Show ; Don't Tell! Secrets of Writing
I didn't fully understand what this book was all about until I read it all the way through. As I read it to my children I began to understand how to describe what I am trying to say. Describe it in such a way that you can actually picture it in your mind! So you can SEE what I am saying!
It talks about adjectives and nouns, which some younger children will not understand now. It shows you how to use the five w's (who, what, why, when, where), and your five senses. It also shows not only to use them but to express them in such a way that the reader can actually picture what you are writing about. It explains how to use many adjectives to describe something or someone in many different ways.
It uses interesting items, such as rough material, scratch and sniff, and a sound button in the back of the book, to get your senses in motion. It starts of with a lion, which is the writer. He shows you how to write using proper adjectives and exact nouns. These help a reader to perceive who or what you are writing about.
He uses a number of adjectives to portray something and asks the other animals in this book to tell him what or who he is describing. Then he asks his friends to tell him who or what he is talking about. They all come to different conclusions. He goes on to tell them that he is going to add a noun to the adjective. He adds the noun "animal", and asks them, once again, to guess who or what he is talking about. They still do not know exactly who or what he is talking about. But then he says "pig". All those words described a pig and all he really had to say was pig. This is his example of how you can describe something or someone and still not be understood.
Then he asks you to tell about something or someone, and how you feel when you are around that person or thing. Add things that you associate with that person or thing to make the reader see what you are writing.
This book is all about showing the reader what you are writing instead of just telling them and helping them to imagine what you are talking about. I don't think my kids truly understood the book, but they loved the characters and liked being able to tell what they felt, smelled and heard from the book. This is just a fragment of what this book holds. It is a fountain of information for children and adults alike. I am going to use this book to help me teach my daughter to write stories. Maybe one day she will be a famous writer!
