Creative strategies for getting young students excited about writing

"Don't Forget to Write for the Elementary Grades" offers 50 creative writing lesson plans from the imaginative and highly acclaimed 826 National writing labs. Created as a resource to reach all students (even those most resistant to creative writing), the lessons range from goofy fun (like "The Other Toy Story: Make Your Toys Come to Life") to practical, from sports to science, music to mysteries. These lessons are written by experts, and favorite novelists, actors, and other celebrities pitched in too. Lessons are linked to the Common Core State Standards.A treasure trove of proven, field-tested lessons to teach writing skillsInventive and unique lessons will appeal to even the most difficult-to-reach students826 National has locations in eight cities: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, and Washington DC

826 National is a nonprofit organization, founded by Dave Eggers, and committed to supporting teachers, publishing student work, and offering services for English language learners.

The hilarious first-person account of life as a hypochondriac-from the critically acclaimed author of "Devil in the Details."
Jennifer Traig does not suffer from lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's Disease, or muscular dystrophy. Nor does she have SUDS, the mysterious disorder that claims healthy young Asian men in their sleep. What she does have is hypochondria. In "Well Enough Alone," Traig provides an uproariously funny inquiry into her ailment, as well as a well-researched history of the disorder. While chronicling her life as a hypochondriac and the minor conditions that helped to fuel her persistent self-diagnosis, she offers a literary tour of the disorder's past and present. And by the end, her journey leaves her more knowledgeable, a little less neurotic, and-one might say-healthier.

At last--the contemporary masters of memoir have come together to reveal their strategies and impart their advice. This book contains an unprecedented wealth of knowledge in one place.

In "The Autobiographers Handbook," you're invited to a roundtable discussion with today's most successful memoirists. Let Nick Hornby show you how the banal can be brilliant. Elizabeth Gilbert will teach you to turn pain into prose. Want to beat procrastination? Steve Almond has the answer. Learn about memory triggers (Ishmael Beah: music) and warm-up exercises (Jonathan Ames: internet backgammon). These writers may not always agree (on research: Tobias Wolff, yes, Frank McCourt, no) but whether you're a blossoming writer or a veteran wordsmith, this book will help anyone who has ever dreamed of putting their story on paper, on writing themselves into existence.

Featuring: STEVE ALMOND - JONATHAN AMES - ISHMAEL BEAH - ELIZABETH GILBERT - NICK HORNBY - A. J. JACOBS - MAXINE HONG KINGSTON - PHILLIP LOPATE - FRANK MCCOURT - DAVID RAKOFF - ESMERALDA SANTIAGO - JULIA SCHEERES - ART SPIEGELMAN - ANTHONY SWOFFORD - SARAH VOWELL - SEAN WILSEY - TOBIAS WOLFF - AND MANY MORE

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS announces Jennifer Traig as one of the most hilarious writers to emerge in recent years - and one of the strangest! Recalling the agony of growing up as an obsessive- compulsive religious fanatic, Traig fearlesslessly confesses the most peculiar behaviour - like scrubbing her hands for a full half-hour before meals, feeding her stuffed animals before herself and washing everything she owned because she thought it was contaminated by pork fumes! The result is a book so relentlessly funny and frank that it's totally refreshing.