A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

What do a train, a hot-air balloon, and a magical creature called a brownie have in common?

If you guessed that they are all featured in the Brave Writer September book selections, you’re right!

While exploring grammar, punctuation, spelling, and literary devices, you can also

• perform perilous stunts with Pearl,
• solve magical mysteries with Louisa,
• or travel home by train with Saroo.

The Brave Writer Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang guides pair living literature with lively lessons to help make mundane writing mechanics come alive.

Act out adjectives, fall over in a fit of giggles over comma usage, and break the “rules” by watching the movie first!

Read. Engage. Connect.

[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 Prairie Thief, Melissa Wiley

Louisa Brody’s life on the Colorado prairie is not at all what she expected. Her dear Pa, accused of thievery, is locked thirty miles away in jail. She’s living with the awful Smirches, her closest neighbors and the very family that accused her Pa of the horrendous crime. And now she’s discovered one very cantankerous—and magical—secret beneath the hazel grove. With her life flipped upside-down, it’s up to Louisa, her sassy friend Jessamine, and that cranky secret to save Pa from a guilty verdict.

Ten bold illustrations from Erwin Madrid accompany seasoned storyteller Melissa Wiley’s vibrant and enchanting tale of life on the prairie—with one magical twist. ~Amazon

Get the Dart.

Purchase the book.

The Nerviest Girl in the World, Melissa Wiley

Pearl lives on a ranch where her chores include collecting eggs and feeding ornery ostriches. She has three older brothers, who don’t coddle her at all. And she knows a thing or two about horses, too.

One day, Pearl’s brothers get cushy jobs doing stunts for this new form of entertainment called “moving pictures.” They’re the Daredevil Donnelly Brothers, a Death-Defying Cowboy Trio. Before she knows it, Pearl has stumbled into being a stunt girl herself—and dreams of becoming a star. The only problem is, her mother has no idea what she’s up to. And let’s just say she wouldn’t be too happy to find out that Pearl’s been jumping out of burning buildings in her spare time. Filled with action, humor, and heart–not to mention those pesky ostriches—The Nerviest Girl in the World introduces a spunky heroine whose adventures will have kids on the edge of their seats and whose sense of humor will have them laughing until the very last line. ~Amazon

Get the Arrow.

Purchase the book.

A Long Way Home: A Memoir, Saroo Brierley

This is the miraculous and triumphant story of Saroo Brierley, a young man who used Google Earth to rediscover his childhood life and home in an incredible journey from India to Australia and back again.

At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia.

Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family.

A Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: Hope. ~Amazon

Get the Boomerang.

Purchase the book.

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.