Writing Radar by Jack Gantos

WRITING RADAR by Newbery Award winner Jack Gantos is a highly entertaining introduction to creative writing tips and techniques.  Gantos intersperses his Writing Tips with drawings and humorous stories based on ideas from one of his own 200 journals.  Some key advice for young writers? Importance of reading; Be a good listener; Action and emotions are both important; Inspiration (try story starter maps) and good writing habits (which he outlines) are a team. Having been a creative writing professor for 20 years, visited over a thousand schools, and published picture books, novels and short stories across ages from preschool to high school, Gantos is an ideal mentor and WRITING RADAR received starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal (“A must for aspiring writers”). The last suggests this title for grades 4 through 8, but writers of all ages (including teachers and librarians) will eagerly reach for blank paper and be enamored with Gantos’ suggestions and stories. As he says about reading, “when I finish the last page that book remains the same, but I am changed forever.”