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Monday, June 7, 2010

Word After Word After Word, written by Patricia MacLachlan. Katherine Tegen Books, Harper. 2010. $16.99 ages 8 and up


"There wasn't anything to say. I knew about things that parents didn't tell you...that they were sick and maybe weren't getting better. They wrote poetry in books. They sang above the lilac bush. Who were they really? Parents thought you didn't know things, though my mama said children knew everything. What was unreal? What was real?"

Patricia MacLachlan writes so gently and elegantly. Her story of the five best friends whose writing lives change when they meet a mentor is inspiring and heartfelt. Ms. Mirabel is the visiting author and she is everything that an unknowing teacher could hope for when such an invitation is issued. Ms. Mirabel shares her spirit and words with the fourth graders and encourages them to find their own voices through writing.

The students are delighted and awestruck. Through shared dialogue we learn about each of the friends...their family issues, their worries, their joys and the many moments of magic that happen under the lilac bush as they explore what means the most to them. Their writing is insightful and filled with the small moments discovered while they search for their own voices.

It's funny, warm and eloquent. It would be a perfect book for anyone interested in encouraging young writers to put their thoughts and ideas to paper.

We'll let Russell have the final word, just as he does in this truly lovely book:

"Out of our writer mouths
Will come clouds
Rising to the sky
Dropping rain words below.
And when the clouds leave
The sun will shine down word
After word
After word
Planting our stories in the earth.
- Russell"

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