced him to stop. His wife, Florence, finished the story. Together they have created a whimsical tale that has a serious, conservationist ending, as Mr. Popper realizes the penguins must be returned to their natural habitat. Award-winning illustrator Robert Lawson provides the elegant, pen-and-ink illustrations.…

A classic of American humor, the adventures of a house painter and his brood of high-stepping penguins have delighted children for generations. ~Scholastic

Get the Dart.

Purchase the novel here.

Pax, Sara Pennypacker

From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come.

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter’s dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.

At his grandfather’s house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn’t where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.

Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own… ~Amazon

Get the Arrow.

Purchase the novel here.

Other Words for Home, Jasmine Warga

Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before.

But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

This lyrical, life-affirming story is about losing and finding home and, most importantly, finding yourself. ~Amazon

Get the Boomerang.

Purchase the novel here.

What a year it’s been! Amidst toilet paper shortages, physical distancing, cancelled outings, and some heartache books have been a soothing balm.

And wow have you been reading! We’ve loved every report from our Brave Writer families. Each story shared of a Big Juicy Conversation, successful book-related project, consuming deep dive, or hearty “aha” moment has warmed our hearts and inspired our work. We’re grateful to you. Keep sharing these moments—we read and savor each one!

Now, with the new year just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to start thinking about the family reads ahead. 

To help you plan, we’ve pulled together a list of our 2020 Fan Favorites—a sampling of the Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang guides our families rave most about! (Yes, the list includes every Dart available because, goodness, those issues have been showered in praise!) 

While reading great books, these popular literature singles help you explore, experience, and explain:

• grammar,
• punctuation,
• spelling,
• literary analysis (Boomerang),
• and literary devices.

Enjoy!

Darts

• Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
• The Prairie Thief (Melissa Wiley)
• Finn Family Moomintroll (Tove Jansson)
• The House at Pooh Corner (A.A. Milne)
• The Mouse and the Motorcycle (Beverly Cleary)

Arrows

• The Wild Robot Escapes (Peter Brown)
• The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate)
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien)
• Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
• Because of Winn-Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)

Boomerangs

• The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
• The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan)
• Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
• Animal Farm (George Orwell)
• Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

Adventures are to be had this month in the Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang issues!

As we explore the grammar, punctuation, spelling, and literary devices that make stories move, we’ll experience a mouse-eyed view of the world, tag along while a mystery is solved, and learn why there’s no place like home.

[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!]

The Mouse and the Motorcycle,  Beverly Cleary

In this imaginative adventure from Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary, a young mouse named Ralph is thrown into a world of excitement when a boy and his shiny toy motorcycle check in to the Mountain View Inn.  ~Amazon

Get the Dart.

Purchase the novel here.

Greenglass House, Kate Milford.

It’s wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler’s inn is always quiet during this season, and twelve-year-old Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo’s home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo and Meddy, the cook’s daughter, must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about Greenglass House—and themselves. ~Amazon

Get the Arrow.

Purchase the novel here.

The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum.

When Dorothy and her little dog Toto are caught in a tornado, they and their Kansas farmhouse are suddenly transported to Oz, where Munchkins live, monkeys fly and Wicked Witches rule. Desperate to return home, and with the Wicked Witch of the West on their trail, Dorothy and Toto — together with new friends the Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow and cowardly Lion — embark on a fantastic quest along the Yellow Brick Road in search of the Emerald City. There they hope to meet the legendary, all-powerful Wizard of Oz, who alone may hold the power to grant their every wish. ~Amazon

Get the Boomerang.

Purchase the novel here.

Our Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang guides pair living literature with lively lessons to help make mundane writing mechanics come alive. And our October book selections promise adventure and lots of fuel for Big Juicy Conversations!

This month we’ll travel with a family of Moomintrolls on an exciting adventure; we’ll meet a kid who breaks the mold; we’ll solve the case with a clever detective and his sidekick; and we’ll learn the ins and outs of grammar and punctuation along the way.

[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!]

Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson

It is spring in the valley and the Moomins are ready for adventure! Moomintroll and his friends Snufkin and Sniff find the Hobgoblin’s top hat, all shiny and new and just waiting to be taken home. They soon realize that his is no ordinary hat; it can turn anything―or anyone―into something else! ~Amazon

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Purchase the book.

Fish in a Tree, Lynda Mullaly Hunt

The author of the beloved One for the Murphys gives readers an emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike. ~Amazon

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The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Excitement! Intrigue! Suspense! Horror!

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four crime novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialized in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England’s West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his intended death in “The Final Problem”, and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character’s eventual revival. ~Amazon

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Purchase the book.