Christmas present query

[rivka]

What would you get a twelve-year-old girl who wants to be a writer?

I think we gave her a blank book last year. (Not because we knew that she was an aspiring author at that point, just because we got lucky. Or maybe that's why she now wants to be an author.)

There are a lot of books about writing aimed at kids and teenagers, but I have no idea of their quality.

There's also this writing journal, which, while not for kids, was recommended on Amazon by a young woman who describes herself as a "13-year-old writer."

Any recommendations?

Comments

[pameladean]

Let's try that again without all the bad italics.

I'd recommend:

Eleanor Cameron's A ROOM MADE OF WINDOWS;
Dorothea Brande's BECOMING A WRITER;
and Edward Gorey's THE UNSTRUNG HARP.

The first is a YA novel that takes young writers seriously, the second is a quirky writing book that examines the character traits that make writing harder; and the third, well, it's Gorey, but it's a scarily accurate depiction of the moods one may go through in writing a novel.

P.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

I would agree with all of these choices, particularly A Room Made of Windows -- gods, I love that book.