Module 1: Little Red Writing

Book summary: In this reimagining of a classic fairytale, Little red writing is the tale of Little Red learning how to build an effective story. Her daily activities take a turn for the dramatic as she searches for the perfect ending to her story.

APA Reference of book: Holub, J. (2013). Little red writing. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, LLC.

Impressions: Little red writing is an effective tale of how to draft a story while learning about the different parts of speech and grammar rules. The illustrations fill the entire book, end pages included, and the parts of speech had a plethora of examples on their featured pages. For example, the descriptive forest section had adjectives listed on the leaves and the Adverbs truck had the motto “We Deliver Speedily” emblazoned on the side. I enjoyed the homage to the classic fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood, and how each character had their own personality.

Professional Review: “Balanced gracefully on her point, Little Red is a courageous young pencil with a storytelling assignment from school. While the other young pencils choose to write about “Pencilvania” or themes based on their novelty erasers, Little Red decides to compose a heroic story. “Remember, it’s OK to wander a little, but stick to your basic story path so you don’t get lost,” warns her teacher, Ms. 2. Holub (Zero the Hero) cleverly combines two elementary-school formulas—the fairy tale and the writing exercise—as she shares the basics of storytelling and grammar. When Little Red activates her narrative with verbs, she “cartwheel[s] right off the page and into... a deep, dark, descriptive forest” where words like “verdant” and “bosky” decorate leaves. Sweet (River of Words) illustrates in a flurry of colored pencil, watercolor, and collage. On yellowed, heavily doodled composition notepaper, she playfully mingles calligraphy, classroom settings, and images of Red defeating a sharp-toothed foe, the Wolf 3000 pencil sharpener. With style, humor, and solid writing advice, Holub and Sweet point out the latent creative potential within any desk drawer or supply cabinet. Ages 5–8."

Reference

[Review of the book Little red writing, by J. Holub]. (2014 January 8). Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8118-7869-2.

Library Uses: This book is a great teaching tool for parts of speech for the older elementary grades. It provides the opportunity for an interactive activities regarding grammar, sentence enhancers, and sentence structure. I would use this book over the course of a few weeks while helping students create a story of their own.